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Steward Street School

J

JohnTemp

proper brummie kid
Hi everyone. My first post.

I am a postgraduate researcher (Doctorate of Education) writing a paper about children's education. Of particular interest is the Steward Street School Birmingham between 1946 and the mid late 50's. I am looking for first hand accounts of the school at a time of Head Teacher A. R. Stone and in the years immediately after. He placed the creative arts at the center of children's education and this ensured a remarkable curriculum quite different to that being practiced in many other schools of the time.

I do have a number of photographs from the period and would welcome all personnel accounts and associated ephemeral material relating to the above.
 
JohnTemp said:
Hi everyone. My first post.

I am a postgraduate researcher (Doctorate of Education) writing a paper about children's education. Of particular interest is the Steward Street School Birmingham between 1946 and the mid late 50's. I am looking for first hand accounts of the school at a time of Head Teacher A. R. Stone and in the years immediately after. He placed the creative arts at the center of children's education and this ensured a remarkable curriculum quite different to that being practiced in many other schools of the time.

I do have a number of photographs from the period and would welcome all personnel accounts and associated ephemeral material relating to the above.
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Hi John
Do you have the book "Story of a school"? I have a photocopy version. It is the book on the subject you mention. I attended Steward Street from 1952 to 1958. I remember it as a happy time. Couldn't really comment on whether the education system was any different to anywhere else as we wouldn't have known any different. If you have any specific questions, please ask.
 
hi john you may have been better to post your first post on our original thread for this school but not to worry.. there may not be much about the years you are researching but there could be some info of interest to you in general...click on link below...good luck

lyn

Steward Street School

Steward street school open end in1873 As steward street board school with accommodation for 1,036 Having Boys ,girls,infants departments , Fees 2d. & 3d. , In 1890 all fees were reduced to 1d. Because of poverty in the area, In1914 the head master was Mr Bennett, Mr Jackson, miss Gee and...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Astoness said:
hi john you may have been better to post your first post on our original thread for this school but not to worry.. there may not be much about the years you are researching but there could be some info of interest to you in general...click on link below...good luck

lyn

Steward Street School

Steward street school open end in1873 As steward street board school with accommodation for 1,036 Having Boys ,girls,infants departments , Fees 2d. & 3d. , In 1890 all fees were reduced to 1d. Because of poverty in the area, In1914 the head master was Mr Bennett, Mr Jackson, miss Gee and...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
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Great. Thank you for the advice. I will take a proper look and repost. Regards, John
 
JohnTemp said:
Great. Thank you for the advice. I will take a proper look and repost. Regards, John
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Hi John
I went to Steward Street junior (primary) school for a few months only in 1958 before moving on to secondary school. Some snippets of my memories that may be useful are as follows.
The entrance to the school was off Spring Hill Passage, a narrow road leading to King Edwards Road one way and Spring Hill the other. As a teenager I did a paper round that passed the school.
The children attending the school were mainly from local working class families, some from quite poor families.
In the playground there was always talk about which boy in the school was the hardest, but the talk never came to much.
I can’t remember the names of any teachers.
It seemed to me that the school, compared with the one I previously attended for the greater part of years 3 to 7, gave less emphasis to academic subjects and more to simple arts and crafts.
One thing that seemed odd for the times was a handicraft class in which the boys did simple needlework and the girls did simple woodwork.
I remember being taken occasionally by bus to a playing field for outdoor games such as cricket.
My favourite memory was an event when we were heading toward summer. The school closed down for the day for a special away trip. Everyone was walked down to Hockley GWR railway station by the staff. There we all caught a steam train specially commissioned by the school to take us to Barry Island for the day. It was a very enjoyable trip.
Nowadays I visit Barry Island on a fairly regular basis because my granddaughter and her husband live nearby!
Two other memories I have related to the school are as follows.
In the school holidays the school would open and kids could turn up as if the school term were still active. They could play games with friends outside or read comics or books inside. It was well attended. There were one or two adult monitors, possibly volunteers. It was probably an early form of free child minding in the school holidays. I can’t remember if the opening happened every weekday or just selected days, probably the latter.
Finally, when I was well into my teens I would regularly play football on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It was in the school playground with a group of other older teenagers. The playground seemed well suited in shape to our five a side games. The gate was always open to allow this. I presume someone had in the early days obtained permission from the caretaker.

Cheers, Delboy
 
Hi Delboy, thank you for your detailed reply. You paint a vivid picture. Your explanation of 'simple arts and crafts' is spot on. There is an interesting play called Heads or Tails. I've been in touch with the author. The play captures much of what you say above. It seems teachers at the time understood the potential of not only a creative education but that children's innate ability to tell tales, play act and play games and so on are hugely important to their lives and general capacity to learn. The school appeared to balance this quite effectively and school reports appear to show happy children, living largely in poverty and at a time of war and post war renewal comparing favorably in regard to performance with other schools in the region. Kind regards, John
 
John I remember that play if it was the one shown on BBC tv in the early sixties: was it shown as 'Play for today'? I knew a couple of the boys in it including Geoffrey Wali who lived in my street.

I agree that most of the kids seemed happy at Steward Street school.

Cheers Delboy
 
I couldn't find anything on the tv play from an internet search. It was not on BBC's 'Play for today' because that series started in the seventies.
 
Hi. I know this is a bit late. I have been in contact with John Temp. Delboy66, the play you are thinking of with Jeffrey Walli was called "Choirboys Revenge", a different play to the one that John referred to. I think it was a bit later, around 1960,
 
Hi Ladywoodite, I know very little about this. I shall research further. Thank you for the heads up.

I have now completed a detailed examination of the schools closed record. This includes two log books dating 1940, right through to its closure in the late 60's.

Between the end of WW2 and around 1954 there was a great deal of activity in the school. Most remarkable, many dozens of academics visiting from abroad, S. Africa, India and Australia. Arthur Rank and the BBC visiting the school to undertake various documentaries. A revolving door of prominent HMI's and leaders in education, such as Alec Clegg and others. And many hundreds of trainee teachers and staff from emergency training colleges coming to see the 'good work' being undertaken. Clearly there was something of significant far reaching interest happening in the school and important in the development of children's education at the time. It seems a shift in priorities after immediate post war renewal, (characterized by an article in the Birmingham Mail) necessitated by the desire for a results driven culture, did for the school.
 
JohnTemp said:
Hi everyone. My first post.

I am a postgraduate researcher (Doctorate of Education) writing a paper about children's education. Of particular interest is the Steward Street School Birmingham between 1946 and the mid late 50's. I am looking for first hand accounts of the school at a time of Head Teacher A. R. Stone and in the years immediately after. He placed the creative arts at the center of children's education and this ensured a remarkable curriculum quite different to that being practiced in many other schools of the time.

I do have a number of photographs from the period and would welcome all personnel accounts and associated ephemeral material relating to the above.
Click to expand...
Would it be possible to share some of your photos from the period please ? I'm sure members would appreciate seeing them. It would also be of interest to hear more about the creative arts elements of the curriculum especially as it was quite different from other schools.This may also generate memories for those who attended the school.

Viv.
 
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JohnTemp said:
Hi Ladywoodite, I know very little about this. I shall research further. Thank you for the heads up.

I have now completed a detailed examination of the schools closed record. This includes two log books dating 1940, right through to its closure in the late 60's.

Between the end of WW2 and around 1954 there was a great deal of activity in the school. Most remarkable, many dozens of academics visiting from abroad, S. Africa, India and Australia. Arthur Rank and the BBC visiting the school to undertake various documentaries. A revolving door of prominent HMI's and leaders in education, such as Alec Clegg and others. And many hundreds of trainee teachers and staff from emergency training colleges coming to see the 'good work' being undertaken. Clearly there was something of significant far reaching interest happening in the school and important in the development of children's education at the time. It seems a shift in priorities after immediate post war renewal, (characterized by an article in the Birmingham Mail) necessitated by the desire for a results driven culture, did for the school.
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hello john...could you tell me how you have able to access this schools closed records please..thank you

lyn
 
Vivienne14 said:
Would it be possible to share some of your photos from the period please ? I'm sure members would appreciate seeing them. It would also be of interest to hear more about the creative arts elements of the curriculum especially as it was quite different from other schools. This may also generate memories for those who attended the school.

Viv.
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Yes of course. I can share what is already in the public record. As I understand, the 'experiment' placed great focus on children's story telling, performance and creativity. They would practice the arts in a multitude of ways in the morning, followed by writing and arithmetic in the afternoon. This would be interspersed with sports. Earlier in the experiment, Stone encouraged a democracy of education. This allowed children to fashion their interests and dictate the curriculum, within reason, not unlike Summerhill's. Although it appears by the late 1940's this gave way to a broader adapted curriculum. Although this still had a strong arts focus.
 

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Astoness said:
hello john...could you tell me how you have able to access this schools closed records please..thank you

lyn
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Hi Lyn,

Yes, you would need to find ethical clearance and permission from the archival team. In my case I have done this via my doctorate studies. This required two references from my supervision team and obtaining an ethical clearance code through ethics application. I took some time to get this done. Not straight forward.

What I can say is that something quite extraordinary was going on at the school during and after WW2 and this attracted widespread attention. The emphasis on creativity and performance is striking, particularly when compared to modern schools. Despite, this the school had great success with students passing 11+ and so on. Key names influencing the teaching staff, particularly their master Arthur Stone, would include Herbert Reed, Robin Tanner, Sir Alec Clegg. There is a great forward by Sir David Attenborough in a new book by Kathy Burke who explains the great influence of Clegg and his father Samuel.

The idea that this style of teaching is dangerous or wrong is simply untrue. My sense is that post war British life was shaped by a generous spirit toward children and their natural creativity, now no longer existing in what has become a very technocratic, overly stressed and managerial style of siloed learning.
 
JohnTemp said:
Yes of course. I can share what is already in the public record. As I understand, the 'experiment' placed great focus on children's story telling, performance and creativity. They would practice the arts in a multitude of ways in the morning, followed by writing and arithmetic in the afternoon. This would be interspersed with sports. Earlier in the experiment, Stone encouraged a democracy of education. This allowed children to fashion their interests and dictate the curriculum, within reason, not unlike Summerhill's. Although it appears by the late 1940's this gave way to a broader adapted curriculum. Although this still had a strong arts focus.
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hi john thanks for getting back to me...those are smashing photos...are they all of steward st school

thanks

lyn
 
Thanks John. Interesting. Such a shame the approach has been lost especially as the benefits were clearly demonstrated. Of course it wouldn't have central place today with the National Curriculum. I also wondered whether it was more demanding in terms of staffing levels.

Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Thanks John. Interesting. Such a shame the approach has been lost especially as the benefits were clearly demonstrated. Of course it wouldn't have central place today with the National Curriculum. I also wondered whether it was more demanding in terms of staffing levels.

Viv.
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The records suggest happy staff and happy children. New staff were required to adapt to the methods. Today of course teachers have too little autonomy and are rarely trusted such is the system of surveillance and governance. My sense is that we have industrialised a process of teaching not only bad for mental health and social development but entirely lacking democratic potential. While we follow a well intentioned common knowledge curriculum popular with politicians and the like of E D Hirsch and his acolytes, it is not culturally diverse, particularly at the local level and fixates on elite ideas which we tend to stuff children with. This assumes that learning and intelligence does not belong to them, but by those who are telling them what to do! The sole purpose to perform. But to what end?

This strikes me as counter productive to the way in which children naturally learn about the immediate world around them. Learning that comes naturally is easy. Learning that is alien or unnatural is difficult. Aren't we stupid :)
 
JohnTemp said:
Hi everyone. My first post.

I am a postgraduate researcher (Doctorate of Education) writing a paper about children's education. Of particular interest is the Steward Street School Birmingham between 1946 and the mid late 50's. I am looking for first hand accounts of the school at a time of Head Teacher A. R. Stone and in the years immediately after. He placed the creative arts at the center of children's education and this ensured a remarkable curriculum quite different to that being practiced in many other schools of the time.

I do have a number of photographs from the period and would welcome all personnel accounts and associated ephemeral material relating to the above.
Click to expand...
Hello John

I think my mom went there mid 40s will ask her
 
JohnTemp said:
Hi everyone. My first post.

I am a postgraduate researcher (Doctorate of Education) writing a paper about children's education. Of particular interest is the Steward Street School Birmingham between 1946 and the mid late 50's. I am looking for first hand accounts of the school at a time of Head Teacher A. R. Stone and in the years immediately after. He placed the creative arts at the center of children's education and this ensured a remarkable curriculum quite different to that being practiced in many other schools of the time.

I do have a number of photographs from the period and would welcome all personnel accounts and associated ephemeral material relating to the above.







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Thanks for the information!
 
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