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JUNIOR SCHOOL IN THE ARCHIVES GENNY SILVANUS
JUNIOR SCHOOL
IN THE ARCHIVES
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BY GENNY SILVANUS RGS SCHOOL ARCHIVIST
In the Archive, we have a limited but wide ranging set of records relating to the Junior School. These include a single Junior School report from 1932, the Jovo magazine (with gaps) from 1937, 1939 and then 1973 to the present day, and weekly Bulletins from 2005 to the present day.
We hold plans of the Junior School at Lambton Road and the 1973 building (plus correspondence and photographs about the buildings too) and the actual plaque affixed to the Junior School wall in 1937, which was presented by Sir Arthur Munro Sutherland (1878-83).
We have unnamed whole Junior School photographs for 1929, 1979 and 1988, although the Junior School were often included in the Senior School photographs. There are several albums and files of Junior School photos from the 1970s (including trips to Holy Island and Hadrian’s Wall) and various drama productions, most of which are currently unidentified. Of course, we also have a Junior School cap or two, which fit in with our growing collection of school caps. The three records which I’d like to highlight in this article, however, are a scrapbook, a memoir and a file from the Senior School.
The scrapbook was compiled by a young George Patterson (29-35) and was deposited in the archive last term (Acc. 54). It consists of a small album with carefully pasted records which George considered important. These include a whole Junior School photograph from 1929, newspaper clippings, and programmes for various concerts and athletics tournaments during George’s time here (with some annotations). Although we have several scrapbooks from different decades, this scrapbook is unique in featuring the Junior School.
The Junior School is also mentioned in several memoirs. Typically, however, the Junior School only merits a few sentences— possibly because memoirs tend to be written later in life and other memories crowd out the early days. Lawrence Pallister’s (53-63) memoirs, which have been lent to the Archive, however, include an entire volume dedicated to the Junior School. Lawrence includes a brilliant description of his first day in the Junior School in 1953 and goes on to describe different teachers including ‘Bertie’ (RB Bertram (30-69), ‘Ma Crocker’ and
‘Hoodie’ (Johnson Hood (44-52) the violin teacher, the curriculum and life as a school boy in the 1950s. Many will also remember Laurence’s father, George Pallister (26-66), who taught biology here, and his uncle Larry Watson (30-71). My third interesting record is file TN 231 from 1960-61. This includes a circular letter sent in 1960 reminding parents that attendance in the Junior School did not guarantee automatic entry into the Senior School. MrWD Haden (60-72) explained in another letter to a fellow headmaster that ‘I inherit a difficult situation whereby because more boys have been admitted to the Junior School in the last two or three years that ought to have been, I had to explain to parents last September that not all would be admitted to our school’ (TN 231). Although we are not sure of exact numbers in the Junior School (the archive only has admission registers for the Senior School), we know Haden recommended that the Junior School should be 50-60 boys per entry, and of these only 40-45 to be admitted to the Senior. In 1961, there was a 100 place limit for the Senior School, allowing for other students under both the Direct Grant system and fee paying.
I end with my usual plea: if anyone is having a clear out, we’d love to add to our Junior School collection (which currently stands at just over a shelf’s worth). If you have a spare hour to identify any photographs (particularly from the 1970s to early 1990s), or would just like to visit the archive then you are very welcome to email me (development@rgs.newcastle.sch.uk) and come in when we are allowed to reopen to researchers.
