British Schools Museum facts for kids
The British Schools Museum is a special place in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. It's a museum that shows what schools were like a long time ago. The museum is inside real school buildings from the Edwardian era and Victorian era. These buildings are very old and important, so they are "listed buildings."
The museum has different schoolrooms for infants, girls, and boys. It also has houses where the teachers used to live. One amazing part is a big schoolroom from 1837. It was designed for 300 boys! Another rare classroom, built in 1853, has a special raised seating area called a gallery.
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How the School Started and Grew
The very first school on this site opened in 1810. A local lawyer named William Wilshere started it. He used an old building that used to be a malt house. This school was for 200 boys and 100 girls. It was the first "monitorial school" in Hertfordshire for children from poorer families.
The Monitorial System: Kids Teaching Kids
This school used a teaching method created by Joseph Lancaster. In the "monitorial system," older students, called monitors, helped teach many younger students. A main teacher, called a master for boys or a mistress for girls, watched over everyone. Joseph Lancaster traveled to share his ideas, and he even visited Hitchin.
The school became very popular and needed more space. So, in 1837, a new schoolroom was built. It was big enough for 300 boys and opened in 1838. The original malt house building then became home to the girls' school and an infants' school.
New Classrooms and Famous Visitors
A school inspector named Matthew Arnold visited in 1852. He suggested that the boys' school needed a new classroom. A special "Gallery classroom" for 110 students was finished in February 1854.
In 1857, the school decided to completely rebuild the Girls' and Infants' School. The new building was ready in 1858. It also included new houses for the Master and Mistress. When Matthew Arnold visited again in 1867, he said the new buildings were "excellent."
Changes in Teaching Methods
The monitorial system continued for a while. But by 1862, people realized that having children teach other children wasn't always the best. The students teaching weren't always well-educated themselves. So, a new method called the "Pupil Teacher method" began.
This new system was like an apprenticeship for teachers. Older students received training and were paid to teach. The government hoped this would help create more trained teachers for the future.
The School's Later Years
By 1904, even more classrooms were needed because so many children wanted to learn. These new rooms were built in 1905. However, by 1929, the school buildings were considered too small and old. The Boys' and Girls' Schools moved to a new school in town called Wilshere Dacre School.
The Infants' School stayed in the original buildings. During World War II, many children were sent to Hitchin for safety. Because of this, the school became a Junior Mixed Infants School in 1940. This school kept going until 1969, when it finally closed. After that, North Hertfordshire College used the buildings for a while.
The Museum Today
In 1975, the old school buildings were recognized as very important historical architecture. They were given a special "Grade II*" listing.
A local historian named Jill Grey started a small museum in one of the old classrooms. In July 1990, North Herts College moved out. The buildings were then put up for sale. A group called the Hitchin British Schools Trust was formed. By 1994, they successfully bought the buildings.
Many volunteers have worked hard to restore the schoolrooms. They wanted them to look just like they did when children learned there. Work is still ongoing to make them even better. Today, people of all ages visit the museum. Children from all over the country come to see how their great-grandparents might have gone to school!
The BBC even filmed parts of the children's TV show Just William at the museum in 2010.
See also
- British and Foreign School Society
- List of museums in Hertfordshire
