When the Church Lawford Church of England School Closed in 1996, Howard Parvin was Chairman of the School Governors, and in that role he was asked to give the Valedictory Speech during the Service of Thanksgiving on 30th June 1996. His words are reproduced below.
Valedictory Address given by Howard Parvin to Service of Thanksgiving for Church Lawford C.o.E. School Sunday 30th June 1996
The duties of a Chairman of Governors are many and varied but I never expected to find myself speaking from a pulpit.
Most of what I am about to tell you is already familiar to the children because they have been looking at school history of late, so my apologies to them. But children are used to knowing more than grownups so I hope they won’t mind.
It all began on 2nd April 1844 but for one James Crofts of Church Lawford that is where it all ended; he died but left money in his will for the establishment of a school in Church Lawford. He left £10 for one William Sibley to educate 5 boys and 5 girls “from poor but deserving families”. Education was to be “based on the principles of the Established Church”. Thus was the first reference to a school in Church Lawford but from the beginning it was to be based on Christian principles.
In 1849 the “old” school was built under the patronage of Lord John Douglas Montage-Scott of Dunchurch. It was not on the present site but up near the main road where now there are 2 bungalows. It was “a neat school with a house at each end for the master and the mistress”. It had accommodation for 100 pupils and averaged 80. It was not run by the LEA and was not free. Pupils paid 1½ d per week, equivalent to around 0.5 pence in new money.
In the early 1900s free elementary education was introduced nationally. In 1919 the school was transferred by the Duke of Buccleuch to Worcester Diocesan Trustees. So began the link with the local Diocese.
By the 1950s either the school had shrunk, or standards had changed because Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools commented on the “cramped and overcrowded accommodation for about 45 pupils aged 5-11”. But it is clear that another key part of the ethos of the modern school was already in place because the report of the HMI for 30th November 1954 stated:
“The general life of the school is very satisfactory. The children are tidy in appearance, they have good manners and are on excellent terms with their teachers. A spirit of sturdy independence is successfully fostered. The school deserves much praise for the quality of the social training it provides.”
By the 1960s the inadequacies of the buildings were obvious. During the very cold winter of 1962/3 all water in the school froze up. For 3 weeks or so the school only stayed open because Dennis Faizey delivered milk churns full of water each day. Whether the children were grateful for this service is not recorded!
The LEA agreed to build a new school, the present one, which opened in 1964. The school moved lock, stock and text book down the road and the children helped to carry it all. The old buildings remained empty until 1968 when they were sold and demolished to build the present bungalows. Part of the proceeds of the sale were used to start up the “School Houses Charity”.
The halcyon days did not last long. In 1971 the dead hand of bureaucracy fell upon the school when the LEA proposed a “County-wide reorganisation of schools and a change in the age of transfer” Church Lawford was to go from a Junior and Infant school (ages 5-11) to a First School (ages 5-8) A loss overnight of 40% of pupils! Naturally the villagers objected and did a lot of the sort of things we have been doing recently. In 1971 the Rev. Dennis Spiller (the then Rector) said in a letter to the Under Secretary of State in the Dept. of Education and Science:
“44% of Church Lawford pupils pass the 11+ compared with only 30% in Rugby town schools and 20% in Rugby Rural District schools.”
And also:
“But our great value as a school lies in the fact that the least able of our children are able to obtain that almost individual attention which is so necessary if their full potential is to be realised”
Does that sound familiar?
The villagers lost the fight in 1971 as we did in 1995. The older children went to Long Lawford and so began the problem of pupil numbers at Church Lawford and repeated attempts by “Education Experts” to close the school because (variously) the school was:
- Too small to be viable
- Too small to provide the national curriculum
- Too small to operate under Local Management of Schools
- Too small to be economic
But consistently pupils, teachers, governors and parents have proved the “experts” wrong!
We have:
- Delivered the National Curriculum, our children consistently performing better than the County average
- Operated effectively under LMS
- Delivered well managed budgets and effective use of resources
But much more than this we have continued to deliver:
- A sound education based on Christian principles to a standard consistently higher than the rest of the County
- A caring, nurturing atmosphere which values each child for him or herself and encourages them to develop to the best of their own potential
- An atmosphere of firm but gentle and loving discipline which fosters in children good manners, good behaviour, self-discipline and a respect for each other, their community and their environment.
But it seems these qualities are no longer valued by the powers that be, the all-important statistic is “cost per pupil unit”. So, a school that was:
- Provided by the generosity and foresight of the original benefactors 150 years ago
- Maintained ever since by the efforts, commitment and support generously given by staff, parents and villagers
Is now closing thanks to the efforts of the Local Education Authority.
That is a cause for great sadness, but we are here today to give thanks for our school and to celebrate its successes and contribution to the life of the community. Over 150 years hundreds, possibly thousands, of children have passed through the school and received a sound education, not just in the 3 Rs but in the social and moral standards which shape their lives and that of our community. The most recent are here today but so are many others as parents and grandparents.
A school is not just a building it is also the pupils, staff, and governors. It is the volunteers who help in the school, who raise funds, and who give of their time unstintingly. It is the community which supports the school and the school in the heart of the community.
The school may be closing but its achievements cannot be lost and can never be wasted. They are present here today in the people in this church and in hundreds of others who cannot be with us today.
I am proud to have been associated with this school as we all have a right be. It is right that today we celebrate and give thanks for our school and all those who, through the generations from James Crofts to today have given so much to make our school what it has been and what it has achieved.
