NRS-16757 | Visitors' Books [Denman Public School]

The Public Instruction Act, 1866 authorised special religious instruction by visiting clergymen and their delegates (Public Schools Act, 1866, s. 19), and regulations under the Act authorised members of the public to visit schools during ‘the hours of secular instruction’ to observe teaching methods, teaching material and equipment (Regulations adopted by the Council of Education on 27 February 1867, s. 84-85). The regulations required every teacher to keep a visitors’ book ‘in which visitors may enter their names and if they think proper any remarks. Such remarks the Teachers are by no means to erase or alter.’ (Regulations … s. 86).The purpose of the visitors’ book was to create a record of the persons other than pupils or teachers who attended the school during business hours. Visitors’ books were divided into three columns – date, name and remarks. The remarks usually recorded the purpose of the visit which included religious instruction (by far the most usual purpose for visiting a school), school inspection, medical inspection, departmental officers visiting on business e.g. to inspect the buildings or equipment, and guest speakers. Occasionally visitors (particularly Inspectors) remarked briefly on the conduct or the ambience of the school.The series from Denman Public School is represented at present by a single volume. The overwhelming majority of entries during this period are made by Church of England clergymen visiting the school for the purpose of providing religious instruction to the pupils. Visitors to the school’s Empire Day celebrations in 1946 and 1947 are recorded, and in each instance a small card bearing a picture of the Union Jack has been pinned to the page. Visitors to Education Week Open Days in 1954 and 1955 are also recorded, as is attendance at a Physical Education demonstration held in 1954. A notable entry on the 4th of November, 1947, records that the school was the venue for a demonstration of a Stradivarius violin on that day.