NRS-16914 | Visitors' Book [Lewinsbrook 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.This volume is actually a composite of two earlier volumes; pages from one volume, with entries for the years from 1918 to 1932, have been prefixed to another, covering the period from 1935 to 1964, and the whole has been sewn into a new cover. Prior to May, 1962, the majority of entries in the Visitors’ Book are made by clergy or their delegates visiting the school in order to provide religious instruction to the pupils. The Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church and the Congregational Church are all represented in this volume. No religious instruction appears to have been given between mid-1952 and the beginning of 1957, and there are other periods when its provision has been intermittent or infrequent. After May, 1962, all such visitors were recorded in a separate Visiting Clergy Book (see series no. 16915).Other regular signatories to the volume included the Inspectors of Schools on their regular visits of inspection, and, from 1957, Physical Training Instructors. Between November, 1955 and December, 1956, a Sewing Mistress pays weekly visits to the school. The supervisors of Bursary Examinations appear in 1958, 1960 and 1963. Less regular visits are made by Medical Officers and Council Health Inspectors. In the week from the 3rd to the 7th December, 1962, those who supervised the pupils each morning, apparently in the absence of the teacher-in-charge, have also signed the Visitors’ Book.Visitors to the school’s Education Week Open Days have signed the volume in 1954, 1955, 1959 and 1963, as have visitors to the Empire Day/Commonwealth Day celebrations in 1960, 1961 and 1962. The final three-and-a-half pages of entries are the signatures of those who attended a “Back to Lewinsbrook” event held at the school on the 9th of May, 1964, two days after its official closure.