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The West Public School The
West Public School, a separate school situated in Castle Street, was put under
the supervision of the Rector of the Miller Institution in 1913 and remained as
an annex of the school until 1966 when Mount Pleasant Primary School opened.
Though the schools were separate prior to 1913, there are a number of
references in the years before amalgamation to staff and pupil transfer between
the two schools and reference to a change in the organisation of the two schools
in a West Public H.M.I. Report in 1907. Indeed,
from 1887 onwards when the Miller Institution came under the control of the
Thurso Schools’ Board there was a gradual move to a co-operation in staffing
and a transfer of staff, when necessary, between the two schools.
This was due to the same governing body being in place for both schools
but might have been assisted in practice by the fact that the Head of the West
Public was James Grant, the former Second Master at the Miller Institution.
Mr
Grant had been appointed to the West Public in July 1883 having been
short-listed for the post a month earlier.
He was required, as a condition of his appointment, to become qualified
to teach all subjects at the school and to introduce a class for Navigation.
Mr Grant’s appointment was to what was called the Thurso Public School
but in September of 1883 the Schools’ Board decided that it should change its
name to the Castle Street School and it was only later that it became known as
the West Public School. Dinah
Dowding tells me that her father, who went to the West Public early in the
century 20th century, referred
to it as Grant’s School. At the
same time the Benevolent School in Rose Street became known as the Rose Street
School. The
change in designation came in 1892 when the Castle Street School was extended
and the Rose Street School was amalgamated with the establishment in Castle
Street to become the West Public School. Plans
were originally drawn up for extensions to both the Castle Street and Rose
Street Schools but it was decided at a later date to concentrate efforts and
finance on one establishment. This
was at the same time as the land adjacent to the original Miller Institution was
being purchased and plans drawn up for an additional building to extend the
capacity of that school. The plans
for all three schools were drawn by Mr Leed, local architect, and presented to
the Thurso Schools’ Board for consideration. The
Schools’ Board minutes for 1892 notes the cost of the joint school at £2,263.
The Head Teacher was to be Mr Grant of the Castle Street School at a
salary of £160 per annum and his Female Assistant to be Miss Jessie Sutherland
with an income of £100 and a free house. Two
Pupil Teachers were to be employed at a cost of £30 each but unfortunately some
other existing staff from the Rose Street School were no longer required.
Pupil Teachers and Monitors from that school were told that they no
longer had posts with the Board. The
amalgamation of the schools effectively took place in June 1892 when Rose Street
pupils were told to assemble with their new classmates at the new school which
had its name officially sanctioned by the Scotch Department as early as June
1890. Though closed as an
independent school, the Rose Street School premises stayed in the hands of the
Board for a considerable time being used on occasions as overflow accommodation
and let to various voluntary groups. There
was considerable discussion in the first decade of the century as to the future
of the premises before a decision was finally made to sell the building. Reports
by H.M.I. were yearly occurrences and of importance due to the publicity the
school received and also because grants from the Scotch Office depended on a
satisfactory report. The West
Public Reports for 1905 and 1906 were less than satisfactory.
The 1907 H.M.I. Report is interesting in that it makes further reference
to the poor standard of work at the West Public, to a new planned scheme of
organisation and to the need for a combined programme of work for both schools.
This short report on the West Public, since it relates to both the Miller
and West Public, is clearly a step towards amalgamation and is worth reproducing
in full here. ‘Copy
of H. M. Inspector’s Report dated 24th April, 1907. Unless
immediate steps are taken to improve the work of the highest class, by some
rearrangement of the staff or otherwise, very few of the pupils are likely to be
ready for transference to the Miller Institution Public School at the end of the
current session, and the recently adopted scheme of reorganisation of the
schools is likely to be a failure. The
combined programme of work for the two schools should be submitted for approval
forthwith.’ As
the result of H.M.I. reports a move was made at the Schools’ Board to have Mr
Grant removed from his post to the position of class teacher at the Miller
Institution. Mr Grant did not
accept an ‘offer’ made to him but he was transferred to Class II at the
Miller Institution at the beginning of May 1907 and Mr Duthie, from the Miller
Institution , took Mr Grant’s place. This
arrangement only lasted until the start of the new session.
Mr Grant’s resistance to the move to Miller resulted in an appeal to
the Schools’ Board and a reversal of the decision.
The decision to allow Mr Grant to return to his post as Head of the West
Public was not unanimous and one Board member went as far as to ask for his
dissent to be recorded. The
West Public log book on 6th September simply records the return of Mr
Grant thus; ‘School
begun after summer vacation on the 3rd inst.
There has been upon the whole a good turn out of pupils and several
classes so far as possible have made a start with next session’s work.
Messrs Duthie and Grant have changed places again.’ The
organisational changes referred to in the report of 1907 involved the grading of
the Infant and Junior sections of the two town schools.
It appears from the Miller Institution log entry for August 1906 that the
Infant classes were taken at the Miller under Miss Stewart as Headmistress, Miss
Henderson and Miss Mackay and with Miss Gow, a Teacher, and Miss Calder, a Pupil
Teacher, both from the West Public. Some
classes from the Junior School were taken at the West Public and to complete the
staff complement Miss Davidson and Miss Macdonald were transferred there.
The final two school groups were taken at the Miller Institution by Mr
Nicolson and Mr Duthie. Some
of the pupil transfers were the result of the transference of pupils on the
basis of ability to the Miller Institution.
Additionally, in times of staffing or accommodation difficulty at the
Miller Institution it would appear that a re-distribution of teachers, if not
routine, happened from time to time This
re-distribution arrangement appears in the records on a number of occasions.
For instance, in February 1910 the log-book reports, ‘As
Mr Duthie is still unable to resume his duties, Miss Cameron of the West P.S.
has been transferred to the infant department here and Miss Campbell has thus
been set free for Mr Duthie’s class. 33
pupils were transferred from the Infant Department to the West P. S. on Monday
and 20 were admitted from the West P.S. to Sen II.’ In
1908 twelve pupils, ‘were promoted from
the West Public. They have been
examined in Reading Composition and Arithmetic, and the results most
unsatisfactory.’ Within two
weeks the log-book records, ‘By advice
of the School Board, 8 of the 12 pupils recently promoted were sent back to the
West Public School on Tuesday as
being unfit for our work!’ In
another entry, in January 1909, it is recorded that 32 Infants were to be sent
to the West Public and 22 taken down from Mr Grant’s class to the Miller
Institution. By this stage the
Miller and West Public were already beginning to separate into an infant
department and junior and senior departments on different sites through the
selection process in operation. The
nature of the selection process indicated above is also mentioned in the
February entry in the log for the same year which states, ‘On
Monday of this week 33 pupils were sent from the Infant Department to the West
Public School and 23 were admitted – after examination – to the Junior
Department.’ The
West Public records the same information regarding numbers in its log for 1909.
The figures for the previous year are not in agreement.
The West Public indicating that 24 pupils were transferred to the Miller
Institution and 33 pupils from its Infant Department admitted.
There is also no mention of the pupils sent back from Miller due to
unsatisfactory attainment. By
1912 the general movement to a one school organisation on two sites had gathered
pace. Though the West Public was
not to lose its Head Teacher until a year later, the West Public log gives an
indication of the division of classes between the two ‘schools’ which was to
be a feature of the reorganisation that was to exist for some years. The
West Public log for August 1912 states; ‘The
rearrangement of the organization of the schools took effect from the 20th
inst. when classes III, IV and V were transferred from this school to the Miller
Institution along with two of the class teachers, Miss Coghill and Miss Waters.
The whole of the Infants were transferred from the Miller Institution to
this school along with the staff, viz; Miss Mackay, Miss Stewart, Miss Campbell,
and Miss Riach.’ The
school log for the West Public makes no further mention of the change of status,
other than that recorded above in 1912. It
merely records that on 27th June 1913 the school closed for the
summer vacation and prizes were handed out in the Town Hall by the Rev. D.J.
Ross. The Miller Institution
logbook is more informative with the entry, ‘on
Tuesday, August 19th the schools were reopened after the summer
holidays and in accordance with the resolution of the Board I assumed charge of
the West Public School which now becomes part of the Miller Institution
Elementary Department.’ The
entry was by the Rector of the Miller Institution, William Keith Tait.
Mr Grant, West Public Head Teacher, retired from teaching thus allowing
the school to be combined under Mr Tait.
The West Public as it looked in early 1999
before the most recent changes. Conditions
were not always comfortable in the West Public annex.
In 1933 it was agreed to install central heating as on occasions, the
temperature was so low that, ‘scholars were grouped round the fire’.
In the winter of 1965, when the building would soon no longer be
required, open fires, with large guards, around which the free school milk was
placed were still to be found. It
was those open fires that led to the tragic accident in 1902 resulting in the
death of Bella Horne. In
1937 Mr Ironside was concerned by the state of the protruding freestone
mouldings above windows and doors at the West public.
He stated that they were in a dangerous condition and could fall on
pupils at any time. The remedy was
not to repair and replace but to have the stone hewn off flush with the walls.
By 1938 it was the West Public toilets that were causing the concern.
They were in such poor condition that new boys’ toilets were approved
and built and the girls’ toilets were completely renovated internally. This
action was only partially successful as by 1959 the toilet facilities were once
again unacceptable. A new planned
block, costing £3000-£4000, looked likely but repairs rather than re-building
were finally approved. Throughout
the various school records the condition of the West Public building or the
playground give cause for comment. Repairs
were generally ‘patch-up’ jobs aimed at keeping the school operating until
it would no longer be required. Even
the installation of modern and essential conveniences, such as the telephone,
was much delayed. A telephone was
not approved until 1959 though an extension from the Miller building was
required five years earlier. After
the war John Dallas was appointed to the post of Depute with responsibility for
the West Public. In October 1946 Mr
McHardy, the Director of Education, reported to the Education Committee that
John Dallas had been offered an appointment in Kirkwall and that to keep his
services he should be offered the post at the West Public with a responsibility
payment of £25 per annum. The
Committee were clearly keen to keep his services and the proposal met with
unanimous approval. This
approval was short-lived as far as the Convener on the Education Committee was
concerned. Councillor Brims visited
the West Public and apparently asked some questions regarding the organisation
of the school which Mr Dallas could not answer to the Convener’s satisfaction.
The outcome of this visit was that in December 1946 the Director of
Education was asked to report on the matter at the next meeting of the
committee. The Director duly did so
and his reply, accepted by those present, shows considerable sympathy for the
new Depute. The Director of
Education pointed out that Rector Ironside had overall responsibility for
timetabling and that Mr Dallas should be given time to familiarise himself with
his new post. A very reasonable
response bearing in mind that he had only been in post a little over two months
when called upon by Councillor Brims. The
most common memories for former West Public pupils, and for those in the old
Miller Institution building, were the milk bottles by the fire.
Warming up the milk to thaw ice on top was a common occurrence.
Mrs Heather McLean, Assistant Head Teacher at Thurso High School, recalls
the red topped bottles set out round the fire guards.
Legend had it, she states, that someone had found a mouse in their
bottle! But it was not just in the
West Public in which the milk evoked memories.
Ann Baird well remembers the miniature bottles of milk that were
delivered daily in crates to her modern demountable classroom.
The bottles left by the heaters and her considered opinion of it was, ‘yuck’.
There was a plus side, however, as the children took turns to pop straws
into all the bottles. A task fought
over nearly as much as being allowed to clean the blackboard! Most
of the memories of the West Public School talk of attending there for two or
three years before going to the Miller and then returning to the West Public for
P7. This ‘control class’ was
generally taken by the teacher in charge of the West Public, the most mentioned
being John Dallas. However, Finlay
Swanson writes in a well constructed memory, though this is not surprising since
he was commonly in the top six pupils in a group of around 50, that in his time
the first five years were at the West Public.
He says his teachers there were Miss Kennedy, Miss Miller, Miss Kennedy,
Miss Innes and Miss Banks. After
the early years it was onto the Academy and the class was split in two.
Finlay had Miss Annie Sinclair and the other half of the class was taken
by Miss Isabella Cormack. They
shared the large room in Miller Institution building with its
folding wood and glass partition. The
move to the Academy was not always permanent.
There was usually a return to the West Public for the ‘control’ class
and there Finlay Swanson’s teachers, at that time, were Mr MacKay, of the
Grocer’s family, who went to Reay as Head Teacher and Mr MacKenzie who
replaced him. It was then back to
the Academy for the final years and a leaving age of 14 years.
The last day might be considered an anti-climax with books being handed
to the last teacher on the Friday in the week of the 14th birthday.
In Finlay Swanson’s case it was Mr Bruce who wished him luck and this
was to be a good omen, as after shop work until he was 18, he
served Highland Omnibuses and the community until he was sixty-five years
old. On
the point of how many years pupils attended the West Public it is worth noting
that this had varied over the years and often according to the number of pupils
that could be accommodated there or at the Miller.
There was at times also an academic selection of pupils resulting in some
children being on one site and a corresponding age class on the other school
site. In the final years of the
West Public annex the Miller Academy roll had become so large that it was
necessary to have infant classes on both sites due to the large numbers.
For instance, in the 1965-66 session, the last year the West Public was
used by Miller Academy, Miss Linekar had a P2 class at the West Public and Mrs
Bell took a P2 in one of the Miller demountables.
There would, in addition, be at least one other, and possibly two, P2
classes on one or other of those sites. The
present gym teacher, Sandie Mowat, writes informatively, and with nostalgia,
about life at the West Public, and at the Miller Academy too, at the end of the
1950s. With so much interesting
detail it is worth reproducing in full. ‘I
don’t remember all that much about P5 and P6 except getting belted regularly
by my teacher (name
omitted)
– some children got it almost every day, but P7 at the West Public was
great. We used to have separate
playgrounds with railings down the middle – boys /girls.
I remember we used to play games on the street – Castle Street –
Leavo – a kind of Hide and Seek where we would hide down as far as Campbell
Street – hardly any traffic then! In
icy weather we would have a great slide in Castle Street and Mr Dallas sometimes
joined us for a slide. We had long
skipping ropes and rhymes and the boys joined in too.
In
winter some of the boys had ‘flying helmets’ which were fashionable and I
remember the music teacher, Mr Lafferty, belting a boy who had forgotten to take
his off as he came into the hut for music.
We
P7s had to look after the infants at West Public and I remember Christine
Ross’s lovely shiny black pigtails. I
also remember a certain famous P1 boy brandishing the poker (coal fires in those
days) at his teacher Miss Wares. These
coal fires were responsible for our heat, but also for warming up our little
bottles of milk – I can’t stand warm milk ever since.
For
writing lessons the inkwells in the desks were filled with ink and we got a
scratchy nib which clogged up with bits of sharpenings and rubbers which left
blots of ink all over the place if you weren’t careful, which could lead to
another belting. Miss _____
made us walk out to the desk at the other side of the room to collect the
belt, give it to her then hold out your hand.
I remember another old lady Miss Ada Sinclair who was in the room
upstairs – I think possibly now the Miller Staffroom – who used to test us
for reading, maths, I.Q. etc. She
was disabled, but very nice and pleasant.’ In
the years before its closure the West Public, then it is clear, was used, at
times, as an annex housing the school’s Infant Department, on occasions for
middle school classes and for much of the time the P7 pupils were housed within
its walls. In the latter years it has been an annex of Thurso College
principally providing a joinery facility and is now being further developed by
the college. The
recent developments involving a £1 million upgrade will result in the building
being used to house the Environmental Research Institute of the University of
the Highlands and Islands. The degrees of the UHI will be delivered at the new
Institute by the North Highland College, formerly Thurso College.
The re-furbished building has state of the art laboratories and office
space to accommodate 30 people involved in research, teaching, study and
administration. Finance for the
development has been provided by the European Regional Development Fund, the
Millennium Commission and Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise.
In addition a grant of £20,000 from the UK Atomic Energy Authority has
also been provided as this organisation has an interest in the use of the centre
for research projects to support the nuclear decontamination work on the
Dounreay site. It
is interesting to note that the West Public was at one point considered as a
site for the Thurso swimming pool finally situated at Millbank.
I am told by James Campbell of the architects Sinclair MacDonald that the
cost of converting the school building for use as a swimming pool would have
been much greater than building on a new site.
This is, indeed, what happened with the construction of Thurso Swimming
Pool at Millbank. The picture above
shows the West Public as it was in 1999 before the latest refurbishment. A
report of a Caithness County Council meeting from the John O’ Groat Journal of
March 1962 is worth printing in full for its information and humour. “‘When
is it proposed to start work on the Cow’s Park School?’ asked Provost D K
Sutherland at Thurso Area Education Sub-committee’s monthly meeting.
Replying that it was hoped it would start this year, Mr Walter Sinclair,
chairman, added that they were very anxious that it should start as soon as
possible so that the Thurso Swimming Pool Association could get the West Public
School (a heated indoor pool is to be sited there).
‘It is Mount Pleasant School. It
is entirely wrong that it should be called the Cow’s Park School,’ said Miss
I. Cormack. ‘I’m sorry, I did
not know it had been named,’ replied Provost Sutherland.
‘It was named some time ago,’ said the chairman.” The
closing of the West Public School in 1966 is recorded by Mr Dallas in the school
log. He notes, ‘Since
we have now vacated the West Public and the old building we now occupy merely
the main building here and the demountable huts together with the new domestic
science block and the old science block which has now had the ceilings lowered
and been generally much improved.’ He
further indicates that, ‘Roughly 570
pupils children left to attend the new school at Mount Pleasant, together with
Miss Linekar, Mrs Macgregor, Miss Walker, Mrs Maclean, Miss Rankine, Miss
Henderson. Mrs Cameron and Mrs Livingston.’
An astonishing number of pupils transferred when you consider that the
roll of Miller Academy is now well below this number and Mount Pleasant School
presently has a roll below half of
that in 1966. Staff transferring
were selected after a meeting held in the Miller Academy music room on 14th
May 1966. This meeting was attended
by Mr Tom Pollok, Chairman of the Education Committee, Mr Hugh Stewart, Director
of Education, Mr Robert Churchill, Deputy Director of Education, and all the
Thurso teachers. It is reported
that the meeting was somewhat acrimonious as some members of staff were unhappy
about having to transfer. Miss Wares with one of her classes outside the West Public.
A
West Public class of 1936:
Back Row: Miss MacKay, Snowy McIntosh, Hamish Elder, David Lindsay, Alistair Sinclair, Willie Sinclair, Ben Bruce, Patrick McDonald,, David Sinclair, Jimmy McLaggan, Peter Bain, Duncan Munro, George Sinclair, Donnie Swanson, George Ross. Middle Rows: George Reid, ? , ? , Jenny Henderson, Nancy Bain, Margaret Alexander, Catherine McKenzie, Elizabeth Swanson, Margaret Manson, Ella Reid, Bertha MacLeod, Winnie Leask, Cissie Bain, Margaret Ann Sinclair, Katie Henderson, Isobel Sinclair, Patsy Mowat, Margaret Miller, Janet Bain, ? , Mary Thomson, Donnie Booth, Eddie Miller. Front Row: Clair McKenzie, Margaret
Wallace, Minnie Miller, Isobel Reid, Cathie Brims, Heather Mowat, Helen Swanson,
? , Margaret MacKay, George
Wallace.
Over
the years many voluntary groups associated with the town of Thurso used the West
Public and the hut in the school grounds as a meeting place.
One such group was the Brownies. Back
Row: Kathleen Geddes, Joan Manson,
Particia Gallow, Alice Gray, Christine Gunn. Middle
Row: Agnes Custer, Joan Kennedy,
Margaret Fell, Ann Mackay, Louise Munro, Elspeth Manson, Isobel Reid. Front
Row: Maimie Murray, Doris Craig,
Brown Owl Miss Gordon, Tawny Own Hettie Munro, Christine Downie, Florence
Devenney. |
