The School at Point in View

The school was established as the result of the Mary Parminter Trust, which was set up in 1813 after Jane Parminter’s death. It was based at the Point in View Chapel which had been finished in 1811, just in time for Jane to be buried there.

By 1827, four almswomen over 50 years of age, poor but respectable, were housed at Point in View in rooms surrounding the Chapel. The Deed arranged for one of the almswomen to become the Schoolmistress who would educate six local girls, also from poor, respectable families. This would take place in her home, the South Entrance. In 1827 Ann Down was appointed as the first Schoolmistress and the first six girls were selected by Trustees and approved by Mary Parminter.

The children were to be taught Reading and needlework. There was no charge for this education, and each girl was given schoolbooks, including a Bible and Watt’s Psalms and Hymns. The girls were provided with a Stuff Gown, a Straw bonnet, a Linen Cap and a Vandyke Tippet. As the result of a provision in Mary’s will in 1850, they also were given shoes.

Free education for girls was attractive to many parents. Local ‘dame’ schools often charged a fee or insisted on the provision of pen, paper and ink. However, education was seen as more use to boys than girls. If a mother needed a daughter at home or occasionally to work to supplement the family income, the daughter would be removed from school or attend irregularly

In the early years of Point in View there was a constant battle over attendance both at school and at Sunday services. In 1848 a new rule was introduced that the girls could not miss more than one day a week ‘without reasonable and sufficient cause’. Mary Stocker retired in 1851 and was replaced the following year by Mary White, aged 53. Attendance improved and the Trustees showed some satisfaction in this.

Under Miss White the curriculum began to expand. Writing seems to have been added to the Reading and Plain Work soon after the school opened.. During Mahala Perriam’s employment as Schoolmistress, the Minutes make increased references to the original skills required by Mary Parminter. In 1897 The girls’ knitting was pronounced very good and the following year their sewing was reported as having been examined by a lady.

In 1851 Miss White was given a desk; Nine years later a hanging writing desk was supplied for the pupils with holes for inkwells. It wasn’t until 1882 that the school room gained a stove. The school, however, remained popular with parents. There was sometimes competition for places and occasionally praise for its success.

However, such a small school containing girls of mixed ages could not survive social change. In 1870 the Education Act provided accessible schooling for all boys and girls at elementary level. This made it much easier for girls to achieve a basic education. In 1891 education at an elementary level became free in most schools, which reduced the advantages of Point in View further.

Inevitably when one of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate visited in 1901, the school was closed and parents were required to remove their children to a ‘certified efficient school’. In the vestry at Point in View you can still see the hanging desk, a school bench, a sampler and one of the girls’ bonnets. These are all situated in the original schoolroom, part of the old South Entrance.