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However, according to the
certificate that is on the frontispiece, the school at Ridley
was still in existence in 1886. There is no mention of this
anywhere else and it may be it was just a Sunday-School.
As for the main National School in Ash, the 1870
Education Act had a marked effect on it. Up until 1870 it
appears to have been left fairly well alone. There was the
occasional inspection, but in the main it was left to it’s own
devices. The 1870 Act changed all this, and Ash National School
became known to the inspectors from the Board of Education. They
descended on Ash at least once every year and every year they
reported that the school was inefficient. In fact as late as
1912, when Miss Wright became headmistress, it was still a
‘warned school’.4 |
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The first inspector’s report
is dated 15th December 1871 and is signed by G. R. Moncrieff. It
contains four points. The first two simply state that there are
‘555 inhabitants, these are of the class who’s children may
be expected to attend elementary schools’, and that there
should be accommodation for 93 children in the school. The
report maintains that there are no efficient schools in the
district, and gives the following suggestions : ‘from the
peculiar shape of the Parish many children would naturally go to
school in other parishes, viz; Ridley, Meopham, Stansted and
Kingsdown. If Ridley and Stansted were efficient and new schools
were built at Kingsdown and Culverstone Green, a slight
enlargement
4 See appendix 7 |