The
secretary to the managers was the vicar. He supervised the school,
checking that the master and mistress were doing a good job.
This included testing the children in their religious knowledge and
other subjects, reporting to the managers if
there were problems in the school and communicated the managers’
decisions to the master and mistress. Parents who wanted to send
their children to the school had to apply to the vicar and any
complaints about the school had to be addressed to him.
An early
set of rules
stated that, “The elder Children from both Schools are expected to attend on
Sunday. Continued absence on that day will be followed by a dismissal.”
This presumably refers to attendance at the Sunday School held in the church.
The 1851 census return tells that on Sunday, 30th March of that year, there were
74 ‘Sunday Scholars’ attending both the morning and the afternoon
sessions. This would have included many pupils who did not attend the day
school. The log book recorded that
the children were often told off on Mondays either for not attending
church on the Sabbath or for bad behaviour in church.
The teachers of the school were
expected to teach Sunday classes but we also know that
at least one member of the Norman family helped them
because the school log book tells us that "Miss Norman’s
Sunday class went at 3.30 to have tea at Bromley Common." (the
Norman family home) in 1870.
The
rule about pupils attending church on Sundays was probably relaxed after
the 1870 Education Act but, even in 1894, it was still a part
of their contract that the the teachers taught in the Sunday schools.
Mr and Mrs Moate were
required "to conduct and take charge of the Sunday schools
and to teach the scholars therein… except during the school holidays."
