The Renaissance of Girls' Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years' ProgressZimmern, Alice
History
The Renaissance of Girls' Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years' Progress
Zimmern, Alice
Women -- Education -- Great Britain
Meantime similar schools were springing up all over the country. At
Plymouth one was started by a local branch of the National Union, at
Huddersfield by a local company, at Southampton by the Hampshire
Association, at Manchester by private subscription, at Bradford by an
endowment. The impulse given by the Union and its pioneer schools was
felt everywhere, and it seemed as though before long every large town in
England would have a proprietary or public school for girls. A rival
company was founded in 1883. The Church Schools Company differed from
the Girls’ Public Day School Company in making definite Church teaching
one of its objects, while the religious instruction of the Girls’ Public
Day School Company had always aimed at being, as far as possible,
undenominational. The promoters of the Church Schools thought that as
there was room for voluntary schools side by side with board schools, so
there might also be scope for Church High Schools in spite of the
existence of the Girls’ Public Day School Company. Their original
proposal was to start schools of various grades for boys and girls above
the class attending elementary schools, where a general education should
be given, in accordance with the principles of the Church of England, at
a moderate cost.
A beginning was made with day-schools for girls, and hitherto little
else has been done. It is probable that this Church Company did, to some
extent, meet a need, but it was not a very large one. The majority of
the Church of England parents are perfectly satisfied with the religious
instruction of the Girls’ Public Day School Company schools, and the new
schools drew their pupils, not so much by an appeal to those who
disapproved on principle of the existing high schools, as by
establishing themselves in towns which the other company had not
entered. Naturally they appealed to a smaller class, and can never
expect to attain the numbers of the undenominational high schools. Hence
they have always been, to some extent, hampered, for though the company
is financially sound, and gives a small dividend to shareholders, it has
had to economise very severely in the matter of salaries and buildings.
This must always re-act to some extent on the education, and it is
probably for this reason that these Church Schools have never attained
the high position of their rivals. The fees paid vary according to the
locality, some being as low as £4, 4s., others as high as £18, 18s.; £9,
9s. to £12, 12s. seems the commonest fee. Many of the schools are very
small. At present the number is twenty-six, and they are situated at
Bournemouth, Brighton, Bury St. Edmunds, Derby, Dewsbury, Durham,
Gloucester, Guildford, Hull, Kendal, Kensington, Leicester,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northampton, Reading, Reigate, Richmond, St. Albans,
Streatham, Stroud Green, Sunderland, Surbiton, Wigan, Woolwich, Great
Yarmouth, York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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