GOOD MANNERS
ADVOCATED
AT LEATHERHEAD SCHOOL
SPEECH DAY

The cultivation of good manners was advocated by Lord Moynihan when he addressed the pupils of the Leatherhead County Secondary School at their annual speech day on Wednesday. It was the first time the proceedings had been held in the school buildings since before the war and even now the huge hall at the new school in Dilston-road is not large enough to house all the pupils. Some 500 of them attended; the other 230, mostly new entrants this year, could not be accommodated. There was, in addition, a large attendance of parents who saw for the first time what a splendid building has been erected for the children of secondary school age in Leatherhead.

Mr. Alan Walmsley, Chairman of the, Governors, presided and he was supported by all the other Governors, Mr. S. A. Moore (Headmaster), Mr. T.F. Devitt (Chairman of Leatherhead Urban Council), Mr. J. Ede (Clerk) and Mr. C. V. Jenkins (Divisional Education Officer). The prizes were distributed by Lady Moynihan, who was presented with a bouquet by the head prefect, Anne Watson.

In his report, Mr. Moore said the number of pupils on roll, 730, was the largest in the school's history. Some 450 were accommodated in the new school and the remainder in the old building in Kingston-road, although the small school there had been given over to be the new Leatherhead County Primary School. Their new school was not yet completed for the rooms for the practical subjects had not been built. Therefore, each day, pupils and teachers had to travel to the old school for some lessons and pupils from the old school came to the new with a resultant exchange of staff.

Many of the teething difficulties of changing over to the new school had been overcome but the greatest difficulty - so far insuperable - was the fact they now had two schools a quarter of an hour's walk away from each other and situated on a very busy road. This separation tended to destroy the unity of the school and prevented a real corporate life. The construction of a timetable was a nightmare and the administrative problems were now even more complex. It seemed ungrateful to mention such points as the provision of the new building had brought untold advantages, but its non-completion had brought new disadvantages.

Appeal to Parents

After mentioning staff changes, Mr. Moore said each term in the past year had had its full quota of activities including various functions out of school hours. School clubs were functioning well but some of them were handicapped because of the two schools. With regard to athletics, they had been, until recently, without a playing field but in spite of the limited facilities in all spheres of games and athletics they had had a fair number of individual successes. The school surrounds were now being laid out and some of them were already completed.

He said he wanted to make a strong appeal to parents to do their best to equip their children properly for physical education and games. The County had provided first class equipment and playing fields, shower baths and changing rooms but unless the parents provided physical training clothing, plimsolls and football boots, the school would not be much better off: They were not waiting, he hoped, for the County to provide the things. A games teacher could not do his job properly if he found that part of the class was not properly clothed either for physical education in the hall or on the playing field.

He ought to say he was appealing to a small minority of parents, chiefly of the boys; the girls had 100 per cent physical education kit. The senior boys had almost finished laying out two long jump and two high jump pitches and had made a start on the practice cricket wickets. Self-help, he felt, was praiseworthy and incidentally also some saving for the Surrey Education Committee.

Various visits had been made during the year and at Easter 75 pupils, accompanied by seven teachers, visited Belgium. The schemes whereby speakers from various organisations spoke to school-leavers was continued and another helpful scheme would be starting shortly. The school was going to adopt a ship, the Esso Valparaiso, under the British ship adoption scheme.

Successes of the School

Dealing with the curriculum with special reference to school-leavers, Mr. Moore said they felt it was right for their young people to have some objective in mind when they left school. Experience had shown that for boys with a real technical interest the school course could provide them with the necessary qualifications to enter industry in posts where, with continued application to study after leaving the school, they would become skilled and responsible. He emphasised, however, that boys must stay the whole course until they were 16.

The same applied to the commercial course for which so many girls in the school opted. Many of them left at 15 when they had completed only one year of the course. All those girls who stayed on for the full course and left last July secured excellent posts. The technical course, both practical and theoretical, was supervised by masters who had had great industrial experience before becoming teachers. The course was linked with systematic visits to various firms and works. Similarly, the commercial course was supervised by a teacher who had been many years in commercial life before taking up teaching. Leatherhead was rapidly becoming industrialised and there were great opportunities for pupils from the school.

Despite the interruption caused by the move last term the work of the school generally had gone on ahead. In the G.C.E. they presented 17 candidates and passes were obtained in 61 subjects. Under the old School Certificate system the marks in at least seven subjects would have gained distinctions, and one was extremely high. That was a creditable effort, he thought, for pupils, who had not passed the County's common entrance examination, those he termed the "near misses" - creditable to the teachers concerned as well as the pupils.

For those who wished to continue their education they passed them on to the sixth form in a grammar school. Not many boys wished to continue and he thought perhaps the call up for National Service had something to do with it. One boy who went on to a technical college was now nearing the completion of his course as an architect and was taking his A.R.I.B.A. They were proud of the practical help they were able to give their school-leavers in obtaining posts. Concluding, he recorded his deep appreciation of the conscientious manner in which his staff carried out their work in all departments and this included the two school secretaries.

The concentration of the teachers on the less gifted children had continued and the work of the teachers in all departments of the school had been conscientiously carried out. He particularly acknowledged the efficient assistance of his Deputy Head (Miss Bowhill) and the Senior Master (Mr. Biggs) on whom more responsibility rested now that he (the Headmaster) could not be in two places at once. He also paid tribute to the officials at County Hall and the Divisional Office, the school medical and dental officers and the canteen staff at both schools who had provided 85,000 meals in the year ending July last.

He paid tribute to the work of Mr. Walmsley, the only remaining Governor who was a member when he was appointed Headmaster in 1938, although he was glad to know that Miss Noakes and Mr. Devitt, no longer members, were with them that afternoon. The association had been a happy one and few people in Leatherhead realised what the school owed to Mr.Walmsley during more than 15 years of service to it.

Advice to Children

Prefacing his remarks by stating that he knew of no better example of a modern school in the country than the one they had in Leatherhead, Lord Moynihan said that to the children went the task of laying the foundation of the traditions of their school. Their outlook would determine whether it was going to be a good one or a bad one. They were partners with the masters and mistresses and it was by their united efforts they would become proud of their school.

No other generation had had the chances the present one was having, but for some reason modern methods made people lazy and when they left school they expected other people to do things for them the rest of their lives. They could leave school quite fitted for the prospects before them but they should be quite fair and honest. There had been a tendency since the war of doing as little rather than as much as one could. Television, the radio and the cinema all taught people to be led rather than teach them to be leaders. They could enjoy as much as they liked of the modern scientific discoveries but they should make them their servants, not their masters.

Dealing with National Service, Lord Moynihan said he knew how hard it was to work for a job lasting a year or so with the knowledge that the boy was to be called up for something completely different. There were two ways of looking at the question. First, it gave an opportunity of broadening one's outlook and a chance to see the world and secondly, it gave an opportunity for one to wear the Queen's uniform. Concluding, he said he hoped those at the school would cultivate good manners, for good manners meant courtesy.

Thanks were accorded Lord and Lady Moynihan, Mr Walmsley, Mr. Devitt and Mr. Moore on the motion of Mr. Jenkins.

Prize List: as above

provided by Judith Crawford (Tyrrell)

last updated 16 Feb 2005