This is a summary of a talk given by Roberta Wilson at Christ the Servant King on October 23rd 2013. A fuller version is available at www.bookerpast.org

THE nineteenth century was a time of such widespread growth of schools for the less well off that by the 1860s the government was able to contemplate compulsory education for all. A first step towards this was the introduction, in 1870, of Board Schools to fill gaps in school provision.

West Wycombe parish was among the first communities to apply to set up a School Board; this being established in 1872 with West Wycombe School opening in 1874. In 1889, Booker joined Wheeler End and Downley as part of the West Wycombe group of schools.

A ‘two-room school’, one for infants and the other for older children, Booker School was initially built to take 63 pupils but after just eight years it had become overcrowded and was extended to a capacity of 135. Even this might not have been sufficient had not the opening of Sands School in 1902 taken the pressure off places in Booker. After that numbers dropped to around 100 and remained there for more or less the remainder of the life of the school.

Since the government grant depended on satisfactory results in reading, writing and arithmetic, teaching at Board Schools concentrated primarily on the ‘3 Rs’. An additional grant was available for drawing, a subject for which Booker School was rated as ‘excellent’ for three consecutive years in the 1890s.

Head Teachers

The first advertisement for a head teacher was specifically for a head mistress. Caroline Hulett was in her early 20s when she took up the post. Faced with teaching single-handed, assisted by monitors, and with a daily ‘commute’ from lodgings in West End Road, Miss Hulett applied for a testimonial after 18 months saying she ‘did not care to face another winter’. She was succeeded by Matilda Rattue. Older and more experienced and with the benefit, after the first year, of Miss Gray as assistant, Miss Rattue began to pull the school around. By the end of 1894, her final year, the inspector was able to report ‘the general condition of this out-of-the way little school is most satisfactory’.

There followed a succession of young headmasters until, in 1907, stability arrived in the form of Gilbert Williams, who was to stay until his retirement in 1936. Mr Williams requested, and was granted, provision of a School House. Since three out of four of his predecessors left when they got married, one wonders whether the history of the school might have been different had accommodation been provided earlier.

Becomes a Council School

When Board Schools were abolished by the Education Act of 1902, Booker became a Council School under the administration of Buckinghamshire County Council. While the three Rs were still central to the curriculum and drawing continued to be a strong subject, the range of lessons broadened to include history, geography, a little elementary science and also singing.

Being well known as a practical man, Mr Williams developed the school garden, a feature which is particularly remembered by those who attended the school. Towards the end of his tenure he also achieved his dream of a handicrafts room where he could teach woodwork to older boys. This he built himself with the help of some older pupils.

Administration of the school changed again in 1934 when Booker became a part of High Wycombe. Initially the Borough Council had plans to extend and upgrade the school but instead older pupils were transferred to Mill End School when it opened in 1937. The school closed in 1939 when the younger children joined the newly opened Castlefield School.

After World War II, the school building was bought by Crooks, who planned to use it as a coach garage. When the council refused permission for this change of use, the building became derelict and was eventually demolished. Glade View was built on the site some years later.