Short History of Schools in the Village

There have been a number of schools in the village, parish and private. The photograph above is of the present school in Wellhouse Road.

The Parish School was started at Ballgreen in 1830 (evidence of the date can be found on the wall of what is now a byre but was in fact the school). It is believed that the first Headmaster was Alexander Livingston. This school closed in 1862 when the present school was built. The last Headmaster was Mr McCallum who was appointed to the new school.

There appear to have been three private establishments:

1. Girl's School run by Miss Steven at Beechgrove. The school catered principally for girls with the main subject being sewing. It is not known when the school opened but it continued up until 1880. In 1873 there were 41 pupils.

2. Boy's School run by local man William McKie (who had a club foot). Although it is not known when this school was set up it is understood that William McKie was employed at the Parish School at Ballgreen but failed to get a position at the new school and consequently set up his own school. The school closed when William McKie died in 1872 age 34. William McKie was my grandfather's (also William McKie) uncle.

Candlemas Day (2nd February) seemed to be a special day in the school calendar as on this day the pupils brought in money to the teacher and, in return, were given oranges as a special treat.  Discipline on this day was somewhat lax and the children threw orange peel and pips at the teacher. At the point when it got out of hand school would be dismissed and the children sent home. Around 30 children attended the school.

3. Small Children's School (age up to 8/9) run by Peggy Mark. The school was held in her house in a room which also contained the kitchen utensils and her bed. The fire was on the earth floor, kept in place by stones, with the 18 or so children seated on chairs around the walls. The children were required to take in a piece of peat every day for the fire and the child who brought in the largest piece was allowed to sit nearest to the fire. In addition to this each child had to bring in a penny every Monday to pay for their education. This made up only part of Peggy's income as she also sat "flow'rin her wab the hale day' (wab is embroidery).

As at the Boy's School, Candlemas Day was a special day and the children were expected to bring something special for the teacher - nothing less than silver was acceptable. The children were given a treat which, at Peggy's school, was 'whisky toddy' ! The parish minister Dr Charles was known to visit on these days !

Apart from the 'Penny Book' the only reading material in the school was the Bible.

The Present School  opened in 1862 in Wellhouse Road with Mr McCallum as the Headmaster. He retired in 1898 at the age of 72 having been in teaching for 57 years. 

The school started off with just two rooms but was extended over the years to accommodate the growing number of pupils (depite the odd petition from ratepayers). Improvements included central heating  and a less than efficient gravitation water sujpply. The two teachers were increased by the employment of pupil teachers and monitors. The most successful pupil teacher was Alexander Hutcheson who later became Headmaster of Boroughmuir school in Edinburgh, retiring from there in the 1930's. ,

From the start the school had a bad reputation for truancy which led to bickering between the School Board and Mr McCallum. The truancy continued beyond the latter's tenure until about 1929. However, Mr McCallum, himself, was often in trouble with the School Board as he tended to take unauthorised time off and brought his greyhounds into the school. It is said that he washed his dogs in the school and dried them in front of the fire. The boys knew their teacher was fond of his dogs and used this to their advantage e.g. on one occasion a boy arrived late and was threatened with the tawse (strap/belt). "Please sir", he said, " my faither says 'e hae the best dog in the parish, an could 'e come tae the meet at the 'Mark' the morn ? - needless to say the boy was not punished.

In 1875 there were 133 pupils at the school.

During WW2 the headmaster was William Heatlie who was also Deputy Chief Observer in the Royal Observer Corps. (Rev Hugh Tolland was Chief Observer).

Local girl, the late Molly Parker (nee Armstrong) was a 'weel kent' and highly respected Head Teacher between 1969 and 1980.

Sometimes classes were held in the fields behind the school - new housing is there now.