Essendon North Primary School No. 4015
IN the early decades of the 20th Century Essendon North was predominately a rural area, and the suburbs of Niddrie and Airport West did not exist. In 1915, residents of the area petitioned for a local school. A commission was established to investigate the feasibility of a school, recommending that none be established at that time, despite overcrowding at other local schools. However, it was only one year later that the Director of Education requested an enquiry and report be made on establishing a school in Essendon North. Support for the school in the community was still great, with an inspector noting next to one signature, “His only child is about 25 years of age!”
Site of Essendon North Primary School c1920 - the school is enclosed by the hedge.
“Opposite the school were open paddocks, pretty well done to Buckley Street, west of McCracken Street, McCracken Street being made about 1926. From the back of the school grounds it was very sparsely populated with a few houses here and there to the Essendon Airport (then called Essendon Aerodrome). There were a few houses and farms along Keilor Road to Keilor.”
- Roy Blackstone
The location for Essendon North Primary School (ENPS) was chosen from among five possible sites. In 1918 the site, a former apple orchard, was purchased for £1583. However, because of the war in Europe at that time, and unacceptably high tenders for building, work on building the school was delayed until 1919.
On 9 September 1920 the school was officially opened, with 195 students attending. It was not long though before the school became overcrowded: by December of that year there were 245 students. Even more students attended in the new year. In February 1921 there were 255 students in four rooms, with desks adequate for only 200. In 1922 the District Inspector wrote that the “desks applied for are urgently needed as a great many pupils are sitting three a desk, a posture neither hygienic or educational.” In August 1927, enrolments passed 500 students. By the late 1940s the student population passed 600; in 1950 there were 950 students attending ENPS, resulting in severe overcrowding.
Learning in the 1950s.
Some aspects of school life were different in the first half of the 20th Century from what they are now. In the classroom students were expected to stand until their teacher entered the room, and then to address the teacher with “Good-morning”. At the end of the day the students would say “Good-evening” and then file out of the room. In the senior grades boys and girls were segregated, both in the classroom and in the playground. The school-week would begin with the breaking of the flag, the recitation of the Loyal Declaration and the singing of the the National Anthem.
THE LOYAL DECLARATION
“I Love God and my Country,
I honour the Flag,
I will serve the King,
And cheerfully obey
My parents, teachers and the Law.”
Essendon North Primary was a noisy place. Keilor Road was a main thoroughfare for traffic into and out of the city, and the tramway, with a stop outside the school, added to the noise. The flight-path for Essendon Airport takes aeroplanes overhead - Essendon Airport was the main airport for Melbourne before Tullamarine was built. During the 1950s one aircraft lost a propeller and some engine parts which landed in the school grounds. Although no one was injured, some people were splattered with oil.
During the 1960s attitudes in society were changing, and this included education. A teacher at the school, Jill Missing, recalls that the Infant Mistress Miss Ragland said, “I don’t mind how you do it as long as you make sure they can read before the end of the year!” However, some old practices remained, as children who were left-handed were still forced to write with their right-hand. Although general attitudes in education had changed, ENPS became known as having traditional values, where literacy, numeracy and character training were important. It was this traditionalism in education that attracted many teachers to the school, such as Edith McGibbony, who commented that “To come to Essendon North was like heaven after what I had endured for three years. I found friends of like mind, who were like myself, traditional teachers.”
The school choir of 1968 posing in front of the main building.
“Streader would enter your classroom. The first thing he would do is lick his fingers and wipe them along the ledge above the blackboard. “You have great dusting monitors. Well done! Attention to dusting is a must in this unhealthy classroom.” One always taught the students the names of flowers they brought, especially District Inspector week… He’d grab a flower when he entered and then give a birds and bees story – stamen, corolla, pistil, calyx, etc. What a showman! The kids were supposed to be doing maths.”
- Peter McLinden
Traditional values didn’t mean there was no fun, though. Bill Henderson, a middle grades teacher during the ’50s, would hide a projector under the desk of a student in the front row. When it was turned on a faint image could barely been seen on the blackboard. When the District Inspector, Mr. Streader, came to the school to conduct his assessment, the projector would be turned on by the student and Mr. Henderson would proceed to draw a map of the world, quite accurate and seemingly freehand. As the District Inspector rushed to the front of the room to see close up this amazing sight, the student would turn off the projector. Astounded at this ‘skill’, the Inspector cried out, “Mr. Henderson you have a flair for the subject. Well done my boy.”
As computing and information technologies have become more important in society, ENPS has adapted to meet the change in the requirements of education. No longer will the three Rs (Reading, ’Riting and ’Rithmatic) suffice. Students are now part of a “learning community” in a Navigator School. The Navigator School system was developed by the Department of Education & Training to pioneer Learning Technologies to improve teaching, learning and school administrative practices. The focus of these schools is to support the development of students as autonomous learners, where the preferred learning style of the student is fostered. The days of chanting, rote learning and teacher knows all is over; education is now a partnership between teacher and student. In 2001 ENPS was recognised for its achievements when it was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Smithsonian Institute.
In speaking of the school of the 1960s, W. D. Gilbert said, “It was not only a good school, but a great school, which didn’t have to boast about itself as its achievements spoke volumes.” It is a comment that holds today.
- Stephen Moore, 2005.
ENPS student in Grade 4, 1984.
References:
Marshall, M. (Compiler), Essendon North Primary School No. 4015 75th Anniversary 1920 - 1995, Essendon North Primary School, 1995.
http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/ict/research/navschls.htm
http://www.navcon.org/consortium.shtml
*All photographs taken from Marshall.
