First annual report of the Williams Secular School.

  • Williams Secular School.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First annual report of the Williams Secular School. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/32 (page 13)
    property of the children or of the school, were missing, and upon in- quiry it was evident that they must have been stolen. This annoy- ance lasted about six weeks or two months, just as was the case when the school first opened ; but it has now ceased. In the first instance, as before stated, the offenders, upon convic- tion, were dismissed from the school; in two more recent cases, the same sentence was pronounced by the teacher, but he consented to remit it if a majority of at least three-fourths of the pupils expressed a wish that it should be suspended, and would become bail for the offender by carefully watching him, and giving him all the moral aid in their power to resist the temptation to this ruinous vice. They assented to this with unanimous acclamation, and the effect, both upon the culprit and the general public of the school, has been excellent. The school has at all times been open to visitors, many of whom have honoured the teachers with their presence, and thus means have been afforded of testing their professions by their performances. In the course of the year 1849, two examinations of the pupils took place in presence of the parents of the children and their friends, notices of which appeared in the newspapers. As a practical illustration of the manner in which the business of the school is conducted, extracts from these Reports are subjoined in the Appendix. The Promoters of the School have the satisfaction of adding, that the merits of the system, and of Mr Williams as the head teacher, have been fully appreciated by the parents and the children. The latter expressed their approbation by publicly presenting to Mr Wil- liams a handsome writing-desk, with a suitable inscription, as a testi- mony of their esteem. The Promoters consider themselves particularly fortunate in having obtained the services of Miss Carmichael as an assistant-teacher. She was trained at the Queen’s College and in the Normal Seminary of Glasgow, and since she joined the Williams Secular School, she has en- tered into the spirit of, and carried into practice, the principles on which it is founded, in a manner which has secured the esteem and affection of the children, the confidence of the parents, and the approbation of the Promoters. An account of the Receipts and Expenditure of the School is annexed ; and while the Promoters return their sincero thanks to the Trustees of the late W. R. Henderson, Esq., and to the other friends who have so generously supported the school, they feel it a duty to call attention to the large extent to which the money has come from England and Ireland, and express the hope, that hereafter Scotland may give an increasing aid to the education of the children of her own labouring people. GEO. COMBE, JAMES SIMPSON, Promoters. Edinburgh, 6th April 1850.