The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-07-16 00:00:00

CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL SOCIETY. I

The annual meeting of the members and friends of the
Church of England School Society was held on Wednesday,
in the lecture-room of the Royal Institution, Colquitt-street,
far the purpose of receiving the report of the committee for
the past year, and the election of officers for the year ensu-
ing. The meeting was but thinly attended.
On the motion of Mr. ADAM HODGSON, the Rev. JONA-
THAN BROOKS, senior rector, was called to the chair.
Toe CHAIRMAN, after having stated the objects of the
meeting, and apologised for the unavoidable absence of the
secretary, the Rev. F. Barker, read the following roport of
the committee

REPORT,

The committee of the Church of England School Society,
in presenting the fifth annual report of their proceedings to
the members, congratulate them on the continued success
which, under the Divine blessing, attends the society ; for
though, in the quiet and ordinary progress of the schools,
there cannot be much to attract general attention, or to call
for the notice of the committee, yet they trust that, in the
advancement of the children in useful knowledge, in the
increased attendance at church in many instances, in the
improvement of the discipline of the schools, in the support
given to them by the public, and in the endeavours of their
managers to make them the means of conveying the know-
ledge of salvation to the children, they have sufficient evi-
dence that thus far the Lord has helped them.
The numbers in the schools are about 900 in each.
It is in the recollection of the members of the society, that
when it was originally established, provision was made by
the 24th law for " building a central school, in which facili-
ties were to be given for the training of wasters and perfect-
ing the system of school teaching on the principles of the
established church."
In the last report it was stated, that the plan of a central
school had been abandoned, chiefly because the " Chester
Diocesan Board of Education" had formed a normal school
in Chester for the training of masters.
Your committee are happy to state, that the " Chester
Training College" seems likely to be eminently successful ;
and as two institutions of this kind. if established in the
same diocese at the same time, might materially interfere
with each other's success, they propose that the 24th law
shall be repealed, and that their friends in Liverpool be re-
quested to lend their aid towards the support of the Chester
Institution, as one from which not only Liverpool, but the
whole diocese, may be expected to reap important advan-
tages.

In order that your schools might receive some immediate
benefit from the establishment of the 'Training College, the
committee have founded two exhibitions to be given to boys
of the north and south schools who have first passed the
requisite examination at Chester. The amount of each ex-
hibition is £l2 10s. per annum for three years ; this sum
defrays one-half of the expense of the boy's education. Two
boys, named Hardy and Roberts, have been elected, and the
report of the former is in every respect satisfactory ; and of
the other no report has yet been received.
While on this point, your committee may observe, that in
order still further to encourage the children to remain at the
schools, they have established a sick club in each, and hope
that a more regular attendance during the xteek, as well as a
continued attendance on Sundays by many who have left the
schools, will be the result.

In consequence of the change of 7aw above mentioned,
schools in connexion with the new churches erected by.the
" Liverpool Church Building Society" were resolved upon.
Your committee were able to procure part of the land on
which the church in Naylor-street is situated, and have built
three convenient schools, capable of containing about 500
children, which will be brought into operation immediately.
After a long and ineffectual endeavour to procure land in
the neighbourhood of Greenland-street. (where also from
the proximity of other schools it was difficult to find a desi-
rable situation for a new one,) your committee have resolved
that three schools, and a dwelling-house in the same build-
ing, shall be erected, in connexion with St. Clement's
Church, at a cost not to exceed £lOOO, the clergyman of the
church and the friends of education in that neighbourhood
undertaking that the society shall be at no expense in their
management beyond an annual payment of £lO, and that
the schools shall he entirely under the government of the
society.

The six new schools thus built by the society's funds are
of a smaller size than those already existing, your com-
mittee having been led to adopt this plan from the conviction
that a school, containing more than 150 children, is beyond
the efficient control of a single master and an assistant, and
that it is far better to multiply smaller and well managed
schools, than to collect a large number of children in one
building where the teacher cannot have the power of giving
them a vigilant oversight. With this exception, your com-
mittee have trod in the path marked out by their predeces-
sors in office. It has been their primary object to train up
the children in the saving knowledge of God, as revealed to
man in His holy word, brought within his reach by the in-
carnation and death of Lord Jesus Christ, imparted to him
by the influence of the Holy Spirit, received by faith, and
productive of a holy life. But, while they are deeply im-
pressed with the importance of sound scriptural education,
according to the forms of the Church of England, they earn-
estly desire to bring the schools into such a state of effici-
ency as may commend that education to the approval of the
parents and friends of the children committed to their care.
Though your committee have no doubt that a very strong
feeling in favour of the Church of England pervades the mass
of the population of Liverpool, yet in many cases this is not
accompanied with a sufficient degree of intelligence to make
the parents prefer the sound but less attractive education of
the church to the popular modes of instruction which are in

In order that our schools may be universally prized,
they must be worthy of being so; they must be valued
not for the pecuniary or other temporal advantages held
out in them, nor for attempts at conciliation by the sa-
crifice of principle, nor for the futile endeavours to teach in
the two or three years which form the average of a child's at-
tendance at school, that which can only be learnt by long and
patient study ; hut for the soundness of the religious instruc-
tion, and for the usefulness of the secular knowledge im-
parted in them, for their order, for the activity, kindness,
and efficiency of the teachers, for the intelligence of the chil-
dren, and for the careful superintendance of the clergy.
Schools of this kind alone will be able to compete with insti-
tutions, from which, either avowedly or practically, religious
education is excluded. It is useless to content ourmtives with
inveighing against the separation of religious from secular
instruction, or exposing the sinfulness of refusing to teach
children the.way of salvation, if we do not at the same time
offer to the' parents the advantages of a well-conducted school.
We may refute erroneous notions by the former course, but
we can never hope to succeed practically amongst the poor
but by the adoption of the latter.
The reports which in various ways have come under the
notice of your committee, as well as their own observations
convince them that the education of the children of the la-
bouring classes might be materially improved. For without
receiving all that has been said on this subject as universally
true, or supposing that a few exaggerated cases of ignorance
are to be taken as a sample of the results of national school
instruction, it cannot be denied, that the acquirements of a
national schoolmaster and the condition of his school are too
often below the standard which ought to be attained.
Several causes have operated to produce these effects. One
is the insufficient salary i►hich has been given to this class of
persons. To conduct a school properly requires such a com-
bination of qualities and attainments, as, in a town like Li-
verpool, will be certain to meet with an adequate pecuniary
compensation.

The education, the character, the steadiness of conduct,
the temper and the general respectability, which ought to be
found in every master, are such as to deserve a larger salary
than the average wages of a mechanic, or even of a clerk in
an office. But when the remuneration has approximated
nearer to the scale of payment to the day labourer than any
other, it was not to be wondered at that men, who were unfit
for the occupation, should be found amongst the number of
our schoolmasters. Happily for your schools such a state of
things is not permitted to exist in them, and by offering to
respectable persons the means of their maintenance, we may
hope that efficient teachers will in all cases be secured.
Another cause of the comparative inefficiency of national
schools, is the difficulty of securing a proper inspection and
regular examination of them. However well-disposed the
committee may be to discharge their duty, it cannot be
expected that they should be fully acquainted with the de-
tails of school management. A casual inspection by
their members is, therefore, of little value in carrying out the
arrangements of the school, even if it were desirable that
they should interfere with them, while the examination by
the clergyman into the religious instruction communicated
to the children, though on every account most impOrtant, is
not sufficient to secure the efficiency of the school in every
department. The multifarious engagements of the clergy
make such an examination in some cases impracticable, in
many irregular, and from the want of comparison with other
schools, from ignorance of the best modes of imparting
knowledge, and the impossibility of giving undivided atten-
tion to what forms but a portion of their duty, they may not
always be well qualified for the discharge of their office.
Your committee, in common with all friends of education in
connexi with the Established Church, hail with great sa-
tisfactioon n the appointment of inspectors by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, for the schools in union with the National
Society, as well as a similar appointment in this diocese by
the Bishop of Chester. The importance of these offices can
hardly be overrated, when it is considered, that by means of
them, the present state of education will be thoroughly
known, the best plans will be pointed out, the evils in many
cases corrected, and a fund of information obtained, which
will be invaluable to all persons who are. desirous of esta-
blishing or efficiently conducting schools,
The only cause of regret is, that in a diocese so extensive
as this, the visits of the inspector must be too brief and dis-
tant to be available for the direction and oversight of each
school. It will be a subject well worthy of the consideration
of the next committee, if in combination with the managers
of other schools in Liverpool, such arrangements could not
be made for the permanent and frequent inspection of the
schools of the society.

Vv
It is obvious that a person devoted to this work, having an
intimate acquaintance with the best methods of instruction,
and having only such a number of schools under his inspec-
tion as would permit him to maintaina constant oversight of
them, would be a most useful auxiliary to the clergy and
committee of schools. . . _

The increased expenditure arising from the support of the
newly-erected schools in Naylor-street, and the adoption of
such a plan of inspection as your committee have mentioned,
will require additional exertions to be made in obtaining an-
nual subscriptions, and they earnestly appeal to their friends,
and particularly to the clergy, for their assistance in main-
taining an income adequate to the demands upon the society.
The desire of the committee has been to exercise the
strictest economy compatible with the proper efficiency
of the schools, and they trust that these valuable in•
etitutions will never be suffered to languish for want
of the means necessary to preserve them in a higher
state of excellence than that to which they have hitherto
attained.

In this hope your Committee resign their trust to their suc-
cessors,
fervently praying, that He who alone can give the in-
crease, would vouchsafe His blessing upon that seed of Di-
vine truth which has been planted and watered during the
past year, that it may so spring up and grow, as to bring
forth an abundant harvest of holy and religious living to the
honour of His name.
The MEASURER next read his accounts, from which it
appeared that after defraying all demands due up to the pre-
sent moment, there remained a balance in hand of £2OOB
lls. sd. The treasurer explained that to this balance at-
tached a liability to pay, on account of Naylor-street school,
£248, and £lOOO towards the schools at Windsor.
The Rev. A. CANtrimt, junior rector, asked whether
nothing had been received from the lords of the treasury ?
The TREASURER replied in the negative, adding, that
something would be received, but to what amount the secre-
tary would be more able to state than he was.
The CHAIRMAN said that a grant would unquestionably
be made.

The TREASURER felt it his duty to mention that in the
past year, owing to various causes, there had been a decrease
in the subscriptions to the amount of £4O, whilst the new
subscriptions amounted to only six guineas. It was very
necessary, therefore, that some exertion should be used in
order to keep up this source of revenue. (Hear, hear.)
On the motion of Mr. J. HoncsoN, seconded by Sir J.
S. P. SALUSBURY, the first resolution, adopting the report,
was unanimously carried.
Mr. POTTER moved, and the ltev. A. CAMPBELL seconded
the next resolution, re-appointing the committee and other
officers of the society.

A resolution was then proposed by the Rev. T. BOLD, and
seconded by Mr. POTTER, for rescinding the 24th law of the
sociely, as recommended by the committy in their report.
Mr. BROOKS was then thanked forvicea in the chair, and
the meeting separated.