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section about School with a
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Schools with a Difference
The Blue Coat School
Bryan Blundell, a local mariner and ship
owner founded the Blue Coat Hospital, later known as the
Blue Coat School, in 1708. In 1718 the school moved to
a new building in School Lane. This is now the Bluecoat
Chambers arts centre. It was a boarding school and fifty
children, both boys and girls lived there.The school taught
"poor children to read, write and cast accounts". There
were strict rules, which had to be obeyed.
In the eighteenth century some of the money needed to
run the school was raised by the children, who did work
like making stockings or pins. In 1906 the school moved
to its present site in Wavertree. |
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Seamen's Orphanage
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As you might guess from its name the Seamen's Orphanage,
or to give it its full title the Royal Liverpool Seamen's
Orphan Institution, looked after the children of local
seamen who had died. The building in Newsham Park opened
in 1876.
Lessons included scripture, writing, composition, arithmetic,
reading, history, geography, mapping and "type-writing".
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The large building was designed to accommodate up to 400
children. Facilities included a chapel, a sanatorium, workshops,
a recreation hall and, in 1900, a swimming bath. The school
closed in 1949, but the charitable work continues.
Indefatigable
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How would you like to go to school on a ship? The
boys of the Indefatigable did. There were two ships
called the Indefatigable, which were moored in the
River Mersey close to New Ferry. The first was used
from 1864 until 1914 and the second until 1941. They
were training ships for "the sons and orphans of sailors".
As well as teaching the usual subjects like reading
and arithmetic, the boys learnt about practical seamanship,
such as navigation, use of the compass, setting, reefing
and furling sails etc. They slept on board in hammocks,
cleaned the ship themselves and washed and mended
their own clothes. The ships in the river were replaced
by a land-based Indefatigable School in Anglesey.
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Disabled Children
Fazakerley Day Open Air Special School for Delicate
Children opened in 1938. It was thought that the children
would benefit from fresh air and so the school was built
with huge windows, which could be opened wide whenever the
weather was suitable.
The Liverpool School for the Blind was founded in 1791 using
premises in Commutation Row. This was the first in the country
and one of the earliest in Europe. £600 had been raised to
fund the project. Although it was called a "school" people
between the ages of fourteen and fifty were admitted. They
did not live there but were taught such things as music or
handicrafts. The school still exists, but now has premises
at Wavertree.
Industrial Schools
Day Industrial Schools started in the 1880's and 1890's
for children who did not go to school regularly. The usual
school subjects were taught and some industrial training
in subjects like sewing, cookery, drawing and woodwork.
The main difference to ordinary schools was that the children
stayed all day, from 8.00am to 6.00 p.m. and that their
meals were provided as well. |
Kirkdale Industrial Schools
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The schools were only closed on Christmas Day and Easter.
There were no other holidays. Boys who persistently truanted
were sent to a residential Industrial School at Hightown,
where they would stay for at least four months. |
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