Summer Term Timetable, 1941 by Erin Maughan

Summer term timetable from 1941 by Erin Maughan

I decided to research a timetable from the summer term of 1941. This timetable was from a competition in which a form tutor had set ‘to make a colourful notice board timetable’ over the holidays for some Lower 4 pupils. The timetable is an attempt made by one of the pupils in this class, who won house points for Haberdashers for her efforts. 

  

There are a few similarities and differences from this timetable to that of a modern Lower 4 timetable. For example, students in 1940-1941 Lower 4 studied subjects which we do not, such as Needlework. Also, pupils studied separate areas of Maths, for example this pupil studied Geometry, Algebra and Arithmetic (which now all come under maths). By looking at a modern Lower 4 timetable, we can see that pupils at The Maynard do still study some of the same subjects of 1940-1941 pupils; for example, Geography, English, Music, Latin and Science.

              

  

I also did some research into what subjects the girl who made this timetable took for her General School Examination (the equivalent to the modern day GCSE’s) in 1944. I found out that my pupil took English Literature, Geography, French, Elementary Mathematics, and Domestic Subjects. Domestic subjects was a variety of tasks, such as cookery, dress-making, laundry and needlework which girls could choose to take for their General School Examinations. By looking at the Maynard’s whole school results from this year we can see the wide range of subjects that girls could choose from. For example Ancient History, Geometrical Drawing, Handicraft, Botany and book-keeping! We can also see that popular subjects from the class of 1944 included Geography, Latin and History (still popular subjects in 2016!) Lastly, a notable difference to the modern day GCSE’s is that the final grades were written as a number and not as a grade as we know today.

• Did you take the General School Examination at the Maynard between 1918 and 1951? 
• What subjects did you take? 
• And what did you do next with it? 

As always the Archive Club would love to hear from you either by commenting below or via our email link.