| AdminHistory | School Boards were established under the Education Act of 1870. Locally elected boards were to provide for rate-aided schools in their area if the number of voluntary schools was deemed inadequate. The schools were funded by a local rate (collected twice a year along with the borough and poor rates), and in some cases by a government grant. The Education Act of 1902 transferred the management of local school boards to local education authorities. The last meeting of Sheffield School Board took place in March 1903.
The first elections to the Sheffield School Board, in 1870, saw 52 candidates competing for the 15 seats. The first woman to be elected was Sarah Ruth Wilson, elected in November 1882.
The first members were:
Michaal Joseph Ellison (conveyancer and estate agent) (Roman Catholic)
Henry Wilson (gentleman) (churchman)
Charles Wardlow (steel manufacturer) (free churchman)
William Cobby (railway goods agent) (Wesleyan)
Thomas Moore (brewer) (churchman)
Mark Firth (manufacturer) (New Connexion)
Skelton Cole (draper) (Wesleyan)
Charles Doncaster (steel merchant) (Society of Friends)
William Fisher (merchant and manufacturer) (Unitarian)
Sir John Brown (merchant and manufacturer) (Churchman)
Richard Wainman Holden (cattle dealer) (Primitive Methodist)
John Fairburn (lead merchant) (Wesleyan)
James Crossland (soap manufacturer) (churchman)
Alfred Allot (accountant) (Independent)
Robert Thomas Eadon (saw manufactuer) (Unitarian)
In 1874 the Board purchased land at Leopold Street for its own offices and for the Central Schools. Part of the site was soon sold to Mark Firth for an adult education college (later part of the University of Sheffield). The Central Schools included departments for infants and juniors as well as a Higher School (which was a secondary school in all but name - at this time school boards weren't empowered to provide secondary schools). The Higher School was to provide candidates for Firth College.
The first byelaws established by the Sheffield Board laid down compulsory education for those aged 5 - 13 (or 10 if they passed an examination). It was not until 1880 however that the national government made education compulsory.
The Sheffield School Board established a Truant School at Hollow Meadows in premises belonging to the Board of Guardians (truant schools were a form of certified industrial boarding school for "incorrigable truants and those at risk of corruption").
The first school in the country to be built by a school board was Newhall School at Attercliffe in 1873.
The original (27) board schools in Sheffield were:
Attercliffe School
Brightside School
Broomhill School
Burgoyne Road School
Carbrook School
Carver Street
Central School
Crofts School
Crookesmoor School
Darnall School
Grimesthorpe School
Fulwood School
Heeley Bank School
Huntsmans Gardens School
Lancastrian School
Langsett Road School
Lowfield School
Manor School
Netherthorpe School
Newhall School
Park School
Philadelphia School
Pyebank School
Sharrow Lane School
Springfield School
Walkley School
Woodside School
In 1902 when the School Board was abolished it controlled the following 47 schools:
Abbeydale
Attercliffe
Bole Hill
Bow Street
Brightside
Broomhill
Burgoyne Road
Carbrook
Carlisle Street
Central Higher
Coleridge Road
Crofts
Crookesmoor
Darnall Road
Duchess Road
Firshill
Fulwood
Gleadless Road
Grimesthorpe
Heeley Bank
Hillsborough
Hunters Bar
Huntsman's Gardens
Lancasterian
Langsett Road
Lowfield
Manor
Meersbrook Bank
Morley Street
Neepsend
Netherthorpe
Newhall
Norton
Owler Lane
Park
Philadelphia
Pomona Street
Pye Bank
Sharrow Lane
Springfield
Upperthorpe
Walkley
Western Road
Whiteley Wood
Wincobank
Woodbourn
Woodside
There is an unexplained gap in the minutes and reports between Jun 1882 and Mar 1885 in both the signed minutes and in the copy minutes. This occurred at the point in which the Board decided to produce (signed) printed minutes rather than manuscript ones. It appears that the first volume of printed minutes has not survived.
Areas now within the Sheffield City boundary, but formerly in other jurisdictions included:
Norton (Derbyshire) - certain schools from the Norton School Board - Derbyshire Lane, Woodseats, Greenhill, Bradway, Meersbrook, Norton County (Mundella) and Meersbrook Bank schools - passed to Sheffield in 1901.
Aston cum Aughton School Board included Handsworth.
Intake School Board included Woodhouse and Gleadless (in 1902 parts of this school board passed to West Riding County Council).
Ecclesfield School Board covered Hillsborough, Wincobank, Ecclesfield, Parson Cross, Shiregreen, Grenoside, Wadsley, Malin Bridge, High Green etc. In 1901 Hillsborough and Wincobank passed to Sheffield. The other areas transferred to the West Riding of Yorkshire. |
| CustodialHistory | On the abolition of South Yorkshire County Council on 31 March 1986, these records passed from South Yorkshire County Record Office (SYCRO) to the custody of Sheffield Archives. On 1 Apr 2009 the ownership of these items was assigned to Sheffield Archives. |