St Cuthberts

St Cuthbert’s opened on April 16th 1928 at 9am. Staff list:

Mrs Anastasia McNALLY (born Anastasia COGHLAN, autumn 1891), Headmistress

Miss Agnes LEWIN, Assistant Teacher (Class III, 6 yrs: 11 boys, 11 girls)

Miss Dorothy M CHANDLER, Assistant Teacher (Class IV, 4-5 yrs: 17 boys, 7 girls)

Miss Mary HARE (Class I, 9-10 yrs: 21 boys, 13 girls)

Miss K KENNEDY joined the staff as a supply teacher in place of Miss Ethel BARR who was appointed to commence duties on May 1st 1928. Miss Kennedy taught Class II, aged 7 - 8yrs - 23 boys and 18 girls

One hundred and twenty one children were admitted, ninety four being transferred from St Oswald’s RC, Old Swan.

Other staff who joined the school:

Mrs C GARNETT, supply teacher, May 30th 1928 - July 2nd 1928

Miss Winifred FALLON, probationer, commenced September 3rd 1928

Miss M WALSH, Active Reserve Teacher, September 3rd - October 1st 1928

Miss REARDON (supply teacher) - summer 1928




		Anastasia McNALLY, 1950s

Visitors during the first day: Managers - Father NOBLET and Canon CLARKSON; from the LEA - W CAMPBELL.

April 20th 1928: Miss GULL, LEA, visited in the morning

May 7th, 1928: Right Rev Monseigneur Canon PINNINGTON visited in the morning

May 15th, 1928: Mr BEVAN, LEA Inspector, visited the school in the morning

Summer Vacation July 5th - August 13th

August 21st 1928: Mr SCHILLER, HMI visited

Inspection in November 1930 by Mr E. S. Watson drew attention to the challenges facing the school. Although designed for 5 – 11 yr olds, there were a significant number older than this (three 13yr olds, eighteen 12yr olds and a large number who were 11 before the start of the academic year. Not enough of the yard was asphalted, so there was “quite inadequate for drilling and physical exercises”. So great were the difficulties that it was felt to be inappropriate for the training of probationary teachers. However, Mr Watson said that a “...promising start has been made with handwork and some good dancing was seen…” He went on to say “in general the school is a bright and happy place, which owes much to the effective supervision and broad outlook of the Head Mistress”.

Name	Date of birth	Date of appointment	Notes
Mrs Anastasia McNALLY	Sep 1891	16th April 1928	Headteacher
Ethel Margaret BARR	5^th Feb 1901	1^st May 1928
Helen N BURNS	6^th Jun 1908	9^th Sep 1929	Probationer at this time
Mary Zita St George YORKE		1^st Sep 1930	Probationer; promoted, then moved on in 1934
Louisa Rose ANWYL	8^th Nov 1916	9^th Aug 1939	Probationer at this time
S Patricia BLAKE	28^th Aug 1914	8^th Aug 1938	Probationer at this time
Marion BURKE	10^th Oct 1901	1^st Dec 1944	Married, B.A. Lived in Allerton Rd
William BOLGER	13^th July 1910	1^st Sep 1959

The yard was soon sorted out, and it was proposed that, as the Upper School at St Oswald’s was full, a swap could be effected of older St Cuthbert’s children to St Oswald’s in return for younger St Oswald’s children to St Cuthbert’s. It is not noted whether this ever happened! However, in 1934 the log book refers to the ‘senior class’ and their Domestic Science work. When Mr WATSON came back in 1938 his concerns were related to – guess what, the older children and the yard surface!

Mr ROOD, HMI visited the school in April 1932 and Mr SQUIRES HMI on March 20^th 1934. There is no report of feedback. The school registers were examined regularly and the log book inspected. Teachers came and went, and the Head took classes when necessary. The occasional accident is recorded, and lots of Holy Days of Obligation. Students from Notre Dame Training College often took classes for morning sessions, for blocks of up to 3 weeks. Happy days!

Teachers did visit other schools – St Theresa’s, the Central Technical School, Chatsworth St.

School returned from the Midsummer Break on 14^th August 1939. On 28^th August, the Director of Education ordered that registers should not be marked, due to evacuation rehearsal. 170 children were evacuated to Conway on 3^rd September. School reopened on April 1^st 1940 with 120 places available. Full-time school resumed in May with Miss LEWIN in charge. By June Mrs McNALLY had returned and Miss LEWIN travelled to be in charge of “St Cuthbert’s School at Conway”. The air raid shelter was inspected in June of the same year. Miss CHANDLER commenced duties in Conway in August 1940. Miss FALLON also did a stint in Conway, as did Miss CHANDLER, Miss HARE, Miss BARR and Miss DELANEY.

In January 1941, Miss LEWIN and Miss CHANDLER took 23 children to Malpas for evacuation. Miss CHANDLER came back, and took 11 children to evacuation in Lampeter, where she remained with them. Another party went to Holywell in March. There was a gas mask inspection on May 1^st 1941; on May 5^th, Mrs HALEWOOD and Mrs McALLAN were absent because their houses had been severely damaged during the Blitz. During that May, more children were evacuated to Conway (13), Malpas (20) and Blaenau Ffestiniog (8). The latter parties were accompanied by teachers from St Clare’s (Miss M TRAYNOR) and St Alexander’s (Miss M BOTTOMLEY).

There was such a heavy snowfall in January 1941 that only 19 children came into school, and registers were not marked. Four Polish scoutmasters came to school to talk to the children about ‘Life in Poland’. The school was granted a holiday in May 1944 in recognition of their contribution to ‘Salute the Soldier’ week. The school was broken into on January 19th, and the amount of 26s 6d stolen, which was partly War Saving Stamps money, milk money, photograph money and needlework money.

On May 8th 1945, the school was closed in celebration of VE Day. There was another day’s holiday on September 28th to attend entertainment provided by the Liverpool Corporation in celebration of Victory.


	The school has its own website


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