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An article from the Yorkshire Gazette 1913. sent in by Howard Campion in February 2019. From the Woodhams Stone collection. A scan of the original Yorkshire Gazette 1913 news clipping is available as a pdf.
The Malton Grammar School has arrived, or is about to arrive, at an interesting stage in its history. When the Malton Urban District Council made a grant of £75 to the school at their meeting last week, Mr. W. Hall informed his colleagues that it was not likely any further grant would be applied for, as it was expected that in future the school would be self-supporting.
We are not able to state what is the precise financial position of the school at the present moment, but it is fairly safe to say that, having had but two years’ experience in its occupation, the Malton Grammar School is already capable of earning its own living, which is more than many individuals succeed in doing.
It is also of interest to know that the school has now practically its full complement of pupils. There is nominally sufficient accommodation for 120 scholars, but with 109 - which is the present figure - the school is comfortably filled.
In its efforts to be self-supporting, the Malton Grammar School has certain things in its favour, and one of them is that, unlike some other secondary schools, its “free places” are not “free” from the governor’s point of view, but only from the point of view of the scholars who hold them. A secondary school is required by law to devote 25 per cent. of its accommodations to free places. The ex-elementary school - boys and girls - who, by winning scholarships, avail themselves of this provision, receive their education free.
This does not mean, however, that they represent a “dead loss” to the funds of the school. The governors receive payment for their education, but the money comes through the North and East Riding Education Committees - which offer the scholarships - instead of being paid by the parents of the children. The only “free places” in the school from the governors’ point of view are those occupied by the holders of those scholarships which are granted by the governors themselves.
We believe that the grants from local rates during the past two years towards the maintenance of the Malton Grammar School have not enjoyed any great measure of popularity with the ratepayers. Some of the latter have been labouring under the delusion that they were getting nothing for their money, and that they were being made to pay for the education of the children of the more well-to-do people who ought to be paying all of it themselves.
What many people in the Malton district have utterly failed to realise or appreciate is the great value of the Grammar School to those sections of the population from which elementary school children usually come. A secondary school is not a severely exclusive establishment which the child of the working man cannot possibly enter. On the contrary, generous provision is made by the legal allocation of 25 per cent. of free places, whereby secondary education shall be within the reach of children whose school life has to start in the public elementary school.
So far as the holders of scholarships are concerned, we believe it is likely, now that the Grammar School has arrived at a state of financial independence, that before long the “free places” will be really “free” to the children who occupy them. At present scholarship children have to buy their school books, and although the expense is not a very heavy one - usually less than £1 a year - there are some families to which it may be possibly an item that has to be reckoned with. Possibly the provision of books free of charge may find favour with the Governors in the near future.
In the course of a few weeks the Grammar School will be put to a new use. It is to become a centre for horticultural instruction to the elementary school teachers of the district. The Leeds University authorities are providing two professors for a course of lectures, which will be given in connection with the education committees of the North and East Ridings. The Governors of the Grammar School have granted the use of the laboratory for the theoretical lessons, and a portion of the school grounds is to be devoted to the practical side of the instruction.
The school recently received a visit from Sir Clifford Allbutt, who is Regius Prefessor of Medicine at Cambridge University. The distinguished visitor’s remarks upon the work and equipment of the school were entirely compimentary, and some comparisons which he ventured to make with what he had seen in other places came out in favour of the Malton Grammar School.
One of the best recommendations which the school has had had been the fact that there has not been a single change in the personnel of the teaching staff since the school opened. This fact testifies alike to the good generalship of the headmaster, Mr. Ernest Watt, to the fair treatment of the teachers by the governors, and to the general satisfactory nature of the conditions under which the work of the school is carried on. Mr. Watt has been at the helm since the school rising out of the ashes of an old foundation, entered upon its existence as a modern secondary school. Its undoubted and increasing success speaks for his organising abilities and his discretion in administration. That same success should also be a source of pride and satisfaction to every resident of the area which the school serves.