The Glen Innes Primary School class 6A in 1945 included many well-known local names, and we think at least two are still in town.
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Pictured are back from left: Rex Skinner, Peter Campbell, Ian McEwan, Graham Newby, Bruce Ferguson, Percy Cheverton, George Smith, Max Skinner, Les Holliss.
Fourth row – Kevin Kerr, Jill Shields, Marg Williams, Marg O'Dell, Florence Clarke, Margaret Irwin, June Peel, Beverley Wilson, Viv Jordan, Kev Kennard; third row – M. Yarrington, Gwen Biddle, Laurel O'Connor, Betty Adams, Margaret Kevin, Elaine Douglass, Judy Henville, Pat Stibbard.
Second row - Ron Tucker, Max Shelton, Patsy Cubis, Val Langley, Dulcie Adams, Rita Stibbard, Bruce Menzies, John Clarke; front row – Keith Adams, Allan Broadbent, Keith Pollack, Robert Grover, Graham Bradley.
The first application for a primary school was made in 1870. Prior to the opening of the £1400 school and residence in October 1874, classes had been conducted in various buildings.
Mr and Mrs Hill were the first teachers. A building to accommodate 450 pupils was opened in 1892.
This cottage is damp and dilapidated and has been condemned three times...
In April 1920, the secretary of the P&C asked the Municipal Council to “pressure the government” to buy the old Presbyterian property joining the school and in 1921 the former St Andrews Presbyterian Church was added to the complex.
1922 saw the school classified as an intermediate high school with enrolments of 756 pupils.
By mid-1923, rooms were again overcrowded. Some classes met in the Salvation Army Hall until the old jail premises could be renovated for secondary classes in 1924.
In March 1926, the school medical officer, reported…. “classes are housed – some in an old church, some in an old manse, three rooms of which are badly ventilated and one overcrowded: one in a converted weather shed and two in an old gaol one mile from the school…
“Manual training and cookery classes are held in an old weatherboard cottage one mile in another direction.
“This cottage is damp and dilapidated and has been condemned three times by the local health authorities. The flooring boards are rotten in places and the cookery teacher recently sustained a severe injury to her leg when one of these boards gave way beneath her feet...”
