The Inchclutha School.

From these early reports the following details are extracted: School established 1858. First teacher: A. Grigor, appointed 1858. The average attendances were: 1858, 12; 1864, 23; 1865, 26. The salary was £100 per annum.

A committee report of 1858 says: “Inchclutha School—Mr. Alexander Grigor, schoolmaster. A section of 50 acres of open land has been set apart, and 2 acres of bush… The school is at present accommodated in the church, in which there are plenty of forms and an excellent desk capable of accommodating 10 writers.” Attendance, five boys and seven girls.

In 1859, the average attendance was thirteen, but nine children having left the district, in the third quarter of the year the attendance was two boys and two girls. In 1860, the school boasts of “three desks and six forms,” and in one quarter the attendance was ten boys and seven girls. In 1861 the number present on the day of the inspector's visit was eleven.

To Mr. Grigor, fresh from the Homeland, the birds and the plants. were new, and in later years he used to recall that in the first week at the school he had only one pupil—James Willocks. The first week' page 61 lessons consisted of the boy giving the teacher the names of the native birds and the forest trees, the teacher reciprocating by a description of the birds and beasts and trees of Britain. So in this practical way did education start on Inchclutha.

Apart from the bad roads—in some cases no roads at all—there were other difficulties outlined in the 1859 report: “The teachers experience no small hindrance in prosecuting their labours from the want of books and slate pencils and suitable copy books—a proper supply of which seems to be provided neither by the Government nor the merchants.”