DEVONSHIREJNR SCHOOL

POP -UPMUSEUM

CENTENARY

July 2014

TIMELINE 1746

Smethwick Hall built on current school site

1914Smethwick Hall Council School opened (for Primary and Secondary school pupils)

1939Smethwick Hall Council School renamed as Devonshire Road

Junior and Infant School (Primary school pupils stayed,

secondary school pupils moved)

1939Smethwick Hall Senior Schools

Opened on current school site

(for Secondary pupils from

Smethwick Hall Council School)

1992Smethwick Hall Senior Schools Closed

1997Devonshire Junior School

Opened!

2014Devonshire Junior School Centenary Pop-up Museum opens!

1937cSmethwick Hall

demolished

Work from the Museum Team

Diary Entries from School HistoryCreative Writing

Diary Entries from School HistoryCreative Writing

Dear Diary,

Today was an outstanding day because

today we’ve had our fi rst day at the

new site. It was amazing because all

the children settled in very nicely;

nobody was naughty or mean to one

another, in fact they were amazing!

The best I have seen all year. They

weren’t any different from the way

they were at the old school. Even

though I had thought they will be very

silly because the school was bigger

and had different routes and had new

places, they proved me wrong. I was

amazed when they knuckled down

and did work as if they were at the old

school. I was so pleasantly surprised.

It was such an amazing day one of

the best I’ve defi antly had in all the

time I’ve been here. It was amazing,

in fact it was so amazing I don’t think

I’ll get any sleep with all of today’s

excitement!

Dear Diary,

Today was the worst day of my life because… well…I had the cane! Along with my best friend Sally Johnson for messing about and using our left hands. For messing around we were given the cane and ruler! Our teachers are very strict and had made us stand up every time the headmaster came in. We got lots of homework and were made to revise for a test. They made us do it else the cane would come out.

Dear Diary,

Today the children were very kind to me and the other teachers,

especially Helen. She is now my favourite child to teach. She was so

polite in my history lesson.

We all did P.T (physical training) and history, not forgetting

arithmetic, reading and creative writing and country dancing. It was

so much fun! Alex did some excellent dance moves as usual. It was

very impressive, if I danced like that I’d break a bone or something.

Anyway I had a great day.

Work from the Museum Team

Newspaper ArticlesAccounts from the Project

Newspaper ArticlesAccounts from the Project

DEVONSHIRE HERALDDEVONSHIRE HERALDA Trip to the ArchivesA Trip to the Archives

Interview with Mr WrightInterview with Mr Wright

On Thursday 3rd June 20414 the Centenary group went on an exciting trip to the archives and found out about the school. There are some names of people who went to the old school: Emily Holloway (daughter) and Emily Holloway (mother), Emma and Ellen Holloway, James Hollings and Amelia Hollings. There are also many more students with the same last name and are from West Bromwich.

On Wednesday 4th June some children of Year 5’s Centenary group went to interview Mr Wright, who was an ex-headteacher at Devonshire Junior School.

Mr Wright said that in the school on Devonshire Road there were no SATs, no curriculum and no uniform. This all changed when they moved to this school. He also said that in this school

Some students lived on the same road as next door neighbours. Names like Williams are very popular as lots of people have the same name.

Also at the archives there were 2 large maps which were of the old school and all around it. On one map there are lots of trees but the second one didn’t have so many. The maps are from different times to show how different the area was. On the map there were no houses as all, just a couple of lines showing

the different roads.

the classes and hall were bigger, so he said this school was better, although he had lots of fun times in the old school. They had to move to this school because a bomb dropped and all the windows of that school were broken and all the children were evacuated to different places.

One of Mr Wrights favourite days was when the director of studying came. He looked around and said it was one of his best days in Sandwell. This made Mr Wright very happy.

School uniforms from the last 100 years

1914

1939

2014

The Devonshire Junior School Centenary Pop-Up Museum is the outcome of a 10 week project with a group of year 5 students at Devonshire Junior School. The temporary museum looks at and celebrates the school’s history over the last 100 years.

Over the course of the project the group visited the archives, interviewed ex-teachers and students, created original pieces of writing and artwork and learned about the different kind of roles involved in researching, developing and curating a museum.

Special thanks to

The Pop-up Museum Team:Emily Gowing, Gurkeerat Nijjar, Harpreet Cheema, Harpreet Kaur, Jai’Anand Bhogul, Jujhar Singh, Lovepreet Deal, Maryam Mehmood, Rico Browne, Rohan Dhesi, Satinderpal Panesar, Simran Rai, Simreet Jagpal and Sukhraj Kaur.

Ann Hunt for her support and expert knowledge.

Jo Waldron and the team at Sandwell Community History and Archives Service.

Miss Johal and all of the staff at Devonshire Junior School who have supported the project.

This project was delivered by Creative Alliancewww.creativealliance.org.uk

Devonshire Junior SchoolAuckland RoadSmethwickWest MidlandsB67 7ATT. 0121 558 1654