Sample from a handwriting exercise book, 1940s
An extract from a primary school copybook showing sample letters in cursive writing. Pupils wrote over the broken words with pen and ink. That is how they learned "joined-up writing". Good handwriting was considered very important. Schools taught it as a separate subject called "penmanship" right through the 19th and 20th centuries.
© The Ulster Folk and Transport MuseumSample from a handwriting exercise book, 1940s
© The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
© The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
Sample from a handwriting exercise book, 1940s
An extract from a primary school copybook showing sample letters in cursive writing. Pupils wrote over the broken words with pen and ink. That is how they learned "joined-up writing". Good handwriting was considered very important. Schools taught it as a separate subject called "penmanship" right through the 19th and 20th centuries.
© The Ulster Folk and Transport MuseumSt. Garvan's National School was opened in December 1930. It replaced the old school at Carradoan, built in 1846. There were 63 pupils on opening day.
Inside the school, three fireplaces burned turf and later, coal. It was the teachers' job to light these fires and keep them going throughout the winter days. Apart from a blackboard and a map of Ireland, the classroom walls were bare.
Over the years, games played in the schoolyard were "Tig" and "Hounds and Foxes". Girls especially liked skipping rope. School transport was unheard of; children walked to school in all weathers.