We had an email enquiry from 7 year old Mia who wondered if children used to go to school on Saturdays. In the 1880s the school days were Monday to Friday but the working week included Saturday. Sunday was a day of rest when many people would have attended church. From 1880 school was compulsory […]
We enjoy reading through the early NSW syllabuses in our collection as they show how schooling and society has changed. School flower, vegetable and agricultural plots were quite important in the past with whole sections of the syllabus providing detailed month-by-month instructions on plantings and maintenance. We loved this paragraph from the 1916 syllabus about […]
Each semester groups of UWS Master of Teaching students visit the Schoolhouse Museum to observe students participating in the Schoolhouse activities as part of their HSIE subject. It is always a pleasure to have these enthusiastic pre-service teachers. Our group last Monday was particularly engaged and enjoyed a jig around the maypole.
Australia’s first Empire Day was celebrated on 24th May, 1905. It reminded Australians that they were part of the British Empire, and proud to be. In schools children listened to speeches, acted out plays about the Empire, marched and cheered. A maypole dance was a common feature of Empire Day celebrations, as shown in this […]
Up until the mid 1970s, needlework for girls was part of the NSW primary curriculum. This was part of the training of girls to train them in domestic skills in preparation for managing their house and family. From 1913 home science courses were taught to girls in Superior Public Schools, some primary and evening schools. Domestic […]
Since World War I, North Ryde Public School has had a Memorial Rose Garden. The rose garden has been located in different places within the school grounds over the years and was used as a focus for ANZAC Day services. This photo of the NRPS Red Cross was taken in in the rose garden in1930. […]
Year 1 classes from North Ryde PS visited the Schoolhouse Museum as part of their class family heritage studies and walked the hallways many generations of North Ryde students had walked before them. See photos of their visit from the school’s newsletter.
Last week the 1970s fluorescent lights in the museum’s 1910 room were replaced with twelve beautiful original school lights. This has been a project on the museum’s wish list for many years. Also installed were two heritage style fans centrally mounted in each room and next week the hall lights are to be replaced. When […]
State Records NSW has a comprehensive digital collection of early school photos which is being added to constantly. They are digitising images collected by the DEC’s former history unit. These images are a great primary source for class history studies, in preparation for a visit to the Schoolhouse Museum or for family history research. Photo […]
Did you know that when North Ryde PS was built in 1877 the area was orchards and farmland and contained several sandstone quarries? The stone footings were quarried locally for the single North Ryde PS schoolroom, now the NSW Schoolhouse Museum. An advertisement appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 30th November 1878 advertising […]