St John's School in World War 2    
     

...Boys' and Girls' Schools
.....Things were different at St John's in the 1930s and 40s because the upper building housed the infants and the girls while the lower building, where the gym now is, was the boys' school.
....Outbreak of War
....The outbreak of war delayed the return of children to school after the summer holidays in 1939 because the air raid shelters were not ready. The staff returned however, and were kept busy assisting in the billeting of children evacuated from London and visiting St John's pupils at their homes to set and mark work.
...Other Schools Sharing
....When on September 18th school did resume, lessons were given to one fifth of the infants and girls in the upper building each day, either in the morning or the afternoon. This was because a London school, a school from Croydon and two other schools were also using the building. The effect of this overcrowding was to reduce classes to 45 minutes instruction in any one session.

To make more room for the children in the upper building part of the basement was made into an extra classroom. The lower square widows seen in the picture were put in for extra light.

.....And this was just the upper building. The Boys' School in the lower building was in a similar situation. It had reopened after the summer break on October 30th with a school from Sydenham sharing its facilities. Only half of each day was spent fully by the boys in their own building. The other half was spent at the Parochial Hall, the Meadvale Hall, the school garden, in the playground or on the common for games.
These conditions prevailed until Spring of 1940 when two of the schools moved elsewhere, but still St John's Girls' had only three classrooms instead of five and partial use of the hall.
...Air raids
.....At Whitsun, 1940, children returned to school after only one week off. The School was closed on June 26th 1940 for an excursion to the coast, which seems surprising in view of the war in progress and restrictions on large gatherings. That it was in progress was in no doubt because on the day before, through the previous night and early hours of the morning of the 25th, there had been air raid alerts. Because children's sleep might have been disturbed, either by noise or by going to air raid shelters at home, they were allowed a half-hour rest before commencing work.
.....On July 16th the children were in the school air raid shelters because heavy firing had been heard, and on August 15th were there again due to an air raid alert. There were two more air raid alerts the following day and thereafter the children spent considerable time in the shelters. After night raids the school would sometimes remain closed the following morning. Attempts to continue lessons in the shelters were difficult but due to some days when more time was spent in the shelters than out of them, teachers and children alike must have got used to the situation to some extent.
...Bombs on Redhill and Reigate
....Most of these air raids were on London but the first bombs, 125 of them, fell on the Borough on the evening of August 15th 1940. Apart from three cyclists being knocked off their machines no one was hurt. Three days later 5 people were killed and six injured by a bomb dropped at Shaws Corner. Other bombs were dropped at various times during the ensuing month with windows being smashed at Frenches Road School but no one hurt there. People were injured in Reigate and at Hardwick Road Meadvale, not far from St John's. Another bomb, on the common and not too far from the school, completely severed the main Redhill outfall sewer.
...Rules for school opening times
.....On August 29th a Borough Education Committee ruling stated that if air raid alerts finished before midnight the school was to open at 10am but in the all clear was not given until after midnight then the school stayed closed in the morning. Immediately after this almost two complete pages of school logs are filled with notes of school closed or, when open, with nothing but air raid alerts and the children going into the shelters. On September 14th 1940 the ruling was amended so schools opened at 9am in the case of pre-midnight all clears, and at 10am when all clears did not sound until after midnight.
Sirens
....The siren used to sound the beginning and end of the alerts was situated on the top of the Co-op in Redhill. It was perfectly audible on the town side of the common and presumably also on the other side. There was also a siren on top of the fire tower at the Town Hall in Reigate and, it is believed, at Prince Albert Square at Salfords.
...More air raids
.....A log entry in the School diary of the 4th of October 1940 records, "Raid warnings from 12.5 to 5.40. Children in shelters - about 50 children had to remain without lunch. Head Mistress bought loaves, jam & margarine, but was only able to allow one thick slice per child."
.....The next day the children were in the shelters from 9.50 to 11.15, from 1.30 to 2.30 and 3.50 to 5.10. Clearly there could be problems in getting children home, and another getting them to school in the first place, as once they set out there was no shelter to run to in the case of a raid until they got to school. Buses were proposed for those from Salfords and South Park but whether they were laid on is unknown.
Continued -
...Shelters
....Another problem was with the shelters themselves, school logs noting, 'Shelters are in an exceedingly wet condition - walls are streaming and water dropping from roof continuously. Several children and staff are suffering from sore throats and colds in consequence'. The ground was wet too; if any children had enjoyed good times at first perhaps they later found them to be no longer what they were.
...Bomb in Upper Bridge Road
....On October 8th a bomb fell in the front garden of Apsley, a house in Upper Bridge Road. The writer of this history was aged almost two and asleep in a house next door-but-one. He was covered in plaster but otherwise unaffected and three years later became one of St John's Infants. Apsely House had to be demolished. On the 27th of the same month six people were killed and five injured in Emlyn Road, Redhill. \
....More air raids.
.....On October 28th 1940 the London School, Dalmain Road Infants, was officially merged with St John's and the 1st Assistant teacher, Miss Howes, became a member of the staff. That same day there were two air raid alerts, the next day there were three. It is said that air raid practice was carried out each day but often the shelters were used in earnest, presumably obviating the need for a practice.
...The blackout
. ..On November 20th 1940 the shortening of the afternoon for the children to leave early at 3.30pm began as it had each year since it was started in 1914 to reflect the presence darkened streets. The reason now was similat - so the children could get home before the blackout began. As from November 25th the children started leaving even earlier at 2.45. Unfortunately the school itself had no means of blackout so presumably the staff also left before lights were needed. This also meant no Christmas party for the infants this year. ...Everyone affected
....Everyone was affected by the war, many having relatives directly involved. Boys' School Headmaster Mr Bennett's son was on military service in Ireland, Mr Bennett taking leave of absence on April 25th 1940 to see him off. Teacher Mr Mole was absent in October due to the death of his son, although the circumstances are not revealed in the logs. His son had been captain of the Boys' School. Bombs continued to fall. Evacuation to the Borough was not safe enough for two 16 year-olds evacuated from St Dunstans to Hethersett at Reigate; they were killed on November 5th. An eleven-year-old boy, also from St Dunstans, was killed whilst out walking in February 1941. Ten people were killed and over a dozen injured by a parachute mine at South Merstham in April of 1941. Boys' School teacher Miss Worcester's house was damaged in the blast.
...Painted Walls
The boys had not wasted time spent in the shelters. They had decorated the walls with colourful paintings of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood and many other story-book characters. The area painted was 300 feet long with an average depth of four feet - 1,200 square feet in all, an indication of the size of the shelters. Two walls remained unpainted, being reserved for Treasure Island and Pilgrims Progress. The news of the paintings spread and they were filmed by Pathe News and photographed by Fox Photos in the July.
...School Dinners Begin
This was the year (1941) when permission was given for all the unused reading books to go for salvage for the war effort, and also when the Borough Education Committee decided to start a canteen school dinners, for which 330 children had already been nominated. Up to now children had all gone home to dinner but with so many men away many mothers were going to work and were not at home so much. Even male teachers were called up for military service - Mr Jones of the Boys' School was called up on January 5th 1942.
...Savings, New teachers and Sickness in 1942
People were encouraged to save because the Government could use the money to build ships tanks and aeroplanes. St John's infants brought £13.4.6d to school for Warship Week, the older girls having deposited £223.2.0 in National Savings. Miss Jones (no relation to Mr Jones of the Boy's School) took a day off as it was the last day of her son's embarkation leave (embarkation leave was time off for servicemen before they went abroad). Dr Patterson came to examine children because scarlet fever was about, and seven ARP men (ARP stood for Air Raid precautions) came to examine the children's gas masks. Miss Islip left the Infants' School and was presented with a handbag; Miss Woolley started as a teacher in the Infants' School on May 4th to take her place. In the Boys' School there was so much sickness amongst the teaching staff that it was April 13th before all were present at once. Teachers were very tired as many had to do fire guard as well as teaching (Fire gaurd was watching at night for fires started by enemy bombs). Fortunately there were fewer raids in 1942. No bombs fell on the Borough that year and there were only 20 alerts. Everything was normal, or as close as it could get to that balmy condition in the middle of a war.

Boy's School Teachers of the 1940s

From L-R back row are Mr Ross, Mr Weeds, Mr Booth, Mr Nicholas and Mr Jones.

From L-R seated are Miss Worcester, Mr Bennett (Headmaster), and Miss Willett, Boy's School secretary.

The picture was taken in the corner of what was then the Boy's School playground, now the back playground. The building visible on the far left is the laundry, which stood where houses now are.
   

...Teachers and Railings
In the May of 1942 Mr Barnett left after thirty-five years at the Boys' School, and Mr Allen left to be a head at an Oxfordshire School. It seems that a great deal of experience was being lost to St John's at this time, but this is no doubt the case for all schools from time to time. The gaps left were filled by Mr Ross and Mr Weeds, neither of them novices.
....It was in February of 1943 when the iron railings where removed from local front gardens to meet national needs, and the Ring and other parts of the common were ploughed as a part of the Dig For Victory campaign. The school sports were held on the lawns on Redhill Common until 1947, when the Ring was restored for recreation purposes. Sporadic air raids continued the older girls raised £500 in National Savings for Wings for Victory week....On December 3rd there was no coke in the basement, the boiler was out and the school was cold. Permission to close the school was refused by the authorities but it was allowed to finish early at 3.45pm. What had happened to early closing due to the blackout this year is a bit of a mystery.
...Into a fifth year of war
A service was held in Church in April 1944 for an old pupil killed in action, and the children were back in church for Empire Day in May. In June there were some very long air raid alerts that lasted most of the night and into the morning, so few children attended school, which was possibly just as well as Civil Defence personnel had taken it over. On June 19th the nine infants present out of 197 had their dinners served in the air raid shelters. Presumably these were dinners provided by the Borough Education Committee \endash i.e. school dinners \endash and is the first mention in the logs of the dinner service having begun. Dinners for the Girls' School began on September 18th of 1944, food coming from Reigate at first and not from the central kitchen at Colesmead. \par }\pard \fi567\nowidctlpar\tx567\adjustright {\fs22 Multiple alerts and the Infants' School being unavailable for use was only compensated for by the weather being so good that lessons could be held outdoors. Even when the school was vacated by the Civil Defence people three alerts a day were not uncommon and children sometimes spent almost all day in the shelters.
...Evacuation
Some childre n were evacuated from St John's during the summer of 1944 due to the flying bombs, or Doodlebugs as they were nicknamed, droning overhead on their way to London. Some fell short, one killing eleven people and injuring many more at Earlswood on June 17th, another killing three workmen at a Merstham depot and blowing in the windows of Merstham School. Some children there were cut by flying glass but fortunately a blown-in window frame fell between the rows of children. Yet another damaged Mr Ross' house at Coulsdon severely enough that he had to move out for a while.
...The Boys' School was used as a registration centre for the evacuees and children assembled there at 8.30am on July 18th. Some of the St John's evacuees went in groups, some individually, eith er to the West Country or Wales, with evacuation periods varying from 2 weeks to 6 months. The groups went during the summer holidays and had teachers with them. For spending two weeks away with children during holiday time teachers were rewarded with one week's holiday in term time. Infants' teacher, Miss Pickup, plus Boys' School staff members Mr Bennett, Miss Worcester, Mrs Nicholas and Mr Weeds were involved. Miss Worcester and Mrs Nicholas spent two weeks each in South Wales and Mr Weeds went to Bridgend. Mr Bennett spent a month at Cheltenham. Those children evacuated individually and without teachers spent the longest time away.
...In the Boys' School logbook is the following entry: - 'September 18th - School feeding began. Meals served at St John's Hall.' So began the school dinners for the Boys' School.