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Wartime education was complicated. Schools were requisitioned, teachers were called up and the lives of their pupils changed dramatically. In Devon, new schools opened in Torquay and in Newton Abbot, but attendance dropped significantly across the county. In Plymouth a school girl was murdered by a soldier.

Newspaper reports and school log books suggest the education of Devon’s schoolchildren was severely disrupted by the war. Over 200 teachers had left by the end of 1914, and the county’s education authority condoned the absence of children for farm work.

While some schools were taken over by the army, others doubled in size. In April 1915, two new schools were established – Torquay Grammar School for Girls and the mixed Newton Abbot Secondary School (now Newton Abbot College).

A year later, teachers, pupils and parents in Plymouth were shocked by the news that a local schoolgirl had been murdered by a soldier.

What did children of the time make of their wartime experiences? Archive recordings suggest the impact lasted a lifetime.

The war also changed education itself. Schools became part of the war effort (through propaganda as well as the practical collection of moss, berries and horse chestnuts), yet the 1918 Education Act became the legacy of schools at war.

Location: Newton Abbot College, Newton Abbot TQ12 2NF
Image: Newton Abbot School

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