County Physical Training

Immediately after WW1 the school teachers who had been serving in the armed services returned to take their places in the classrooms of the county. But some did not return and vacancies were to be filled from the ranks of returning servicemen, many of whom had the necessary educational qualifications but did not have teacher training or experience. Short concentrated courses were held at Loughborough College to fill the gaps in the trained teacher pool. A. B. Furniss was a physical training instructor on the Army Gymnastic Staff just prior to and during the war. He was given teacher training at Loughborough College and so qualified to be a teacher of gymnastics and sports. After completing the course he suggested to the County Director of Education that Leicestershire should follow the example of several southern counties who were employing a physical training supervisor to visit village schools to instruct teachers there. In due course he became the first supervisor for Leicestershire. He cycled from village to village as the public transport network was so rudimentary that it could not meet his busy schedule. Motor cars were not supplied for jobs like this in the 1920's Although schools were not open for teaching for more than seven hours a day, journey times extended the working day and in the winter the glow of a small acetylene lamp hardly picked out the pot holes in the country lanes. It was a good thing that most villagers had service experience and were not shocked by colourful Sergeant Major language. A puncture repair kit from the John Bull factory in Leicester was an essential item in the saddlebag.

Education : South Wigston Children

Starting at the age of 5 years, the children of the Furniss family were spit and polished and packed off to the Infants School. There was no choice about this so far as age was concerned. Every child in England had to start full time education at the age of five. Not everybody sent their child to a "Board" school but there were very few exceptions in post WW1 South Wigston.
Each schoolday, the children gathered in the playground, where they had been deposited by a parent or an elder sister. Just before 9.0 am, a hand bell was rung, the children were lined up in army like squads by the teachers. They were then shepherded into the school and after putting their overcoats into the cloakroom were taken to their classroom. Some sort of registration ceremony was performed with a parent present on the very first day but after that, each child was responsible to the teachers once they had passed through the school gates.

At the age of seven, children in the infants school were given reading, writing and arithemetic tests. All reading was practised out loud in front of the teacher. Any child who did not pass these tests was not allowed to go on to the Junior School. Alfie Furniss was one of these rare exceptions. The Head Master of the Junior School upbraided Alfie's father for this sorry state of affairs, saying that had young Alfie been encouraged to read at home he would certainly have made the grade. The truth was that young Alfie was not interested in whether the cat sat on the mat or not. There were more interesting things to do in life.