The elementary school I attended celebrates its 50th anniversary today. 22 smaller, mostly one-room schools, were closed at the end of the 1971-72 school year and all students then bussed in September 1972 to a new facility that had been built in Ellerslie.
I don’t remember the official opening ceremony, though I know I was there, as were my parents. Premier Alex Campbell and other dignitaries made speeches, laid a cornerstone, unveiled a plaque, and then everyone enjoyed sandwiches, sweets, juice and tea provided by a couple of local Women’s Institute groups. WIs were heavily involved in supporting the schools in their individual communities, so they were primed and ready to support this new facility.
The school was a modern, clean building, replacing old wooden facilities that had been well maintained, but were certainly from a different time. A few people were against the amalgamation, some fearing the loss of their individual community’s identity or concerned about the length of time that children would spend on buses, and others who predictably thought that “what was good enough for us should be good enough for them!” With most of PEI marching happily along to the Alex Campbell government’s drumbeat of development, modernity and prosperity, those few who were not in favour were ignored and, as happens with all change, within a few years most forgot there had ever been a school in their community, the buildings either being repurposed as community halls, turned into homes or sheds, or demolished.
The new school had an open concept plan, with sliding accordion dividers between most of the classrooms. This “one big classroom” design was well received at first, but didn’t remain popular for long, and Ellerslie Elementary now has cinderblock walls between classrooms to keep noise and distractions down. There was a large gymnasium, music room, art room, a windowless room that we seemed to only use to watch NFB films, and a large central library space. There were water fountains, banks of trays by the entrance to put your muddy or snowy footwear, and everything was bright, airy and clean.
I remember very little about my first year at school, but I do recall that some of the furniture hadn’t arrived for the first day of classes, so we little ones in first grade sat on the floor. I remember loving my young and energetic homeroom teacher, Mrs. Jelley. I remember how big the grade six children looked, and because children could fail to pass a grade in those days and be kept back to repeat it, there might have been a couple of teenagers in grade six.
As an only child, I was excited to meet new children, though I did have some neighbours, Sunday school pals and cousins with me, which was a comfort. I remember a new friend helping me tie my shoelace when I couldn’t remember how it was done. As the oldest in her family, she was used to helping her younger siblings with this task and was a good little teacher. And I remember being told to stop talking, and that happened more than once!
The school had some odd features beyond the lack of walls. The gym was carpeted, and this led to nasty rug burns when you tripped and slid (and six year olds trip often!). Much of the rest of the school was also carpeted, making the dry winter months one long string of shocks as children shuffled their feet to electrify themselves and then tapped another kid as they walked by.
Mrs. Jelley was a newly-graduated teacher and full of modern ideas, but some of the other teachers seemed to struggle a bit with the new regime. Teaching in a one room school meant they had been able to run their school pretty much as they wanted, within the curriculum set by the province, and only overseen by occasional visits from school inspectors. Now these teachers had a principal as their onsite boss, had to work collaboratively with other teachers, and had relinquished some of their instructional roles – physical education, library, music – to specialists. Some teachers got along fine and finished out their careers at the school, and others probably retired earlier than they might have had they remained in the one room school setting.
One thing that changed immediately in the new school was the use of corporal punishment. I remember one of the older teachers trying to deal with a little classmate who was talking when he should have been listening. The teacher told him to be quiet and continued with the lesson. The boy didn’t obey, so the teacher called him to the front of the class, told him to hold out his hand, and slapped his palm hard with a ruler. I don’t know for a fact, but I’m pretty certain the teacher was spoken to by the principal, and that was the last time such a thing occurred.
At that time we were not far removed from the days of children being strapped by their teachers, and it would have been the rare parent who wouldn’t have backed up such an action by a teacher, so while it was startling and scary to see someone get their hand slapped with a ruler, it was not really unexpected because older children had warned us about such things. We had been prepared for it, but luckily that would not happen at Ellerslie again.
I was in the fortunate position of attending basically brand new schools for all of my twelve school years: Ellerslie Elementary, Hernewood (grades 7-9) and Westisle (grades 10-12). I had some great teachers, lots of opportunity for extracurricular activities that expanded my world, and met some lovely classmates who are still my friends.
I scanned articles and documents my mother saved from the school’s opening for the 40th anniversary in 2012, when some of us who started grade one in 1972 attended a ceremony and planted a tree at the school, so I’m sharing them here for reference and remembrance. 50 years, gone in a blink.
