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When war broke out in August 1914, schools across the country saw older pupils and masters volunteering to fight at the front. School buildings and playing fields were commandeered by the military. At Sandbach School, their school magazine, ‘The Sandbachian’, records life at during the war and the way it impinged on the school – from fundraising for Belgian refugees and prize-giving being affected - to recording the deaths in active service of ‘old boys’.

It wasn’t the only school affected in Staffordshire and Cheshire. Log books at the local record offices record instances of schools being closed for the distribution of ration cards, the impact of the influenza epidemic, attendance being lower due to children helping with the harvest or collecting fruit and casualties on their rolls of honour.

The last year of the war saw the introduction of the 1918 Education Act which included raising the school leaving age from 12 to 14, the introduction of Continuation Classes for young workers aged 14 to 18, and improving services in schools such as medical inspections.

Location: Sandbach School, Cheshire East CW11 3NS
Image: Children at Kidsgrove Council School in Dove Bank celebrating Empire Day in 1917
Photograph courtesy of Kidsgrove Library, Staffordshire County Council