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In 1919 and 1920, in the village
of Big Valley, education was a very important social need. From all over Big
Valley, children from all ages would come together to gather in a four room school
house. These schoolhouses usually had about two blackboards on the wall, some
maps, and some books on the bookcases. The kids in the school worked together
to learn leadership and friendship. Schools were very important institutions.
On Jan. 27th, 1919 the Big Valley school burned down. The School Board rented the United Church for $20.00 a month. They also rented other churches and the Pool Hall, until the new school was built. A new four room schoolhouse was built on the hill site. It overlooked the town of Big Valley.
The teachers were also important to education and meeting social needs. Usually
teachers’ homes were within five miles or they stayed at a teacherage.
The Christmas concert was a very important day for the teachers. At the Christmas
concerts, teachers where rated on how good the Christmas concert was. If it
was good, teachers would get a good reputation.
The Christmas concert was also important to the teachers and the community because it brought everyone together for a nice break in the middle of winter. After the Christmas concert they would all stay for the dance. Teachers were not always paid if the town didn’t collect enough property taxes.
Vera Catherine (Wendt) Clooney was a teacher in Big Valley in 1920. She talks about education in Big Valley as a good learning experience. She says, “Students learn from the teachers, the teachers learn from the students, and the students learn from one another.” Mrs. Woodman, Mrs. Hanna, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Powne and Mrs. Walker also taught in Big Valley in the 1920`s.
“Good morning class! Take out your social text book because today we will be studying….”
Big Valley School (by student) |
In Big Valley, we have one school to meet the need of education. It is called the Big Valley School.
It teaches pre-school to grade nine. There are 3 combined classes. They are; kindergarten and grade one, grade three and grade four, and grade eight and nine. Big Valley has 9 teachers and 6 aids/helpers. We also have 127 students. Kindergarten has twelve children and grade one and two have eleven kids each. Ten students are in grade 3, while seventeen are in grade 4. Grade five has eleven kids and sixteen are in grade 6. Grade seven has seventeen, grade eight and nine each have eleven. Our school has 1 janitor, as well as 1 secretary.
 www.edquest.ca/ edquest.php? pageid=students |
Big Valley School core subjects are math, science, Gym, L.A. and Social (Humanities). Humanities is for grade seven, eight, and nine. It is a combination of social and L.A. They also teach computers and leadership.
Grade 7 has French as a mandatory subject. Grade 7 to 9 has options twice a week. The options are art, music, French, and media. There are 6 kids in the option of art. Music has 10 kids, and Media has11. In French there is 12 kids.
 Our
Class (by student) |
On Tuesday, Mrs. Maxwell holds after school math help, mainly for grade seven. Thursdays, Mr. Stevens helps grade six to nine. This math tutoring help kids to understand the concept of math.
Outside of school children are educated by youth groups. The village has two youth groups. One is grade 5 to 8 and the other 8 to 12. The younger youth group does stuff once a month, while the older groups goes every other week. Some of the activities both groups do are gym night, swimming, bowling, and bail mazes.
There are two churches in Big Valley; each church has children’s church, and a service every Sunday.
“ Thank-you for joining me in the study of education 2004. Class dismissed.”
