| Administrative History | Derby Central Nursery School, Nuns Street, Derby, opened in April 1938. Its predecessor was Wright Street Nursery School which opened in April 1921. McColvin (1944) states that Wright Street Nursery catered for eighty children from poor areas for many years. The log book indicates that there were weekly medical inspections by a visiting doctor and nurse.
Information supplied by Cara Middleton, student, University of Derby
Nursery schools and day nurseries were first established following the Education Act (1918) and Maternity and Welfare Act (1918). Both types of establishment provided priority for working mothers and for evacuated children. According to Nutbrown and Clough (2014) the view that only mothers could look after their children lost its force during the war years and state nursery education became increasingly popular. However, media speculation that nursery provision would not be needed after the war (McColvin, 1944; Braybon, 1981), was realised after World War Two as many nurseries closed or offered reduced hours (Palmer, 2011). Nursery classes became favoured compared to nursery schools for economical and convenient reasons. Although they were inadequate due to class sizes and lack of specialist teacher training, medical inspection and nutrition. Neither nursery schools nor nursery classes could provide the hours needed compared to day nurseries, this created hardship and protests. It could be suggested education was never seen as government interest as the network of nursery provision promised was never established (Stevenson, 1988; Palmer, 2011).
References:
Braybon, G. (1981) Women Workers, in the First World War. London: Billing and Sons Limited.
McColvin, G.E. (1944) Nursery Education in Derby Article.
Nutbrown, C. and Clough, P. (2014) Early Childhood Education: History, Philosophy and Experience. London: Sage Publications Limited.
Palmer,A. (2011) ‘ Nursery schools for the few or the many? Childhood, education and the state in mid-twentieth-century England’, Paedagogica Historica 47(1-2), pp. 139-154
Stevenson, J. (1988) Social History of Britain: British Society 1914-45. London: Penguin Group. |
| Custodial History | Transferred to Derbyshire Record Office in June 1994. |