THE STORY OF WYREFARM CAMP SCHOOL 1940 - 1982 - INTRODUCTION

Arial view of the school 1967

In 2011 I created a webpage for the City of Coventry Boarding School formerly known as Wyrefarm Camp School supported by two Facebook pages. (See below).

Collectively many of the former pupils, staff and their offspring shared many photographs, press cuttings, memories and other documents.

We discussed, we argued, we dug deep and did some sleuthing in newspapers and other archives, solving many issues and finally developed an historical perspective none of us knew back in the day when we were pupils there.

Furthermore we have discovered that this seemingly obscure municipal boarding school had a national wartime significance beyond anyone's knowledge.

The purpose of this new website is to build those insights into a new historical narrative, and there are many surprises here for former pupils!

Wyrefarm Camp School was part of the wider National Camps Corporation initiative 1939, receiving Royal Assent on the eve of WW2. It functioned initially as an evacuation camp for Coventry, evolving into a municipal boarding school and, in the summer holidays, offering a holiday / activity camp experience in the countryside for Coventry school children.

The camp school lasted 40 years from 1940 to 1982 after which it evolved into being an activity camp - currently known as The Pioneer Centre, and although independent, it still fulfils  some of those early ideals of the National Camps Corporation, in terms of providing quality outdoor activities and instruction. 

WHERE IS IT?

Wyrefarm Camp School (later known as The City of Coventry Boarding School) was located off the B4201 outside Cleobury Mortimer, near Kidderminster. Shropshire. 

It's one of 31 identical camps schools around the country and mazingly some of the old buildings, now reconditioned and re-purposed, are still standing and in use by the Pioneer Centre.

EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF ITS HISTORY

Back in the day, at the school during the 1950's, 60's and 70's, most of us had only vague notion of the camp's history. The camp had been created by the National Camps Corporation (NCC) in 1939 and they ran it with the Coventry Local Education Authority providing the educational facilities. No one questioned why something called the National Camps Corporation would only have one camp (apparently) or why this was unique to Coventry! Those notions have now been swept away - it wasn't unique to Coventry and the NCC had around 31 identical camps.

We knew it originally functioned as an evacuation camp in WW2 and the stories of wartime pupils (who were there 24/7 - no school holidays) witnessing the Coventry blitz on the evening of 14 November 1940 from 50 miles away. We can only imagine what was going through their minds, knowing that their friends and family were amongst the devastation!

RESDISCOVERING THE HISTORY 

In 2011, on one the school Facebook pages, Rosemary Webb Rehill, daughter of the former school bursar, told me that her brother Stan had heard there was an identical camp school in Yorkshire. I Googled it and found Bewerley Park Camp School near Hebdon Bridge. Howerver they said this wasn't the one. I tried again and found Linton Residential Camp school - Grassington, North Yorkshire. This was the one - but hey - now there were three identical camp schools! It wasn't long before the internet offered up a fuller history of the National Camps Corporation history that will form part of this site.

This project has quietly evolved from nostalgia into genuine local historical research, no longer just recording memories—but reconstructing a forgotten piece of Coventry's educational and wartime history.

Along the way we will look some of the ideas for alternative or camp school education during the interwar years, the evolution of the National Camps Corporation, the location of the camps, a newly emerging narrative of the earliest Coventry Camp School located at Town Thorns, to the wartime experiences of pupils at the Cleobury Mortimer site, to the re-branding of Wyrefarm Camp School as the City of Coventry Secondary Boarding School (simplified to The City of Coventry School) in 1955 and beyond until it's closure in 1982.

 

Enjoy - Trev Teasdel - admin / creator of the blog.

The school in the 1950's

The original school website here is wider reaching with over 300 posts of photos, memories more of the cultural or sporting history of the school - Take a look through if you haven't already https://wyrefarmed.blogspot.com/

And join the Wyrefarm / City of Coventry Boarding School Pages where we chat and post -

I Survived Wyre Farm Camp School

https://www.facebook.com/groups/wyrefarmsurvivor

And

City of Coventry School

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CityOfCoventrySchool/

BETWEEN THE WARS EXPERIMENTATION WITH EDUCATION

 Between the two World Wars there was a remarkable burst of experimentation in education, youth development, and communal living. Many of these projects were responses to unemployment, dissatisfaction with traditional schooling, fears about declining health, or hopes for social reform.

Here are some of the main strands.

Summerhill

1. Summerhill School

Founded in 1921 by A. S. Neill, Summerhill became Britain's best-known progressive school.

A. S. Neill

Located in Suffolk, it's principles included: 

* Children choosing whether to attend lessons 

* School democracy through meetings where every child had a vote 

* Learning motivated by curiosity rather than punishment
* Emphasis on emotional wellbeing.

Neill believed unhappy children could never become genuinely educated adults. 

Summerhill was established to provide a space where children could grow in a 'free-range' environment, emphasizing self-directed learning and democratic principles.

Neill's philosophy centered on fitting the school to the child, rather than forcing pupils to conform to traditional educational expectations. Although controversial, Summerhill influenced progressive education worldwide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School

2. Work Camps

The Depression of the 1930s created mass unemployment, particularly in industrial areas.

Several kinds of camps emerged.

Government Instructional Centres

The government established camps where unemployed men:
built roads / drained land / planted forests / followed physical training.

The stated aim was to restore fitness and work habits before employment.

Critics argued they sometimes resembled military discipline or forced labour.

Voluntary Work Camps

These had a very different philosophy.

Organisations such as the International Voluntary Service for Peace brought together young people from different countries to:

build village halls / repair footpaths / improve rural communities.

The emphasis was international understanding after the trauma of the World War I.

3. The Grith Fyrd

Founded by John Hargrave in 1922.

This movement combined:

outdoor living / handicrafts / physical fitness / self-government / camping.

It was partly inspired by scouting but rejected militarism.

4. Settlement Communities

Places like the Brynmawr Experiment attempted to rebuild communities devastated by unemployment.

They combined:

education / arts / craft industries / adult learning / cooperative living.

These experiments influenced later community development ideas.
5. Woodcraft and Nature Education

The Woodcraft Folk, founded in 1925, promoted:

cooperation rather than competition / camping / environmental education / international friendship / social equality.

Unlike the Scouts, it had a more explicitly cooperative and progressive outlook.

6. Experimental Boarding Schools

Several progressive schools appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, influenced by thinkers such as Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner.

Many stressed: creativity / crafts / gardening / music / learning by doing.
7. National Camps Corporation (1939)

The National Camps Corporation was established just before the Second World War.

Its purpose was different from most earlier experiments. It aimed to build permanent camp schools that could:

provide outdoor education in peacetime

be used for the evacuation of schoolchildren during wartime.

Many of the camps were designed with dormitories, dining halls, sports facilities and classrooms.

Although the war changed their immediate role, they later influenced the post-war network of outdoor education centres.

Why so many experiments?

Several forces came together in the interwar years:

dissatisfaction with rigid Victorian schooling

mass unemployment after the Depression

concerns about poor physical health among young people

the growth of psychology and child-centred education

hopes of preventing another war through international cooperation and better citizenship.

For many reformers, the camp became a symbol of a healthier society: learning through shared work, nature, democratic participation, and community rather than through rote learning alone.

The Next post will look at The national Camps Corporation.