more man once demanded turther improvements and in tile summer 01 ltitihl

the School Board was told: ‘A lavatory accommodation was absolutely

essential and it must receive the immediate attention of the Governors (the

School Board) or the next year’s grant could be reduced’. In December Mr.

Findlay wrote: ‘School lavatory is now completed but cannot be used as no

one has been appointed for pumping the water’. In May he wrote in the log

book: ‘The Board is evidently not intending to get anyone to supply water’.

Eventually he solved the difficulty himself. In July he wrote: ‘By getting

the elder boys to pump water use of the lavatory was got this week’. It was

in Mr. Findlay’s own interest as well as that of his pupils, that the grant was

not reduced as his salary depended on the size of the grant. That month, at

the annual regular examination of the school by the inspectors of the Education

Department ‘the governors are thanked for providing a good lavatory’!

Afterwards, Mr. Findlay complained many times to the School Board about

the filthy condition of the toilets or offices as they were called, and he even

threatened to call in the Sanitary Inspector. When this was ignored and he

wrote again deploring the state of the toilets, which he thought affected the

children’s health, he was told by the Clerk to the Board, ‘They (the School

Board) are of the opinion that you could easily insist upon the place being

kept in a satisfactory condition and they hope there will be no further trouble

in the matter’. The School Board had always appointed a cleaner for the

offices, but nobody had ever been satisfactory for very long. Usually the

cleaner asked for an increase in pay, the decision was deferred and the cleaner

resigned. No matter whose responsibility it was, it showed, typically, that

there was little co-operation between the teacher and the School Board.

There continued to be requests for equipment and improvements required

by the school, and asked for by the Education Department, which the School

Board did not regard as essential. The grant for Boarhills School had at one

time been reduced owing to the failure of the School Board to undertake a

request of the Department, and although it never happened in Strathkinness

it was threatened several times. Slowly, and often reluctantly, most of the

improvements asked for by the Education Department were made.

In 1873, according to Mr. Findlay’s log book, the subjects taught in

Strathkinness were the three essentials of reading, writing and arithmetic, plus

history, which covered many topics including the British Constitution,

geography, an occasional class in Latin, singing, and sewing for the girls, which

was an essential subject if the school was to receive a grant.

Mr. Findlay had two pupil teachers for whom he was paid a small additional

fee for giving them extra lessons. At one time David Thom (son of Andrew

Thom, joiner and School Officer) and Cecilia Findlay, Mr. Findlay’s daughter,

73