|Transient lifestyle, Hudson Bay
and Northwest Company trading posts, trading, hunting, gathering and fishing
are the economic lifestyle, education by the family. Very few persons at this time know how to
read or write and there are also only a few of missionary or trading post
||Missionary Henry Budd
established Cumberland House wherein the Bible and the Three r's (Readin'
Ritin' and "Rithmetic) were taught.
|| Henry Youle Hind conducted the second
expedition to the North West Territories to give consideration to the west as
a region for settlement. He also
confirmed the existence of the desert like area in Southern Saskatchewan but
also described a fertile belt running through the prairies astride the river
||1857-1860 The first
expedition to the North West Territories to gain understanding of economic
possibilities, transportation routes and development, and natural flora and
fauna was undertaken by Captain John Palliser. He identified an area of Southern Alberta
and South West Saskatchewan as unfit for civilization as it was an extension
of the Great American Desert. The dire prediction that the west won't amount
to much persisted until the late 1800's.
||Adam McBeath, of the
Hudson's Bay Company teaches the three R's and supplements these courses with
geography, history, English composition and bookkeeping to HBC officer's
||The Canadian Constitution
sets out educational jurisdictions for Eastern provinces of Canada.
||In 1870, the Hudson's Bay
Company surrendered Rupert's Land to the British Crown, who transferred the
territories to the Dominion Government of Canada.
||Dominion Land Survey from
1871-1880 allowed for Sections 11 and 29 to be set aside by the Dominion
Government for school sections in every surveyed township. A township was 6 square miles. If sections 11 or 29 were located on land
not suitable for a school house, then schools could be centered within the
community of school children.
Consistently using sections 11 and 29 would mean a walking distance to
school of 2 -3 miles. By 1880 southern
Saskatchewan and a region by Prince Albert had been completed with a road
allowance surrounding each section increasing the size of the township. After this time road allowances run
north-south between every section however east west road allowances are
located only on the north side of sections 7 to 12, 19 to 24 and 31 to 36.
||The Presbyterian Mission in
Prince Albert, NWT, was established by Reverend James Nisbet. English and Cree Sunday School services
||The North West Territory
Act was enacted. The majority could establish public
schools, make assessments and collect taxes.
Protestant and Roman Catholic churches may also establish schools.
||Lt. Governor petitioned by
Moise Ouelette and Pierre Landry to establish a school as St. Laurent. No taxation was set up therefore no funding
was available. Hon. David Mills, Minister
of the Interior decided that when school corporations are formed, they may
tax themselves. Taxation system was
set up for Territorial offices, salaries, justice.
||There are 5 elementary
schools reported in the "Herald" Nov 17, 1879. Emmanuel College at St. Mary's Anglican
Parish School, Prince Albert, NWT,
teaches English, Theology, Grammar and Composition of Cree, and
Sioux. Prince Albert sports a skating
club and baseball club.
||One Half the teacher's
salaries for schools of 15 or more pupils in attendance would be allotted by
a Federal Government Grant.
to 1880 pioneer settlers educated their own children and some Church Missions
were established. The Hudson Bay
Company provided for education for employee children. Any schools established in this time frame
provided education in French, English and Cree. Taxation was opposed by residents education
and a civilized society would not be heard of on this rugged frontier land.
||Classical languages, Math
and English were taught as Collegiate Anglican School, Prince Albert, NWT.
||The principal railway
divisional point on the prairies arrives in Moose Jaw.
||Ground work began by
politicians for legislation to establish school districts. Saskatoon sees the erection of the School
House of Temperance Colonization Society.
||Emmanuel College at St.
Mary's Anglican Parish School, Prince Albert, NWT, reaches its height of
growth with 37 students. High School
opens at St. Anne's Convent, Prince Albert, NWT. Prince Albert School District and Colleston
||Moose Jaw School District
#1 Dec. 5, 1884-1968
Ordinance #5, was the first Territorial school law, which allowed for the
formation of school districts. It
provided for a general supervision of North West Territorial Schools, 1/2
salaries paid by the Board of Education to 10 protestant and 9 Roman Catholic
Teachers of this time. Communities
establishing school districts may choose the name independently. Moose Jaw processes the first application
in the North West Territories to establish a school district under this
legislation. Moose Jaw School District
#1 operated 1884-1968.A Public School system is seen as a necessity,
education should be open to every child as much as possible however
attendance is voluntary.
||Riel or North West
Rebellion disrupts establishment of school districts.
|This era is the birth of formal 'civilized' education and infancy of one room school houses. A high immigration rate creates ethnic colonization blocs with mixed languages and cultures Focus of families is on homesteading and success in
agricultural endeavours. There is
little or no money, any finances are invested into proving up the land and
improvements. Schools and lessons also
focus on agricultural success, with school gardens, and education is taught
based on schools of the ethnic bloc homeland.
Schools are rustic with benches and slates, not much money for taxes
or school districts. Few schools have
books or proper heating for winter months.
Once Grade 4-5 is achieved which is the mandatory attendance limit,
they help out on the family homestead; some children seeking out their own
homestead as teenagers following in the families footsteps rather than seeking
out secondary education or diversification.
||First Board of Education
meeting. There are less than 90
schools in the whole of the North West Territories. In attendance are Lt. Gov. Dewdney, Father
Lacombe, Mr. John Secord from Regina, Mr. Charles Marshallsay from Whitewood,
and James Brown as secretary. The
perception of the 1900s was that the west won't come to much stemming from
the Palliser Triangle prediction of 1857-1861. Taxes, education and civilization have no
place on the rugged frontier which was re-inforced by this same sentiment
which brought about the Riel Rebellion.
The results of the Riel Rebellion paved the way for change. It was seen as a necessity to establish
schools at which attendance is voluntary however open to every child. Settlers start to see a need in commerce to
establish a common country language to speak, read and write as protection
from unscrupulous horse dealers, and traders, those who may have illiterate
settlers place their X to amounts not owing, and a threat where homestead may
be cancelled if correspondence between land titles office could not be
West Territory Schools encompassing 84 teachers and 2, 553 students. A private School opened in Swift Current in
1886, using a Railway Box Car on the Ground
Spelling and 3 R's were taught by Mrs. Thomas rooks to C.P.R.
||Qu'Appelle School District
||Prince Albert School
||Regina School District #4
||Broadview School District
||Kenlis School District #6
||Maverick School District #7
||St. Andrews School District
#8 Prince Albert
||Colleston School District
#9 Prince Albert
||Prince Albert East School
||Wapella School District #11
||Moosomin School District
||Saskatoon Protestant Public
School District #13
||Emmanuel College Boarding
School for First Nations opens in Prince Albert, NWT.
||There is a North West
Territory provision to establish "Union Schools" which would provide
curriculums for High School, Public school and teacher training. Nisbet Academy opens which is a high school
for girls and young ladies in Prince Albert, NWT. New Stockholm S.D. #120 was a Swedish settlement.
group of local tax payers still object to public education funding from the
Government. It was a common perception
that the west won't come to much stemming from the Palliser Triangle
prediction of 1857-1861. Taxes,
education and civilization have no place on the rugged frontier which was
re-inforced by this same sentiment which brought about the Riel
Hills Indian Residential School was a Boarding schools 1889-1911
||In public school children
were taught Standards I-V. The first
high school grade was referred to as Standard VI. A junior or Class 3 provincial certificate
or Standard X: Middle, Class 2 or Standard XII: Senior, Class 1 Standard
XII. A one years provincial
certificate or Class 3 Standard was needed to teach until the 1920's. Even in 1889, a group of tax payers opposed
public education funded by the Government.
the sister of Nellie McClung teaches for one term at Kenlis S.D. #6. Swift Current S.D. #167
Public School District ws established.
||Kenlis S.D. #6 near
Abernethy, Sk. established 1886 had a visit from Poetess Pauline Johnson
reciting "The Legend of Qu'Appelle" at a concert.
the late 1800's, settlers could provide labour for Government related
projects such as road construction, bridges, fireguards in lieu of paying
taxes. Taxes were $1.25 per day or a
day's work. The settlers were short of
cash because of the drought and deprression and the government required
manpower for these developmental projects.
||First Normal School is
established, however there are no applicants for attendance. Miss K. Gillespie (future wife of Hon. W.R. Motherwell) taught in the area known as Balcarres,
NWT. (Balcarres became a town in 1901)
||There are 249 School
Districts in the whole of the North West Territories. Government School Bill is passed.
||Miss K. Gillespie (future
wife of Hon. W.R. Motherwell) teaches at the Crowstand Mission School for 3
years in the Kamsack area and Cote Reserve.
||Text books are selected by
the provincial government for the curriculum and are introduced in 1895.
Financial times are hard for most school areas, very few schools have text
books, the few that are owned are treasures. Grassington Mud School is set up
in South Western Saskatchewan modelled after the typical Mud Houses used by
settlers in the area.
||There were 366 school
districts in the North West Territories with 433 teachers educating 12, 796
||North West Territorial
Government initiates Community development and Fire Districts or Statute
Labour Districts by Statute Labour Ordinance.
2 days of labour per quarter section could be offered in lieu of
paying taxes. These districts are
precursors to the Local Improvement Districts later reformed into Rural
Municipalities. The prairie fire was a
devastating experience during the dry summer months and spread rapidly. The smoke from the fire's rampage could be
seen for miles.
||Statute Labour Districts
re-named Local Improvement Districts.
||Weyburn School district 512
is built "The Stone School"
"Wee Bourne" or small creek is incorporated in 1899 becoming
a village in 1902.
||Deluge of settlers from
Sifton's immigration policy and bloc colonization during the first two
decades 1900-1920 meant that schools could not be built fast enough to keep
up with settlement expansion. The
majority of settlers were agricultural seeking out the $10 homestead patent,
and not educated teachers, which also meant teachers could not be supplied to
schools which were constructed. School
district organization is optional dependant on the majority of (isolated)
||Massive immigration to the
west resulted from the Immigration policy of Clifford Sifton, Minister of the
Interior.of immigration. Bloc
colonization patterns developed in Saskatchewan. The Board of Education is now called the
Department of Education of the North West Territories. Schools could not be
supplied fast enough. From 1900-1920
schools were organized at a rate of one a day giving rise to the Saskatchewan
Pioneer Slogan: "A New School Everyday for Twenty Years". There were 492 schools established
throughout the North West Territories reaching 20,343 registered children and
taught by 592 teachers. Of these
approximately one quarter are opened less than 150 days of the year. Uniformity is not achieved in the early
1900's. 14 years of age is the
compulsory age limit or grade 4-5 achieved.
Family size is on average 8-10 children per family. 60% of the schools are "summer
Schools" and the teachers change yearly.
Epidemics such as whooping cough or contagious diseases force the
closure of schools.
||Prior to 1900 there were 2
school terms per year. Summer School
Apri1-Oct. 31 and Winter School Nov.1-Mar. 31.
Any school with 15 children living within 1-1/2 miles (which were
usually inside town) would be open all year 210 days. Those rural schools with smaller attendance
would open only for the summer term which compromised the children's
educational progress as compared to those children in attendance for a full
years term. Winter terms were hard to
attend in rural areas: children had to share winter clothing to attend winter
school, roads were terrible, snow and cold made both roads impassable and
school houses too cold, families had limited finances to afford horses etc
for transportation. Approximately 1/4
of schools were open less than 150 days per year. Schools are on average 25-50 miles
apart. After 1900 Rural schools which
consist of 12 pupils living within 1-1/2 miles of the shool would attend
school year of 190 days.
||84% of residents in the
prairies are rural residents.
||Bloc settlements of ethnic
and cultural groups provided a means for homesteaders to cooperate in proving
up homesteads. Savings were spent on
travelling to the "Next Best West", paying the $10 filing fee for a
homestead, and purchasing oxen or horse, farming equipment, building a house,
and making improvements to the land to be granted land patent title in 3
years. There was no extra money for
taxes, clothing, shoes, no English for forms and school district application
process. Immigrants with farming
backgrounds became teachers providing education in the language of the
community in many of these colonization areas. Education was seen as improving the
community, and a settler of the would apply for a provisional certificate
which would last one year.
Agricultural farmers not educated teachers made up the massive
immigration surge, there were no training schools, so oft times the settler
who taught for one years would return to proving up his land, and another
farmer would teach the following year.
The shortage of teachers in the first two decades of the twentieth
century was compounded by World War I and the absence of local personnel due
||French and German Catholics
with local school boards arrange for competent teachers to teach in their
mother tongue for the last hour of the shool day which would include reading
composition and grammar.
||In the early 1900's lessons
were written on slates with slate pencils with an emphasis on Reading Writing
and Arithmetic. Recesses were held
with no sports equipment or handmade hockey sticks and pucks or handmade baseball
bats and balls. Teachers often also
provided the community with extra services such as interpreting, or letter
writing. School District organization
is optional depending on the majority of settlers opinions of the
community. there are 900 School
Districts in the North West Territories.
School which could afford texts use "Alexander Readers"
which were written in script. Many
schools that have been formed are "Parochial Schools" teaching
religion, beliefs and ethnic language rather than the curriculum of public
schools or the registration of school district. Public Schools allow 1 hour of ethnic
language instruction at the end of the school day. German Catholics are
assured that the School Board could employ teachers who were competent to
instruct and use the mother tongue. 84
% of residents in the North West Territories are rural residents. The population in the area now known as
Saskatchewan is less than 100,000 residents.
Saskatoon sees the erection of the Stone School house.
||Miss K. Gillespie (future
wife of Hon. W.R. Motherwell) is Principal at File Hills Indian Residential
School which closed 1950.
||Evansdale S.D. #708 and
Floral S.D. #688 established in Local Improvement District 18B3 in the Clavet
area. Craik S.D. #891 established at
|| If factory made desks, "Double
Stationary Desks", were too expensive for the district, long tables and
long benches were used. Often the
early schools used planks on barrels which meant seating without backs.
school rooms may have 4-5 rows of double desks iwth ink wells in the
center. Many early schools were built
of logs, rough lumber on poor foundations, or in old dwellings such as
granaries, not built to withstand
severe cold. Schools would have no
blackboard or insufficient blackboard.
A substitute of green window blind paper on rolls was used as black
boards. The carpenter of the area would be in charge of construction after
land transfers set up. Most school
house interiors were painted blue. The
school room would be supplied with a box stove or oil can on legs without an
insulating jacket. Very few school
grounds had play apparatus. Early
introductions were swing, climbing ropes, teeter, and sand pile. Recess and noon hour games included hide
and seek, Tom Tom Pull Away, skipping stones, sailing twigs and wading in
nearby sloughs, or skating in the winter season. The school grounds contained 2 outdoor
toilets and were surrounded by wire fence, with planting of Maple and
Carragana trees. Later barns for
cutters, caboose, buggy and teacherages were built.
||Brownell S.D. #904 set up
in Local Improvement District 19C3 (Northen Saskatoon area). Whoosier S.D. #849, and Pleasant Point S.D.
#320 both started near Dundurn, Sk
Construction directives of 1900 were sent out in 1903. Log School houses replaced by frame, stone
or brick building. The directives
were put forth according to regulations set out by leading authorities of the
time on school architecture. Proper
lighting, heating, ventilation, building dimensions and interior arrangement
and furnishings of 1 and 2 room schools were set out in the plans Trustees would submit plans of proposed
buildings to conform to these directives. Blueprints required that the total
area of window glass must be equal to at least 1/5 of the floor area. Early construction of schools might place
windows on two sides or three sides resulting in too much light, and cross
lighting. No lamps were supplied by
the Board of Education. Many school rooms had ceilings 12 feet high to meet ventilation
requirements. Many early schools plans were too large for the initial
settlement, then the plans were too small to cope with the immigration boom.
S.D. #1026, near Swift Current, Herbert S.D. #1075, En 2 S.D. #1099 near
Herbert, and Prarieville S.D. # near Swift Current are built. Antelope S.D. #1116, and Chamberlain S.D.
#1157 established NE and in Chamberlain, Sk respectively.
Douglas Plain S.D. #900, Avondale S.D. #954, McTavish S.D. #1167 were all built around Asquith, Sk.
||Beverley S.D. #1172 near
Beverley, Lobthal S.D. #1290 near Main Centre, Turnhill S.D. #147 near Rush
Lake were constructed.Blackley S.D. #1932 in the Blackley area of Saskatoon
in Local Improvement District 19C3 established. Hanley S.D.#934 established in Hanley, Sk.
Coates S.D. #1330 built near Dundurn, Sk. Kenaston S.D. #1192 started in
town. Bladworth S.D. #1451 sets up in
the town of Bladworth. Near Craik, is
a school district named Bennett S.D. #2015.
||Saskatchewan becomes a
province. There are 716 school
districts with 25, 191 registered students and 1,011 teachers. The
Department of Education of the North West Territories now is called
The Department of Education.
||Norman F. Black teacher at
Weyburn's Stone School brought basketball to Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
||Reed Valley S.D. #1522 near
Herbert, Flats S.D. #1602 near Success, Bethania S.D. #1626 near Herbert,
Pleasant Hill S.D. #1665 near Swift Current and Rockside S.D. #1689 near Rush
Lake, Horodenka S.D. #1845 near Moose jaw are applied for. Smilesville S.D. #1641 still stands near
Kenaston, Sk. Kipp S.D. #1589 (
[aside] cost for the building was $1,000) and Silver Lakes S.D. #1501 are
built near Bladworth. Ames S.D. #1411,
Eildon S.D. #1510, Hustlers S.D. #1536
and Bennett S.D. #1452 set up in 1905 near Craik, Sk. Near Cudworth, Sk are built Horodenka S.D.
#1845, Kotzko S.D. #2701.Lathom S.D. S.D. #1538 near Osage Sk was named after
an English family.
heavy winter. Children educated at
home for winter months.
1 through 8 are taught in public school followed by junior, middle and
senior. If 15 children resided within
1-1/2 miles of the schoolhouse, the school year would be 210 days in length. Rural schools held 2 school terms. 60% of Rural schools were "Summer
Schools" operating approximately between March 15 / April 1 through
until Oct 31or in milder winters until December or January. The school term would be about 120 days
long. "Winter School"
operated from approximately Nov. 1 / Dec. 31 until March 15 / 31. Many rural schools would be closed during
the winter season due to the cold climate, heavy snow, inadequate heating for
school rooms, shortage of winter clothing for children, roads which could not
be traversed or illness. Many rural children would board in town during
winter storms or to attend the 'urban' school with the longer school
year. High schools provide agriculture
and metal work, wood work and domestic science.
||There are 15 German schools
serving 50-60 children each with a total of 45 German schools serving 1,200
children in the province. A request
was made to teach German at anytime during the school day.
||Waldeck S.D. #1718, Gull
Lake S.D. #1748 , Cut Bank S.D. #1822 near Bundarmare built. Wall Lake S.D. #1764, and Odel S.D. #1893
established near Dudurn, Sk.
Falkingham S.D. #1754 begins near Kenaston, Sk. Hallbrite S.D. #1952 set up near Craik,
Sk. Barrett S.D. #2015 set up near
Chamberlain, Sk Around Asquith, Sk were the school districts of Eagle Creek S.D. #1741, Nelson S.D. #1486, Grange S.D. #1769 and Asquith School starts above Andrew Mather's store in this year.
||There are 2,070 school
districts established. There are about
45 schools using German as the language of instruction, teaching German, Old
Colony catechism, Bible, Arithmetic, and Writing. Elvevow S.D. #2175 is a landmark near
Dundurn, Sk. Haultain S.D. #2431 built
in 1908 moved in 1952. Ronaldsburg
S.D. #2049 sets up near Kenaston, Sk.
Aylesbury S.D. #2127 and Barrett S.D. #2015 are built near Craik,
Sk. Chamberlain sees the establishment
of Aberfeldy S.D. #2090, and Banbury S.D. #2149 nearby. Fartown S.D. is established near Marshall,
Sk. and costs $1,000 to build. Bonnie Brae S.D #1837 established near
||Section 177 School Act of
the Saskatchewan Department of Education sets up a school for training
Ukrainian Teachers called "english School for Foreigners". Gilead S.D. built near Hanley, Sk. And
Aikins S.D. #2304 near Kenaston, Sk.
Banbury S.D. #2149 and Beacon S.D. #2805 established near Craik, Sk. Chamberlain area establishes uplands S.D.
program used by many communities to build country schools. By this date,
teachers arrive in the western prairies from the British Isles, some as
professional teachers others with a grade eight standing and teaching as
"permit teachers". The ranching country South of Township 5 to the
U.S. Canada border had their School Districts run by the Local Improvement
District until mid 1950's. The Local
Improvement Districts (L.I.D.) was the forerunner to the Rural Municipality
(R.M.) Horse disease epidemics are
rampant, horses falling to Swamp Fever, Encephalitis, and Glanders.
Sod Schoolhouse is built 65 miles South oif Swift Current. Many homesteader homes are Sod houses, and
a request was made to built the school house in the same fashion. Kotzko S.D. #2701, Skala S.D. #2712,
Ozeriany Carpathian S.D. #2722 near
Cudworth are built. Hamre S.D. constructed near Hanley, Sk Beacon S.D. #1452 built near Craik, Sk.
school districts had a Football (Soccer) team and hockey team.
||School districts are
requested to submit five names written down in order of preference for their
new school to avoid duplication.
Parkhill S.D. # 492 set up near Craik, Sk.
||Bergheim School District
established with Welshman J.D. Williams a bilingual teacher facing language
barriers. He introduced outdoor
projects such as school garden and the first inter school field meet to
increase community integration. School
houses were community gathering places.
Summer picnics saw nail driving contests, pie eating contests,
"thread the needle" races, wheelbarrow races, rowing contests, ball
games, pole vaulting. There were
winter Christmas concerts, socials, dances, card parties; whist and hollo;
and political meetings.
||Ealingford S.D. #3069, Aude
Hill S.D. #666, Ranchview S.D. #2847 were set up in the Kindersley area. Wingellow S.D. started near Hanley,
Sk. Erie S.D. #856, and Squaw Creek
S.D. #3223 built North of Craik,
Sk. Wildflower S.D. #2560 is built
near Alsask, Sk at a cost of $2,000 paid for by debenture over 10 years.
heavy winter. Children educated at
home for winter months.
||Gleanalmond S.D. #3170,
Turvin S.D. #3032, Stoney Vista S.D. #3000, Loverna S.D. #3144 were
established around Kindersley, Sk
Jagoe S.D. built near Hanley, moving to Box Elder S.D. in 1953. Wyandotte S.D. #1355 establised East of
Hanley supported in 1952 with Haultain School Building moving here as
well. Briggs S.D. #841 near Bladworth,
Sk. is built. Prairie Isand S.D. #1135
near Chamberlain is built. Denehurst
S.D. #1070 established near Brock, Sk.
||There are 16
"consolidated districts" encompassing 36-50 square miles in which
residents convey children to a central community school. Small school districts cannot raise enough
taxes and there is a limited school population. Children are transported to school at the
expense of the school district.
||Teachers were given special
training during the war years 1914-1918 to replace teachers who had
enlisted. Students who had completed
public school were given a crash course on starting stoves, sports,
curriculum set up and were able to supervise correspondence classes. During this time of teacher shortage, many
of the 'teachers' were barely older than the 'students'. During WWI, the building program was
halted. Many schools were used by
military authorities for hospitals or emergency war use.
||World War I (1914-1918)
S.D. #2984 erected near Alsask, Sk used 'new' innovations such as plaster,
fir floors, hyloplate blackboards impressed the residents with its
"superb splendor" and was therefore christened Superba. It was also a year of a bumper wheat crop,
and for children crossing through the wheat field, one seven year old lad did
get turned about trying to take a short cut on the way to school.
||648,000 residents live in
Saskatchewan. Chatham S.D. #3117 is
near Kenaston, Sk.
||Establishment of schools
should provide education to an area not exceeding 20 square miles. Within the school district there should be
at least 10 children of schools age, as well as at least four persons who can
be assessed for school sponsorship.
There have developed two basic educational systems in Canada. Protestant community schools without
religious teaching, and Roman Catholic French Irish Schools combining
education with religion. There are 60
French schools established by 1916.
The Saskatchewan population reaches 648,000.
|This is the era of the One Room School House the prosperity of the 1920's could build the school house according to established guidelines. Improved
standardized Schools with equipment, double stationary desks with inkwells,
and standardized curriculum and texts.
Improved transportation and higher wealth. The industrial revolution commences and
introduces the radio, media, phone lines, and mechanized farm work. The school term becomes year round,
attendance improves, most children attend finish primary school. The hard times of the dirty thirties with
no employment available see many children also attending secondary
schools. The English language is
becoming more common in public, and the ethnic language of bloc settlements
is now mainly spoken at home or at church.
Many ethnic cultural and language distinctions begin to disappear.
survey found very few teachers spoke English in the ethnic bloc colonization
areas, or had teaching qualifications.
Many teachers only had 5-6 years of education and taught for one year
at a time with a provisional certificate.
Very few children could speak English in 1917.
||School attendance act is
now enforced. $10/month fine for
non-attendance. Formation of school districts has been optional, very few
teachers spoke English or had teaching qualifications teaching with a
provisional certificate with 5-6 years of education. Very few children could speak English. Some isolated ethnic blocs have not
established school districts. The
formation of this act sees 90% of children
attending school over 190 days per year. Thee are no school districts using German
as a language of instruction 1917-1922.
||From 1918-1919 The Cudworth
School District #1052 had 1 teacher and 79 children, which was soon rectified
with 2 teachers in 1919, and 3 classrooms and 3 teachers by 1922.
plans and specifications were set out for school buildings and freely sent
out. It is now illegal to construct
any school building unless plans were approved by the Minister of Education. Plans submitted show grounds, school
buildings, teacherages, toilets/privies, and water supply via cistern or
well. Plans for auxillary rooms,
training shops, gymasiums and physical fitness training, science labs
technical subjects, and libraries arose following WWI. Glazing area of windows should not be less
than 1/4 of floor area and this should be from the left and rear of seated
||World War I (1914-1918)
|| Fines introduced for ethnic languages used
in public schools. Legislation passed
forbidding foeign language teaching except French. French can be taught for the first grade
and 1 hour for later grades. Schools
moving away from religion and ethnic link in the community. There are 133 French schools, 11 private
Mennonite and Hutterite Schools, over 40 Ukrainian-Polish Schools. Average school has some equipment, however
much of it is not recommended by Department of Education or authorities. Discontinue use of those not approved.
||Catholic religious symbols
are gone from public schools via a revision to the school act.
||This year begain a decade
of improved transportation and higher wealth.
The industrial revolutions introduced the radio, media, phone lines,
and mechanized farm work. Schools are
stocked with equipment. The English
language is becoming more common in public, and ethnic language of bloc
settlements is now mainly spoken at home or at church. Many distinctions begin to disappear. Vocational Education Act is introduced.
||During the "roaring
Twenties" school teachers taught 8 subjects, 10 grades and an average
60- 70 children. The janitor,
teachers, or older students would have an early start to school to light the stove and warm the
school house. Classes would be from 9
am to 12 noon and re-commence 1:30 -4:00 to allow students to walk home for
lunch breaks in urban areas. In rural
areas students would bring lunch in lard, jam or syrup pails and set them on
the stove to warm for lunch. Jackets
were hung in the boys/girls coat rooms.
Opening exercises consisted of Good Morning, singing the "Maple
Leaf Forever" facing the Union Jack Flag, singing "God Save the
King" facing the pictures of His Majesty The King, King George V (1910-1936) and Queen Mary. followed by the Lord's Prayer and the 10
commandments. The teachers would
register the children next. School
grants were dependent upon school attendance and days of operation. The teacher would allow about 40 minutes
per lesson spending about 2 to 3 minutes per grade to introduce new
material. Material was re-inforced
with blackboard notes so grades could work independantly while the teacher was
instructing another grade. Some
subject material could be introduced to combined grades allowing the teacher more time to present the
work. Older students would help
younger students with their lessons.
||Technology of World War I
introduced the need for training shops, gymnasiums, libraries, science
labs. Technical subjects, equipment
and physical fitness training are now seen as necessary for broader
education. Whereas previous education focused on helping the early settlers'
family learn a common language for communication and skills needed to succeed
as homesteader in the agricultural sector and in commercial ventures as
seller of agricultural goods and trader.
the "Canadian Reader" books 1-7 and "Highroads to
Reading" for Grade 8 are introduced.
||There are 4,679 School
houses with 6,054 School rooms and 6,250 teachers. During this era every
school district had a baseball team, and "Canadian Readers Books
1-7" for Grades 1 to 7 and "Highroads to Reading" for Grade 8
||The decade of the
"Dirty Thirties" produced a great number of teachers. The drought made it impossible to farm and
many returned to school to obtain their certificate to provide for their
livlihood Between 1929-1937 there was
a huge exodus of 66,000 people from Saskatchewan. Settlers were in financial distress, many
declared bankruptcy. Schools were in
dis-repair and many closed. No
religious emblem or clothing are allowed in public school during school
||A new curriculum and
teacher's guide is developed.
Correspondence schools supplemented with radio classes help to serve
the increase in students. Exams are
held at local schools.
||There has been applications
approved for 5,010 school districts of which 4,870 are operating. Of the 5,010 there are 4,511 which are
rural one room school houses.
||His Majesty the King, King
Edward VIII is now celebrated with "God Save The King" and reigned
11 months followed by His Majesty the King, King George VI (1936-52). In 1936, Saskatchewan's population reaches
||"At present in
Saskatchewan we have over 5,000 purchasing and employing agencies, 5,000 paid
secretaries, paid auditors, separate bank accounts, 5,000 non-correlating,
non-co-operating unites." MacLeans magazine.
||Assiniboia Grain Growers
Baseball team are the provincial champions.
Eventually this team in the 1930's had to be banned from tournaments
to allow other teams to have a chance at the coveted prize money during the depression
||There are now 5,151 school
districts established and communities can support 4,917 as operational.
||World War II (1939-1945)
||The Dirty Thirties and the
resulting economic depression placed school houses in disrepair for lack of
finances. The Second World War between
1939-1945 again resulted in many residents enlisting which meant a shortage of
labour for repairs in the 40's when times started again to be more
prosperous. There was a closure of about 1,000 School Districts between
1940-1945. There was no machinery, as
any and all was given to the war effort (WWII 1939-1945). Many wives and children move to urban areas
or to parent homes. Family size is now
on average 2 - 3 children each.
|This is the era which marks the decline and death of the One Room School House. The number of One room School houses peaks in the late 1940's and starts to decline due to the lack of money of the dirty thirties depression and lack of labour during World War II. Better qualified
teachers and consolidated or composite schools are now used, teaching diverse
subjects keeping pace with the industrial and technological revolution. Rural children are bussed into urban centre
schools. Children attend both primary
and secondary schools with many more students after WWII also achieving post
secondary education. Transportation
and shift to urban centres have dissolved ethnic cultural bloc settlements,
schools are now a diverse mix of students receiving a uniform provincial
Act. In schools, uniformity of
education and larger school consolidation is introduced. Consolidated schools provide better
qualified teachers, free transportation is introduced. They are known as the "Lighted
Schoolhouse", providing school instruction to the children by day and
instruction to the adults by evening.
Technology increased farm size, and many farmers now live in urban
centers, travelling to the rural farm.
The Federal Government introduces Family Allowance which improves
|| Larger School Unit Act introduced. After World War II educational change to
the more modern school system. Oxbow School Unit #1, Wakaw School Unit #48.
||Former school districts
which saw 8-10 children living in the area, now have only 2-3 children.
||World War II (1939-1945)
||By 1947 there were 5,192 school districts in
Saskatchewan alone, comprising 7,440 teachers and 177, 566 students. The 1947 school act required that school
districts cannot be larger than 20 square miles and the length and width could
not exceed 5 miles. Within this area
were 4 persons who could be assessed and 10 children between 5 to 16 years of
age. To establish a new school
district, a petition would be drawn up by 3 residents in the community over
the age of 21. A plan was drawn up
showing the children resident per quarter section, ratepayers name in
district, and any streams, lakes and roads.
An "x" would show the proposed location of the school which
would be on a dry location suitable for building, central to children, 2
hundred yards from the center of the school district boundaries, away from
sloughs, water, and graveyards.. The
Rural Municipality would be petitioned regarding school boundaries. The Department of Education required the
petition, plan, boundary certificate, school meeting notice, public notice
posting, declaration by ratepayers, poll sheet votes, minutes of the first meeting and 5 proposed
names for the new school.
||The Fifties see the post
war baby boom and post war immigration to Saskatchewan. The population is rising again. Television makes its appearance in prairie
homes, industrialization makes combines and machines available.
||The population of
Saskatchewan is at 832,000 residents.
Majesty the Queen, Queen Elizabeth II (1952-present) is celebrated in opening
exercises with students singing "God Save the Queen"
||600 bus routes have been
developed throughout Saskatchewan, there are now 1,050 School districts
supplying the educational needs of 12,500 children.
||Georges Vanier, Governor
General of Canada holds an impromptu visit to the one room schoolhouse of
Coates S.D. near Outlook, Sk while on a trip to the South Saskatchewan River
||8 out of 10 country schools
have now closed their doors. Lager
centers and composite schools bring students in by bus from 15 - 20 miles
away. Roads and travel have improved,
school transportation is free.
||Less than 100,000 residents
live in Saskatchewan.
||51 % of Saskatchewan
Residents are rural resident which shows a pronounced shift to urban
settlement stemming from 1) Lack of employment of the 1930's 2) Nuclear
family of parents and children was disrupted during both world wars, with
wives and children moving to urban centres settling with extended family
members. 3) Larger farm size because of
industrialization, vehicles and combines allows farmers to live in urban
centers and travel to the farm.
||Pike Lake School House #177
closed from 1973-1977
||Larger School Unit Act
||Pike Lake School House #177
re-opened 1978. One of the last One
Room School houses being used.
||The Education Act
introduced with 122 School Divisions.