Ferryden Infant School Timetable

In 1872 the new Education Act was passed in Scotland, bringing education under the control of County Council School boards. Overnight all of the small adventure schools, burgh and parish schools disappeared.

Ferryden’s new Infant School on Beacon Terrace commenced on late December 1874. It had previously been run as a private trust but now it came under the direction of Forfarshire County Council. Annie Dick was appointed the first teacher & she began the school’s first weekly log book entries summarising the activities of the school & its pupils.

She taught the village’s 5 - 8 year old children the basics of reading and writing. She taught them on an alphabet board and then progressed to a reading book. The children first practised writing on slates & then on copy books before being given paper and pencils to copy from the blackboard.

It must have been a hard task to teach in the School. When she was appointed in 1875 she had 48 boys & 67 girls in her school with the assistance of a pupil teacher & a monitor. There were initially no books or slates for the pupils.

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