CJ45

Collection

This collection consists of documents created or used by either the Herefordshire County Council Education Committee or the County of Hereford and Worcester Education Committee. It includes minute books from the various sub-committees reporting to main Council Education Committee, reports made by Ministry of Education inspectors on Herefordshire schools, of which copies were sent to the Education Committee, and designations of management given by the Minister of Education to Herefordshire schools, of which copies were submitted to the Herefordshire County Council Education Committee. The minute books are largely a continuation of the main series of Education Committee minute books and files that can be found in collections B45, B61, B73, C73, D36, D87, E25, F57, G10, G41, K62, L43, M15, S58, S76, T94, AP44 and BL49. There are also a further series of similar files that were deposited with the record office at a later date in collection CJ99. Those for Worcestershire prior to 1974 are at Worcestershire Record Office in collection 488. The records were transferred to the record office from the Modern Records Unit in 2009. They were an internal transfer from the Childrens’ Services department of Herefordshire Council. Before 1974, Herefordshire schools were managed by the Herefordshire Education Committee, which reported to the Herefordshire County Council Board. They were also overseen however, by the Ministry of Education in London. In some cases approval for certain actions, such as large sums of money to be spent had to be granted from the Ministry of Education. Originally Hereford City was an education authority itself, but after 1945 it was amalgamated with the county education authority. The Herefordshire Education Committee had several sub-committees that reported to it. These were the Scholarships Sub-Committee, Primary Education Sub-Committee, Transport Sub-Committee, Education Staffing Sub-Committee, Provision of Meals Sub-Committee, Further Education Sub-Committee, Sites; Buildings and Equipment Sub-Committee, Secondary Education Sub-Committee, Finance and General Purpose Sub-Committee, Special Services Sub-Committee and Education Welfare Sub-Committee. There was also a Swimming Pools Sub-Committee, but this does not appear to have reported to the Herefordshire Education Committee. Individual schools were run by boards of governors and these reported to either the Primary Education Sub-Committee, Secondary Education Sub-Committee or Further Education Sub-Committee. There were three types of schools: county primary schools, voluntary aided schools and voluntary controlled schools. These all had varying degrees of autonomy with county primaries having the least. In 1974, the county councils of Herefordshire and Worcestershire merged to form Hereford and Worcester County Council, and the county remained this way until 1998 when it was split up again. In 1974 therefore, the Herefordshire Education Committee moved to Worcester and merged with the former Worcestershire Education Committee and from that date on, had responsibility for schools all over the new enlarged county. The sub-committees from the two former counties also merged at this time. The Primary Education Sub-Committee therefore now had responsibility for schools over both the former counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. These sub-committees were also now based in Worcester and reported to the County of Hereford and Worcester Education Committee. At this time however, there were also some new sub-committees created. For some purposes, the county was split into Hereford and Worcester or East and West Divisions and a regional education committee was set up in each area, which reported to the County of Hereford and Worcester Education Committee in Worcester. A Nominations Sub-Committee and a Placements Sub-Committee were also set up at this time for each of the Eastern and Western Divisions. The Herefordshire Education Welfare Sub-Committee now reported to the Hereford Region Education Committee. After 1974, the County of Hereford and Worcester Education Committee minutes and the various sub-committee minutes can be found at Worcestershire Record Office in collections 413.01 between 1973 and 1977, 429.01 between 1977 and 1990 and 429.01:300 between 1990 and 1998. Schools were inspected by His/Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Schools (HMI). After local education authorities were created in 1902, the Inspectorate acted as go between for the Ministry of Education and the local education committees. The HMI reports in this collection are copies that were sent to the Herefordshire Education Committee about local schools. The original reports are in series ED176 at the National Archives. The documents have been arranged according to their creators. There are four distinct parts to the collection. There are those minutes created by Herefordshire Education Committee and its sub-committees. There are those created by the County of Hereford and Worcester. There are those documents created by His/Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Schools which were copied to the Herefordshire Education Committee and there are the Instruments of Management created by the Ministry of Education, which were copied to the Herefordshire Education Committee. The only minute books that have been put in the Hereford and Worcester series are those for committees that were created by the local authority in that form, not for committees that already existed. ‘Hereford District’ and ‘Western Division’ seem to have been used interchangeably. The name that appears on the minutes themselves has been used for the relevant entries in this catalogue.