“Ripple Council School, Barking, Infants’ Department”, was built in 1912 and opened for pupils on 1st September 1913. Ripple was the second school to be built by the Barking Urban District Education Committee (previous schools in Barking had been established under the Barking School Board and there were “church schools” too). It was the first 'bungalow' style school in the country, moving away from the three story design evident at Northbury.

The school opened with three departments; Infants and Elementary Girls and Boys departments.

A Mary McCaid was the school’s first headteacher until her retirement at the end of September, 1931 – a service of almost 20 years. Ripple’s philosophy of valuing it’s parents and local community, seems to have started early on: an entry in the school’s log book, just two months after opening, notes that “parents were invited to see the children at work”.

Times were clearly very hard back then and the log-book notes that occurrences of whooping cough and measles were common. During a wintry January in 1915, it seemed that the school’s heating failed: “owing to the intense cold due to a breakdown in the heating apparatus, the timetable has not been followed strictly”, Ms McCaid wrote. After three days of snowfall, Ms McCaid eventually noted that “pipes have been heated for the first time this week” – all that time the school was without heating!

Miss Alberta Joslin took up headship of the school on the 1st October 1931. At that time the school was reorganised, with children over the age of 11 being transferred to local secondary schools, forming two departments - Infants and mixed Junior. Miss Joslin noted that on 12th February 1934 “attendance was very low this morning owing to fog” – a reminder that, at that time, coal-produced “smogs” were common place and Britain was very much an industrial nation.

With the outbreak of war, school departments were evacuated in connection with the Government Scheme. School reopened specially during the last week of August 1939 for “evacuation rehearsal”. Parents were able to register their children for evacuation in May 1940 and on 19th June reopened “for children not evacuated”. The east End of London was notorious for receiving a high degree of focus during air-raids, and Ripple Infants was no exception. In the first week of September 1940, the school was disrupted by 11 separate air-raids. On one occasion Miss Joslin noted that, “Gunfire was heard at 11:30 but no warning was given; however children went into the shelters anyway”. No wonder attendance plummeted during this period – on one occasion the school opened to just 9 pupils. Indeed, on the 26th August 1940, the log-book notes that “there are two classes only now in this department” with “two junior classes accommodated owing to limited shelter accomodation in their building”. Virtually throughout the whole of the 1940-41 academic year, air raid warnings were often a twice daily occurrence .

During the war, all available “green space” was incorporated within the Government’s “Dig for Victory” campaign. Accordingly, we understand that the grass area adjacent to the school’s fence was divided up into allotments for local residents. Fruit and vegetables grown within the school grounds would help supplement the meagre food war rations of our local families.

In 1942, Miss Joslin notes that school started at 9:30 each morning. At 12:30 children had their lunch break, with the afternoon sessions starting at 1:45pm. We understand that the large school bell, located on the side of what is now the Junior school, was rung at the start of each session. School ended at 4pm. Like most schools across the country, it was closed for “Victory Celebrations” on 8th May 1945. Upon retirement in Spring 1953, Miss Joslin had served Ripple Infants for 22 years.

Mrs Constance Pratt commenced duties as head teacher on 20th April 1953. The school’s 1954 HMI Report paints a delightful image of the school at this point in time:

“The school consists of six classrooms, a hall and a nursery wing which is now used by the reception class. One classroom serves as a dining room and another used for painting and other activities needing space... The 191 children… are divided into five classes.

The school is richly furnished with books, pictures and reference material of all kinds which stimulate and satisfy the children’s curiosity. Each teacher is free to arrange her own time table for the day… The children move confidently from one task to another and overflow into the hall and corridor and spare rooms as needed.

There is ample opportunity for painting, modelling, building and imaginative play… The puzzle corner, the puppet theatre and suggestions for extra pieces of work present a challenge especially to the abler children”.

Professional footballer Trevor Brooking attended Ripple in the mid 1950s. The after school jumble sale held on 12th July 1955 raised £23.10.0. Sadly, on 6th December 1955 a Mr Collins, the school caretaker apparently “collapsed, (and) was taken to East Ham Memorial Hospital and died”. Even the introduction of milk being delivered in cartons for the first time gets a mention in the log-book in October 1960!

It’s interesting to note that the 1962 HMI Inspection Report commented that one classroom had been “lent to the junior school”; and that “it would be helpful if some cover could be provided for the urinals in the boy’s sanitary offices”! (Interestingly, thirty years later, when demolished, the outside toilets still hadn’t had a roof fitted!). Mrs Pratt was based “in class” and had “taken charge of the fourth class… in order that numbers in classes should not rise above 36”.

Chillingly, at the height of the cold war, the log-book notes that on the 13th October 1964 the school was “closed at 3:15pm to permit teachers to attend a talk on the ‘Nuclear War Dispersal Plan’”. In 1965 the school became part of the London Borough of Barking. The school’s pupils got treated to their first indoor toilets on 17th February 1966, which have now, in turn, since been demolished. (Interestingly, the roofless, outdoor toilets were still used for another twenty years!)

Despite seemingly commuting from Twickenham each day, Mrs Pratt left Ripple Infants in 1967 after fourteen years continual service, to be replaced by Mrs Beryl Smith. Mrs D B Smith was the first head teacher to introduce pre-school visits in 1969: “the children enjoyed the afternoon and many parents said how much better it was for the children to come in and see what the school was like before being admitted”.

Mrs Peggy Stokes was appointed as school secretary on 8th March. Mrs Beryl Smith left Ripple Infants to take on a headship elsewhere in April 1974. The deputy head, Mrs Colleen Reynolds was temporarily promoted to the position of “acting head” after the Easter holidays. Shortly afterwards the log-book notes that on 6th May a LEA Art Advisor “called to collect paintings for display in Mexico”. There is no further mention of why these paintings were sent to Mexico or what happened to them once they got there!

In September 1974, Mrs Monica Dayson took over headship of Ripple Infants. Soon afterwards a Mrs Jacob helped to rearrange the school hall to provide space for a music and “a cooking area”. Further re-organisation of the school took place in 1976. The head’s office was originally located within a very small corner of the staff room. A Borough Engineer was called to convert the original cloakrooms into a new, larger office for the head and a room for extra storage. A staff meeting on the 3rd of November of that year discussed the prospect of “reading books to be allowed home for an experimental period” – taking reading books home is now widely considered an essential part of the literacy process.

The early part of January 1977 seemed to be plagued by a problematic boiler, which regularly caused temperatures to both plummet and soar during the school day. The Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations were marked by a “Jubilee Concert”, which the Mayor attended , followed by afternoon class parties - “a very busy, but wonderful day”, remarked Mrs Dayson. School had to close between 22nd and 27th February 1978, due to the fuel crisis. By the end of the year, the school boiler was continuing to be a cause of concern. Strong “fumes from the boiler” resulted in a class being evacuated to the nursery.

The school was affected by industrial action in the late seventies. An additional classroom was set up in one part of the hall, for additional language support. As we understand from staff currently still employed at the school, in April 1980, the Nursery was built. There were originally two classes located at the far end of what must have appeared, a rather long corridor. These were converted into the Nursery, which contained a multi-levelled play area and indoor slide! Staff can still recall Mrs Dayson’s almost legendary annual May Day celebrations, during which parents were invited to see children dancing around a traditional may pole in the hall.

In the early 1980’s, local parents protested at the building of the Ripple Road flyover, which replaced a level-crossing. On 3rd September 1985, timings for the school day changed - school now started at 9:00 and ran until 12:00. Lunchtime was until 1pm, with school finishing at 3pm. The Nursery session was from 9:10am to 11:45am. There was no mention of an afternoon Nursery session in the log book. The school was closed for a day due to the effects of the great storms of October 16th 1987; but fortunately, no damaged to the school was sustained.

Mrs Monica Dayson left Ripple Infants in 1988 after fourteen years of service. As we understand from staff currently still employed at the school, further alterations were carried out in the Nursery around this period. The multi-layered indoor play area was demolished and a more open plan environment was created with outdoor play facilities. Mrs Dayson was succeeded by a Mrs “Fif” Cooper, who was head teacher from 1988 to 1991. Unfortunately, by this time, schools were not officially obliged to keep log-books, and so little is documented about this time.

Mrs Anne Duckmanton was appointed in April 1991. Since then, the school has continued to grow and flourish. Relatively recently, Mrs Duckmanton was invited, along with other local head teachers, to have “tea with the Queen” at Buckingham Palace. During the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, children lined Ripple Road to greet the queen, when it was heard that the royal car was passing nearby.

In 2002, the school was nominated to take part within the DfES ICT Test-Bed Project, a high-profile four-year initiative to examine the effects of a high level of ICT-investment within educational establishments. This has continued to have a huge impact on the school’s physical appearance, with the latest teaching technologies adorning every classroom. In 2003 work started on providing the school with a new School Office and Reception area. More storage space was created, with modern new rooms being fitted for the head and deputy. On 8th March 2004, Mrs Peggy Stokes (the school secretary) celebrated her thirtieth anniversary of her appointment to the school and retired at the end of October. To date, Peggy has been the longest serving member of staff to work at Ripple in its 91 year history.

The school's new front office finally opened for business at the start of the 2004-5 Academic Year. It provides a pleasant welcoming environment to visitors of the school.

In July 2005 the School was Inspected by Ofsted and was judged to be 'Outstanding' in 6 out of 7 key areas.

Many thanks to Tahlia Coombs from Valence House Museum. The majority of this information has been sourced from the school’s original log books. Apologies, in advance, for any errors contained within. If you were a pupil or an ex-member of staff at the school, or had a close association with Ripple Infants, please let us know!

Remember, Ripple Infants is listed on the Friends Reunited website - use it to trace fellow ex-pupils.

If you can give us more information about our history, please e-mail us: office@ripple-i.bardglea.org.uk.