Historic Wabana
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        • Submarine Miner, V. 4, # 1, January 1957
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      • 1959 Issues >
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HISTORY
EDUCATION
ANGLICAN SCHOOLS


ST. STEPHEN'S SCHOOL
FRESHWATER/PARSONSVILLE


Picture

​The photo above is of St. Stephen's School from the 1959 Anglican schools yearbook, Focus, p. 57.

In the 1958 edition of Focus, the principal of St. Stephen's School, Freshwater, Joseph Frye, reported that the first school at Freshwater was opened in a room in the home of Mr. Jacob Parsons. Unfortunately, no years of operation are given for this school. Mr. Frye went on to say that, "about 1890, the first regular school was built on a piece of land donated by Mr. Norman Parsons' father. This school was in existence for some 25 years. One of the teachers was Mrs. Arthur Parsons." No doubt, it is this school that was being spoken of in the following Report of the Public Schools of Newfoundland under Church of England Boards, for year ended December 31, 1904. On page 83, under "Inspection of Schools" is the following:

"The District of Portugal Cove commences at the east end of Windsor Lake, and includes Portugal Cove Road, Portugal Cove, Bell Isle and Horse Cove. Board of Education: Rev. W. Smith, Chairman; S. Tucker, A. Squires, E. Harding, E. Somerton.
"For greater convenience, Bell Island has been separated from the District of Portugal Cove, and constituted a new District. At Wabana, a superior school was inaugurated in August last [1904], under Mr. W. Squire. The school at Freshwater was most satisfactory, but that at Lance Cove disappointing." 


​From the 1911 Census, we learn that the one-room Church of England school at Freshwater employed one female teacher and accommodated 24 pupils.

Continuing with Principal Frye's report in the 1958 Focus yearbook, "Around 1916, the present school was erected as a one-room school and was named St. Stephen's in the time of the Rev. John Stead, Rector. Some teachers over the years were Misses Bishop, Moore, Morgan, Simms, and Mrs. George Hiscock (nee Greenland). Gentlemen teachers were A.G. Toope, Aquilla Miller and now [in 1958] Joseph Frye." 

St. Stephen's school was being enlarged in the spring of 1938 according to a "A Brief History of St. Augustine's School" on p. 53 of the 1964 edition of Focus. Presumably, this was the year that it became a two-room school.

In the Foreword of the June 1953 Academician, as the school yearbook was then titled, Rev. W.G. Legge noted, amongst other things, that "Individual High School pupils have been coming from Lance Cove and Freshwater schools for seven or eight years...If our numbers continue to increase in all areas, and our winters continue to get milder, we may eventually bring all pupils above Grade 6 from everywhere to the Academy from where they would go on to the Regional High School for Grades 9, 10 and 11. The Government has shown its interest in this plan of centralization by increasing the building grant in this year's Budget on condition that part of it be spent to erect Regional High Schools."

Grades taught at St. Stephen's in 1957-58 ranged from One to Eight, and the enrolment was 74 pupils.

In the 1959 Focus, Principal Frye wrote:
"I came to Bell Island in September 1944. Since then I have taught in three of our schools. Up to a year or so ago, I've always felt that each school was a unit apart. Very little, if any, co-operation existed among our schools. I am happy to say that this situation no longer exists. Since the opening of the Regional High School, the Board of Education and the principals and teachers of all our schools are making a co-ordinated effort to improve our system and standard of education." St. Stephen's had an enrolment of 74 pupils over eight grades in 1958-59, all being taught by two teachers: Frye and Miss A. Baird. Mr. Frye went on to say that, "Our Christmas program this year was a bit different from other years. Because of lack of space, we were obliged to omit the entertainment part of our program. I'm sure the parents of all our pupils can appreciate the difficulty of trying to accommodate more than a hundred children and their parents in one classroom and then have the pupils perform for them without even the benefit of a stage." [It seems from the Principal's report in the 1961 Focus below that space that had previously been used as an auditorium was now being used as classroom space.]

Principal Joseph Frye wrote in the 1961 Focus, p. 84:
"When I came to Freshwater in 1944, there was a two-room school here with grades One to Eleven. At Lance Cove there was a one-room school with all grades. The Beach [school on Bennett Road, the Front] was a two-room school. At West Mines, there was a four-room school, and down East, as we called it, was the new Academy (now referred to as the old part of St. Augustine's) containing 10 classrooms. 
"I believe it was in the late 1940s that this school [St. Stephen's] was enlarged to its present size by the addition of a third classroom and a teacher's residence...
"In 1959, another room was opened at Freshwater." [This gives the impression that the school had four classrooms, however, Mr. Frye reported in 1959 that it was a two-room school.].
In 1961, enrolment was 84, up by 10 from 1959, and there were three teachers: Joseph Frye teaching grades 6 to 8, Mr. Bickford teaching grades 3 to 5, and Miss Lundrigan teaching grades 1 and 2.

The school activities for 1963, written by three of the pupils, reported that, "although some families moved from Freshwater, others moved in, with the result that our enrolment this year is the highest in the history of our school. Our Grade 8 class of ten pupils is the largest we've ever had." Mrs. Bickford taught Grades 1 and 2; Miss Tilley Grades 3-5; and Mr. Frye, Grades 6-8.

1964 saw some change in teaching staff. Mrs. Mabel Bickford was teaching Grades 1-3; Mrs. Mary Bickford Grades 4-6; and Principal Carl Gregory teaching Grades 7 and 8. There were now 71 pupils.

1965 was the first year that Kindergarten was offered at St. Stephen's and five-year-olds were admitted. Mrs. Mabel Bickford taught Kindergarten to Grade 3; Mrs. Maisie Parsons Grades 4-6; and Carl Gregory Grades 7-8 for a total of 82 pupils. A branch of the girls "Junior Auxiliary" was organized for the first time at the school and had 25 members from Freshwater and Lance Cove schools.

There were 69 pupils in 1965-66 with three teachers: Mrs. Mabel Bickford taught Kindergarten to Grade 3; Joseph Frye taught Grades 4-6, and the Principal, Carl Gregory, taught Grades 7-8. 

At the present time, I do not know exactly when St. Stephen's School closed. It was still operating when the Wabana Mines were closed for good at the end of the 1966 school year. Thousands of Bell Islanders moved to the Canadian mainland for other work over the next few years, causing drastic reductions in the school enrolment. St. Mary's School in Lance Cove seems to have closed at the end of the 1967 school year, so St. Stephen's may have closed at that time as well. A regular school bus service for the Island's school children came onstream about this time. Just a few years later, in 1969, Protestant school boards on the Avalon were integrated under the name Avalon Consolidated School Board, that took in Bell Island's United, Salvation Army and Anglican schools. For a number of years in the 1970s, Protestant children attended St. Augustine's for Kindergarten to Grade 3, then Jackson Memorial School for Grades 4-6, then returned to St. Augustine's for Grade 7 before moving on to St. Boniface Regional High School for Grades 8-11.

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