Transcript from the July 4th, 1914 edition
of The Aberdare Leader
Scholarship Results, 1914
In 1914, it was not the case that to enter the County Schools a pupil had to gain
a scholarship. Indeed in this year only 8 boys and 8 girls were awarded a scholarship;
the parents of the others had to fund the school place even though their
child had also to attempt the entrance examination as well.
Much later in the 1950s, 60s and 70s the term passing the scholarship was
still in use, even though no financial scholarship was awarded as all places
were by then free. The phrase persisted and was synonymous with passing the
11-plus examination for entry into a selective secondary school.
Presented below are the names of the scholarship winners as well as the names of
the boys who gained entry into the school. The previous school of each pupil
is named, and readers should be aware that the Higher Standard School was the
initial name of the school, opened in October 1907, later known as
The Gadlys Secondary Modern School, and finally as Aberdare Girls’ Lower
School.
Pupils went to the Higher Standard, still legally classed as an elementary
school, after attending one of the other elementary schools in the Cynon Valley.
They attended the Gadlys School for one or two years in order to study for
the more advanced standards known as VI and VII. Most elementary schools taught
the Standards I to V, from which it was still possible to do well in the entrance
examination, but many parents wished their sons and daughters to experience
the higher standards offered at the Gadlys School. The discrepancy between
the pass rate between the two types of school is referred to in the extract
of the press report of the Aberdare Education Committee meeting of July 1st,
1914, reproduced below.
Aberdare Education Committee
On Wednesday, July 1st, Mr. George Powell in the chair. The other members present
were:—Mrs. Davies (vice-chairman), Messrs. Wm. Rees, L.N. Williams, J.P., W.M.
Llewellyn, Owen Powell, Illtyd Hopkins, Idwal Thomas, D.R. Llewellyn, A. P. Jones,
T. Walter Williams, W. Thomas, Dd. Davies, E. Ogwen Williams, Evan Jones, Dd. E. Davies,
D. J. Thomas, with Mr T. Botting (director) and Mr T.D. Jones (assistant director).
...
County school Scholarships. — Sixteen
scholarships were awarded, and it was resolved to grant eight to girls and eight to
boys. The highest number of marks had been gained by the following, the maximum being
290:—Boys: David Edwin Evans, Higher Std., 250; Wm. Thomas, H. Std. 248; W. John Jones,
Cwmaman, 246; Rees J. Price, H. Standard (Industrial School Boy), 245; Daniel T. Edwards,
H. Std., 240; Dd. R. Owen, Cwmaman, 240; F. C. Anderson, Town Council, 238; Rd. Roderick,
Higher Std., 235. Should there be a vacancy, the next in order of merit is A. Stanley
Morgan, Aman School, 234. — Girls: Elizabeth A. Thomas, Higher Std., 247; Alice B.
Jones, Cwmdare School, 243; A. R. Jenkins, Higher Std., 237; Jane Davies, Higher Std.,
233; Ann Morgan, Higher Std., 228; Caroline Collins, Higher Std., 225; Huldah Bassett,
Higher Standard, 223; Doris Jones, Cwmbach, 220.—Mr W. Thomas asked if the same papers
were set before boys and girls, and the Director replied in the affirmative.—Mr W.
Thomas: Do the children in the outside schools have the same advantages as those in
the Higher Standard School? — The Director replied that there were qualified certificated
teachers for the top classes in the schools outside the centre (from Park to Blaengwawr).
It should also be explained that credit was due to the various schools from which the
Higher Standard children had been drawn.
Click
here for
an image of original newspaper cutting of the Scholarship results from The Aberdare
Leader .
There was a small intake in 1914 because the school was still recovering from the
departure of the girls to Plasdraw in September 1913 and had not yet adjusted
to admitting a substantially increased number of boys to compensate. We believe
the following boys, which include the scholarship winners, were admitted into Form 1
in the autumn of 1914:
| Frederick Christie Anderson | Town Council Elementary |
| David Brinley Bowyer | Town Council Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Richard Buxton | Cwmdare Elementary |
| Alfred Jonah Couldrey | Higher Std Elementary |
| Arthur Eynon Davies | Abercwmboi Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Henry Trevor Davies | Town Council Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Rees Baden Davies | Park Council Elementary |
| Daniel Trevor Edwards | Higher Std Elementary |
| David Edwin Evans | Park Council Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Evan Glyn Evans | Park Council Elementary |
| James Llewellyn Evans | Capcoch Elementary |
| Jeffrey David Evans | Higher Std Elementary |
| John Mansel Evans | Higher Std Elementary |
| Idwal John | Town Council Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Edmund John Jones | Cwmbach Elementary |
| John Jacob Jones | Cwmdare Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Thomas John Jones | Cwmaman Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| William John Jones | Cwmaman Council Elementary |
| Albert Gwilym Kevill | Park Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Clifford James Lewis | Hirwain Elementary |
| Daniel Thomas Lewis | St Fagans C of E & Higher Std Elementary |
| Allan Stanley Morgan | Cwmaman Elementary & Aman Elementary |
| Morris Morgan | Park Elementary |
| David Rhydwyn Owen | Cwmaman Council Elementary |
| Philip David Phillips | Cwmaman Elementary |
| William Henry Phillips | Cwmbach Elementary |
| Rhys John Price | Higher Std Elementary |
| John Thomas Roberts | Abernant Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Richard Roderick | Town Council Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Henry George Stutsbury | Town Council Elementary & Aberaman Elementary |
| Emrys Oswald Thomas | Higher Std Elementary |
| William Thomas | Town Council Elementary & Higher Std Elementary |
| Harold Ernest Welsby | Cwmdare Elementary |
| David Rees Williams | Aberaman Boys Elementary |
| John Edward Williams | Llanelly Boys County Intermediate School |
| Harold Williams | Town C of E Elementary |
| Hedley Lambert Williams | Town C of E Elementary |
| Ivor Ford Williams | Higher Std Elementary |
| Richard Williams | Capcoch Elementary |
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