DEVONSHIRE

JNR SCHOOL
POP- UP
MUSEUM
CENTENARY
July 2014
TIMELINE
1746
Smethwick Hall built on
current school site
19
14
S
m
eth
w
ick
H
all C
ou
n
cil
S
ch
ool op
en
ed
(for P
rim
ary

an
d
S
econ
d
ary
sch
ool p
u
p
ils)
1939
Smethwick Hall Council School
renamed as Devonshire Road
Junior and Infant School
(Primary school pupils stayed,
secondary school pupils moved)
1939
Sm
ethwick Hall Senior Schools
Opened on current school site
(for Secondary pupils from

Sm
ethwick Hall Council School)
1992
Smethwick Hall
Senior Schools Closed
19
9
7
Devonshire Junior School
Opened!
20
14
Devonshire Junior School
Centenary Pop-up M
useum

opens!
1937c
Smethwick Hall
demolished
Work from the Museum Team
Diary Entries from School History
Creative Writing
Diary Entries from School History
Creative Writing
Dear Diary,
Today was an outstanding day because
today weve had our rst day at the
new site. It was amazing because all
the children settled in very nicely;
nobody was naughty or mean to one
another, in fact they were amazing!
The best I have seen all year. They
werent any different from the way
they were at the old school. Even
though I had thought they will be very
silly because the school was bigger
and had different routes and had new
places, they proved me wrong. I was
amazed when they knuckled down
and did work as if they were at the old
school. I was so pleasantly surprised.
It was such an amazing day one of
the best Ive de antly had in all the
time Ive been here. It was amazing,
in fact it was so amazing I dont think
Ill get any sleep with all of todays
excitement!
Dear Diary,
Today was the worst
day of my life because
wellI had the cane! Along
with my best friend Sally
Johnson for messing about
and using our left hands.
For messing around we
were given the cane and
ruler! Our teachers are
very strict and had made
us stand up every time the
headmaster came in. We got
lots of homework and were
made to revise for a test.
They made us do it else the
cane would come out.
Dear Diary,
Today the children were very kind to me and the other teachers,
especially Helen. She is now my favourite child to teach. She was so
polite in my history lesson.
We all did P.T (physical training) and history, not forgetting
arithmetic, reading and creative writing and country dancing. It was
so much fun! Alex did some excellent dance moves as usual. It was
very impressive, if I danced like that Id break a bone or something.
Anyway I had a great day.
Work from the Museum Team
Newspaper Articles
Accounts from the Project
Newspaper Articles
Accounts from the Project
DEVONSHIRE HERALD
DEVONSHIRE HERALD
A Trip to the Archives
A Trip to the Archives
Interview with
Mr Wright
Interview with
Mr Wright
On Thursday 3rd June 20414
the Centenary group went on
an exciting trip to the archives
and found out about the school.
There are some names of people
who went to the old school: Emily
Holloway (daughter) and Emily
Holloway (mother), Emma and
Ellen Holloway, James Hollings
and Amelia Hollings. There are
also many more students with
the same last name and are from
West Bromwich.
On Wednesday 4th June some
children of Year 5s Centenary
group went to interview
Mr Wright, who was an ex-
headteacher at Devonshire
Junior School.
Mr Wright said that in the school
on Devonshire Road there were
no SATs, no curriculum and
no uniform. This all changed
when they moved to this school.
He also said that in this school
Some students lived on the same
road as next door neighbours.
Names like Williams are very
popular as lots of people have the
same name.
Also at the archives there were 2
large maps which were of the old
school and all around it. On one
map there are lots of trees but the
second one didnt have so many.
The maps are from different times
to show how different the area was.
On the map there were no houses
as all, just a couple of lines showing
the different roads.
the classes and hall were bigger,
so he said this school was better,
although he had lots of fun times in
the old school. They had to move to
this school because a bomb dropped
and all the windows of that school
were broken and all the children
were evacuated to different places.
One of Mr Wrights favourite days
was when the director of studying
came. He looked around and said
it was one of his best days in
Sandwell. This made Mr Wright
very happy.
School uniform
s
from
the last
100 years
1
9
1
4
1
9
3
9
2
0
1
4
The Devonshire Junior School Centenary Pop-Up Museum
is the outcome of a 10 week project with a group of year
5 students at Devonshire Junior School. The temporary
museum looks at and celebrates the schools history over
the last 100 years.
Over the course of the project the group visited the archives,
interviewed ex-teachers and students, created original
pieces of writing and artwork and learned about the
different kind of roles involved in researching, developing
and curating a museum.
Special thanks to
The Pop-up Museum Team:
Emily Gowing, Gurkeerat Nijjar, Harpreet Cheema, Harpreet
Kaur, JaiAnand Bhogul, Jujhar Singh, Lovepreet Deal,
Maryam Mehmood, Rico Browne, Rohan Dhesi, Satinderpal
Panesar, Simran Rai, Simreet Jagpal and Sukhraj Kaur.
Ann Hunt for her support and expert knowledge.
Jo Waldron and the team at Sandwell Community History
and Archives Service.
Miss Johal and all of the staff at Devonshire Junior School
who have supported the project.
This project was delivered by Creative Alliance
www.creativealliance.org.uk
Devonshire Junior School
Auckland Road
Smethwick
West Midlands
B67 7AT
T. 0121 558 1654