Wolfe Island School: SS1

Does anyone have a photo of these schools???

This School Section started out as being Garden Island and when that island became incorporated as a village it was no longer in Wolfe Island School sections.
From Annual reports SS # 1 was on Garden Island until they incorporated in 1867 at which time their reports were filed elsewhere. For 1867 - 1870 the reports for SS # 1 are blank. I'm assuming they remained blank until the school on Simcoe Island opened in 1883 and then rather then use a new number they used the old # 1 number.

Garden Island S.S.#1

Built: 1843- fell into bad repair, new one built 1852
Location:
Closed: ?
At present: Still standing??

Annual Reports 1850-1866

Teachers:

N P Gould-1855
F A Finkle-1856
Alexander Darragh-1857
Henrietta Smith-1858
Julia Finkle-1859&1860
Fred’k Burrows-1861
Hugh Spears-1862-64
Henry Dugdale-1865
Henry Dugdale + Hariet Dugdale asst-1866

Simcoe Island S.S.#1

Built: 1883
Location: Lot 9 north side Simcoe Island
Closed: Sept 1981
At present: It is still standing.

Womens institute[Wolfe Island] has a copy of an indenture between Charles Staley of Simcoe Island , Mary ,his wife and The Public School Trustees of Section One dated 20th Feb. 1883 for $35. for 1/2 an acre in lot 9 on the north side where it intersects the westerly boundary of said lot and proceeding northward along said boundary. So I think the year #1 was built would be 1883.

Image of page: Public School teachers 1911 & info on their schools

Article:
Submitted by Theresa Broeders
Transcribed by Dean Snider
Date: March 1981
Frontenac County Smallest School
Frank’s Paradise Island:
by Frank Blanchette
My day usually starts at six. By 7:15 I am on the first of two ferries that take me to work. The second is a small cable ferry that holds three cars or two trucks and it hauls me the 4500 yards from Wolfe Island to Simcoe Island. It’s a short walk to the one room schoolhouse which overlooks the channel. In the winter you can drive on the ice or ski. Usually I ski. On a good morning I’m at work by a little after eight.
There are only five students from grades one to eight, and they arrive by car from the far side of the island at around 8:40 am. We start the day by listening to the news, the children taking notes or drawing pictures of what they hear. They use these notes/pictures to discuss what they have heard in conjunction with a world map which is always hanging above the board. Simcoe Island is too small to be on a world map and so is Kingston, but I put one hand where it would be if we lived in a world where map makers paid more attention to smaller cities, and with the other I point out places in the news: left hand on Kingston, right hand on Iran; left on Kingston; right on Afghanistan, Washington or wherever the troubled world flares up that particular morning. The pupils know how to do this themselves, and they also are learning that you cannot drive to England, take a train to Turkey or walk to Toronto even though your hands are very close together on the map.
Normally, by about 9:30a.m., we’ve discussed the news and have decided that Simcoe is a better place than most to spend the day. Then we work on "“Journals” until about 10:30a.m. An hour of writing. It was hard at first; hard for the kids and harder for me to lay off a bit and let them struggle, but now they are up to about a full page and a half every day. At times, the words do not flow but they come up with some quality things more often now. They know when it’s good and it shows in their voices when they ask you to read it. There are times when I correct spelling and times when I do not. Often a child is not up to being copiously corrected. But I sometimes remind myself to teach some aspect of mechanical detail by writing a comment in the child's book, such a comment in each child's book action marks tomorrow". The note is beneficial to both the student and me. On the odd occasion when a student has simply not tried, I'll either write nothing by way of comment or I'll tell him that this work is not worthy of him and let it go at that. This happened more in the beginning. Now it is rare. Special efforts I try to get published. This is the big payoff, but another big one is being proud of what one has done. If a child learns the lesson of pride, he, of course needs little teaching, only a bit of direction. The well of ideas runs dry on some days and this is accepted, but going through the motions at such times teaches persistence and endurance. At times I am sure that we do the most growing when we feel we are standing still. When I glance through the journals from the beginning of the year until now, I see an improvement in every child. I have also found that for most of my students a consistent effort that is of moderate intensity yields better results than any other. My standards are high, yet the children know they are attainable. A lot of this is hard to pin down but as an approximation, anything above a 70% effort is okay in my classroom as a norm. Asking 100% just kills them and it sure doesn't make my life easy either. It's no good if we all get burned out.
Programs Brought to Kids
We all live on an island which is our mind. Most teachers know this and try to broaden horizons. My island is physical as well as intellectual. To bring the outside world in is vital. The more people who visit us the better, because each person leaves a little of himself behind. So far we have hosted my family, a yoga teacher, a biomedical engineer, a telephone repairman, a public health inspector, and three visitors from foreign countries (arranged through the International Centre at Queen's). Visits are informal and it is best the person just talks a little about himself and his job/interest. Your resources are limitless here. I am lucky to have talented friends and some good lessons have been taught by them during visits.
Bringing Kids to the Programs.
It's ideal if, after a person has visited us, we can return the visit. So far we have been to several places such as Kingston General Hospital, Agnes Etherington, the lighthouse on the island, my place for lunch, and the library. Some academic follow-up is usually done but I use this sparingly so as not to bore the students or make them dread outings. I look at it as planting seeds. Maybe some will grow. Included in this approach is writing letters of thanks which gives further relevance to writing.
Frequently, we visit the public library. For the price of a library card, a classroom has a limitless supply of books for the year. If the price of the inevitable overdue books even adds up to as much as $10, you're still way ahead. Look at the cost of purchasing paperbacks in such quantity. Generally, I get about 30 new books every two or three weeks. I treat books as visitors with new ideas and personalities. We did a lot of worthwhile things with a book of Karsh portraits of famous personalities. At least my students have heard of Einstein, Hemmingway and Steinbeck to name a few.
Because the people in the children's section of the Kingston Public Library are so personable, there is a further pleasure which the children associate with reading. When I had a Special class at Robert Meek, I'd get a volunteer to stay with the class and take five children with me to get a new load of books. At times we'd sneak off for bottle of pop. This, too, tells children that reading is something that is outside of school and is fun.
It's not all exciting, of course. Some of it is difficult. Boredom must be faced creatively--when the ferry breaks down, there's a difference between wanting to ski and having to ski in order to get to work. The wind is so cold out on the lake. However, all things considered, I enjoy the job immensely and am thankful for the chance to share some of my experiences.

Submitted by Theresa Broeders
Transcribed by Dean Snider
Kingston Whig-Standard
August 29 1981
Board Closes Simcoe Island School
From Pg 26, Whig Standard, Saturday august 29, 1981
BY Ann Lukits
The Frontenac county board of education hopes to save at least $3,100 next year by "mothballing" a small one-room school on Simcoe Island.
"Mothballing" is the board's term for taking a school out of circulation. Boarding up the windows and turning off the heat, lights, and water.
The five-year old school, however, will not be sold for at least a year to give education officials time to determine if there may be a future need for its services.
The decision to "mothball" the Simcoe Island School, which serves as an annex to Marysville Public School on Wolfe Island, was made this week at a meeting of the board. Mothballing will cost about $300 for one year.
Three of the five children who attended the annex last year moved from the island this month. Of the remaining two, one intends to enroll in Grade 8 at Marysville this fall.
That left one Grade student left for Simcoe--a convincing statistic that made the decision to close the annex an easy one, both for parents and education officials.
It cost an estimated $3,600 to operate Simcoe Island annex last year and another $22,000 to pay the salary of one full-time teacher. Bill Anglin, superintendent of education, said that in addition to the financial savings, there will be "social benefits" in moving the remaining student to Marysville because the five children who attended the annex last year were related to each other.
"They don't get to contact with other kids so there will be other social benefits in moving," said Anglin.
During the past few months, Anglin and other education officials, including trustee Gerry Chubb, have talked with the parents affected by the closure.
"There are no real complaints -- they recognized that we can't have a school with one student," said Anglin.
One of the comments that came out was a concern about property values if there are no schools on the island. It would definitely be a more attractive place if the children were there and the school open." Trustee Tom ?? told the board last night that the school should be sold as soon as possible because "there does not appear to be any students for it in the near future."
But the general feeling was that more time was needed to assess the options open to the board. Trustee Chubb suggested that there have been rumors for some time that a "mysterious family" from Vancouver with three children may move to the island.
Trustee Clifford Allen said it would be "unreasonable to expect the board to provide a school for half a dozen children" although Simcoe has had less than 10 students since it opened.
Trustee David Parry said that provincial Bill 82 "states that a school be there for the children" --and $600 to mothball is cheap compared with building a new building."
There was some discussion about transportation and accommodations for the Simcoe Island students during school session. Superintendent Anglin said that one alternative being discussed by the board's planning committee is to provide board initiated accomodation for the students when the ferry crossing between Simcoe and Wolfe Island is hazardous.
Anglin also said the teacher from the Simcoe Island annex will be moved to another school. There will be 2 Ľ next year at Marysville.

Thanks to Theresa Broeders for information!

Teachers:

S.S.#1 [Simcoe]. Mr. Mack McRae, Grace Henderson [Wolfe islander], Christine Mock, Helen Barnhart, Bernice [Woodman] Eves (Freda's mother who came from Wolfe Island but when married lived on Simcoe and very often boarded the teachers.) Submitted by Freda (Eves) Burke via Theresa Broeders.

Mary [Cook] Armstong,

Other teachers for S.S.#1[Simcoe Isle] are Frances Beal, Inez McGill, Mildred Young, Pat Maliphant, Wayne Balinoff, and Jane McLaughlin. The last teacher was Frank Blanchette as per the article.

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The Islands:Wolfe Island School: SS1