Putney County School Remembered
What was there before the Ashcroft Technical Academy
Gardening instead of Latin and Greek at Putney County
August 3, 2023
What is now Ashcroft Technical Academy, was ADT, before then it was the girls, comprehensive Mayfield and before that the grammar school Putney County Secondary School
Founded in 1907 Putney County moved to the Mayfield site on West Hill in 1910. The modern campus dates from the physical upgrade and extension when it became a comprehensive in 1955. During the war the school was evacuated to Woking.
In “Great Days & Jolly Songs. The story of girls school songs” by Celia Haddon there are a wonderful set of photos from the Putney school in 1918. They showed how slavish were the schools in their imitation of boys’ public schools. Right down to the architecture, Putney’s dome and tower being a case in point. Muscular Christianity ruled the roost and playing games was a vital part. Though football was “quite out of the question on account of its roughness”.
Times were changing and many of the new girls’ schools felt the traditional public school models of compulsory Latin and Greek was no longer relevant. Putney experimented with gardening lessons.
But girls playing sports had a vital impact on what they wore, long skirts and stays were not compatible with playing, hockey, cricket and tennis. Note the picture of the Putney girls playing tennis. But it took a long time for undergarments to change.
Tennis at Putney County
One girl remembers, “Large knickers made of denim which were thick and hot with elastic so tight I thought we would be permanently scarred.”
Knickers that came with a risk of scarring
The formality of schools which lasted until the 1960s was shown by the insistence on staff wearing their university gowns – see the picture of Putney’s head mistress.
The headmistress of Putney County in full university gown
Hugh Thompson
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