events -school education

Universities and Colleges � see Education and Universities.

UK and general � see below for events relating specifically to other countries.

1 July 2015, Average annual fees for UK boarding schools were �30,369. Fees have outpaced UK inflation every year since 1990, pricing out many middle class UK parents. Overseas pupils now comprise 38% of the total, the largest groups from overseas being Chinese (21%), Hong Kong (17.6%) and Russian (10.3%).

1999, Corporal punishment was abolished in UK private schools.

23 June 1998, In Britain, Labour Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett announced plans for a �75 million joint business and Government initiative for 25 �education action zones�. Schools, in these zones of poor educational performance, would experiment with longer teaching hours and more use of IT.

10 June 1998, In Britain, the Government started a programme to promote laptop use by schoolchildren, called Anytime Anywhere Learning.

25 January 1996, In the UK, the results of the first National School Tests sat in May 1995 showed that over 50% of 11-year-olds failed to reach expected standards in English and Maths.

1991, 40% of pupils at Eton public school were sons of old Etonians. Eton has provided the UK� with 19 prime ministers and over 20% of all govermment ministers between 1900 and 1988.Prince William became a pupil at Eton in 1995, as did Prince Harry in 1998.

1990, The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was abolished, and replaced by smaller borough-based education authorities. ILEA was set up as the School Board for London in 1870, and became part of the London County Council (LCC) in 1902. It remained when the LCC became the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1965, and survived the abolition of the GLC in 1986

22 March 1990. Teacher�s Unions said teachers in Britain were over-burdened with paperwork.

1989, Skegness Grammar School, UK, became the first grant-maintained school. This means it has opted out of local authority support and is maintained by a grant directly from central government.

1988, In Britain the AS Level was introduced. Equivalent to �half� an A level, it was intended as a means to broaden the 6^th form (age 16-18) curriculum and include more students in the exam system.

1988, The Education Reform Act specified a compulsory national curriculum for all school age children 95-16) in State schools. This was in order to raise the low take-up rate of maths, science and technology studies amongst 14-16 year olds, especially girls. The system of O-Levels and CSEs was overhauled (see 1965) into a reunified GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) system; this revived the old problem of one exam attempting to cover the entire pupil ability spectrum (see 1965). In response to this issue the grading system was expanded with star grades amd extra numbers added. The GCSE system channels students to their ultimate A levels, but is not one generally used outside the UK.

7/1988, 13% of UK boys and 9% of UK girls left school without any CSE grades. A further 32% of boys and 28% of girls left with between 1 and 3 O :evels.

1987, UK schools could now choose to become grant maintained, meaning they would be funded directly by central Government rather than by a Local Authpority.

15 August 1987. Caning was officially banned in Britain, except in independent schools. Caning in public schools was banned in 1998.

11 September 1987, The British Conservative government announced plans to abolish the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA).

1986, In Britain, the Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education (CPVE) was introduced for students aged over 16 who wanted a 1-year course of preparation for work or further vocational study.

24 July 1986. MPs in the UK voted to abolish the cane in state schools.

18 September 1979, Corporal punishment was abolished in all inner London schools.

23 October 1978, The UK Government planned to replace GCE O levels and CSEs with a single exam, the GCSE.

26 October 1977, The UK Department of Education announced plans for national testing of schoolchildren in mathematics, reading and writing.

25 June 1977. Lady Olave Baden Powell, founder of the Girl Guides movement in 1910, died.

1973, In Britain, the school leaving age was raised from 15 to 16.

25 June 1971, In Britain the Department of Education announced a cash allocation of �132 million to replace 6,000 �slum� primary schools. On� the same day, Mrs Thatcher, Education Secretary, announced an end to free milk for primary school pupils.

1967, The Plowden Report (chaired by Bridget Plowden) emphasised the educational needs of below-average primary school pupils.

1966, The Labour Government replaced the old grammar and secondary modern system by a new system of comprehensive schools.

1965, The ideas of having a single O-Level (Ordinary) standard across the entire UK pupil spectrum proved difficult (see 1951), so a Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was introduced for the less-able students. However this effectively stigmatised the lower end. See 1988.

1964, The UK�s Department for Education and Science was established, to oversee non-military research, also all Uk schools and universities.

1967, The Newsom Report (chaired by John Newsom) emphasised the educational needs of below-average primary school pupils.

8 February 1961, The BBC dropped its radio programme Children�s Hour because TV had cut its audiences.

10 December 1959. In Britain, the Crowther report recommended raising the school leaving age to 16. Meanwhile in Portugal schooling was only compulsory up to age 11. Only 7% of older Portuguese children went on to secondary school, and a further 13% to trade schools.

24 September 1957, BBC broadcasts to schools began.

31 January 1956, A A Milne, English author of children�s books, including Winnie the Pooh, died in Hartfield, Sussex.

6 May 1952, Maria Montessori, Italian educationalist, died.

1951, In England and Wales, the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary and Advanced Levels replaced the �School Certificate�. See 1917, 1965.

1 April 1947, The UK school leaving age was raised from 14 to 15, implementing the 1944 Education Act.

17 February 1944, In the UK, the Education Act (known as the Butler Act, after R.A. Butler, Minister for Education in the wartime coalition Government) was published, 1) Raising the school leaving age to 15. Also,

2) Free secondary education was provided for all children up to age 15, divided into grammar schools, technical schools and secondary modern schools, selection for these by an 11-plus examination. About 20% of pupils went on to grammar schools. Primary education was divided into infant and junior schools. The abolition of fees for secondary education removed a major cause of inequality in Britain.

3) Schools would provide free milk, subsidised meals, and free dental and medical examinations. Physical education was now compulsory at all schools, including swimming. There was provision for raising the school leaving age to 16; this was implemented in 1973.

12 February 1943, Lord Nuffield set up the Nuffield Foundation with a gift of �10 million.

30 December 1938, The Spens Committee, in a report to the Board of education, advocated raising the school leaving age to 16.

31 July 1936, In Britain, the Education Act raised the school leaving age from 14 to 15. However this provision was not implemented until 1944.

1935, Millfield School, Street, Somerset, was founded.

31 October 1935, The British government said it would raise the school-leaving age from 14 to 15.

1934, Gordonstoun public school, Scotland, was founded by Kurt Hahn. It emphasises a Spartan outdoor life, and was attended by Prince Philip and Prince Charles.

12 February 1932, In Britain, a Bill was introduced in Parliament to ban the whipping of children aged under 14.

21 January 1931, A Bill to raise the UK school leaving age to 15 was defeated in the Commons.

31 July 1929, World Boy Scouts jamboree opened at Arrowe Park, Merseyside.

1923, Benenden School, Kent, opened (attended by Princess Anne in the 1960s).

1923, Canford School, Wimborne, opened.

11 May 1923, Stowe House public school, Buckinghamshire, opened.

13 March 1918, In Britain, it was announced that the minimum school leaving age was to be raised to 14, from 13; this measure was implemented in December 1918 under the Education Act. This Act, requiring all children to be given at least a basic education in reading, writing and arithmetic, was known as the Fisher Act, after H.A.L.� Fisher (1865-1940), then President of the UK�s Board of Education.

1917, The Higher School Certificate became the UK�s first standardised national school exam to be sat at age 18. A pass required satisfying the examiners in a miniumum of 5 subjects. This exam was replaced by A Levels in 1951.

2 February 1914, The Cub Scouts were founded at Robertsbridge, Sussex.

12 March 1912, The Girl Guide movement was founded in America by Juliette Gordon Low.

4 April 1911, The Duke of Marlborough and other former pupils at Eton opposed the abolition of birching at the school.

31 May 1910. Lord Baden Powell�s sister, Agnes, announced the formation of the Girl Guides.

8 February 1910. W Boyce founded the Boy Scout movement in America.

4 September 1909. The first Boy Scout rally took place at Crystal Palace, south London. The Boy Scout movement was begun in 1908 by Baden Powell; he set up a Scout camp for 20 boys on Brownsea Island in 1908. In 1910 the Scout movement spread to the USA, and became so successful that in 1911 Baden-Powell left the army to develop it; the Scout movement received a Royal Charter in 1912.

17 February 1909. A Royal Commission on Britain�s Poor Laws said no more children should live in workhouses. In urban areas, up to a third of older people also died in Poor Law institutions, which included children�s homes, infirmaries and lunatic asylums as well as workhouses.

8 October 1908. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame�s children�s book, was published. It was still in print in 2001.

4 March 1908. The whip was banned as a means of corporal punishment in US schools.

26 January 1908, The first Boy Scout troop was registered, in Glasgow.

16 January 1908. The first issue of Scouting For Boys, Baden-Powell�s fortnightly journal of the scouting movement, was published.

1907, Start of medical inspections of schoolchildren in Britain, under the Education Act.

25 July 1907. Sir Robert Baden-Powell�s experimental camp, to test the feasibility of scouting, was set up on Brownsea Island, near Poole; 20 boys attended. The Boy Scout�s association was created on 29 July 1909.� The camp closed for the winter on 9 August 1907.

1906, Sport became part of the national curriculum in Britain.

9/11/1906, Dorothea Beale died (born 21 March 1831), As Principal of Cheltenham Ladies College (opened 1854) from 1858, she did much to improve its standing, and new buildings were erected there from 1873 onwards.

15 July 1906, A Commons Commission recommended providing school meals, and a separate Ministry for Wales.

19 September 1905, Doctor Thomas Barnardo, who set up over 112 homes for deprived children from 1867, died aged 60.

9 February 1905, In Britain, the Board of Education called for greater thrift amongst schoolchildren.

1903, The �Common Entrance� examination was established, to regulate the acceptance of boys into �publc schools. A Common Entrance exam for girls was set up in 1947.

2 May 1903. The US paediatrician, Dr Benjamin Spock, was born in New Haven, Connecticut.

8 August 1902, The British Academy, London, was granted a Royal Charter.

23 March 1902, Major reform of schools in England and Wales. The Balfour Education Act was passed. County Councils and large urban authorities took over responsibility for education from several thousand school boards and managers of voluntary schools, as Local Education Authorities (LEAs) were set up, �. However non-conformist churches objected to the use of public money to finance Anglican and Catholic schools, which still retained considerable autonomy in their curricula.

1899, The UK�s Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act laid the foundations for education of children with �special needs�.

30 December 1899, In Britain the school leaving age was raised from eleven to twelve (excepting children employed in agriculture); in 1893 it had been raised from ten to eleven.

1897, The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) was formed (then known as the National Federation of Head Teachers Associations).

1893, Bedales School, Petersfield, Hampshire, Britain�s oldest co-educational boarding school, was founded.

1893, In the UK, the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act empowered local authorities to provide education for blind and deaf children aged 7 � 16.

8/1891, In Britain, fees for elementary education were abolished, by the 1891 Fee Grant Act.

1888, Merchant Taylor�s Girls School, Liverpool, was founded.

1885, Roedean Girls School, Sussex, was founded.

1884, St Pauls School, London, moved from St Pauls Cathedral to West Kensington.

1882, A new Dulwich College was founded, see 1619.

15 October 1881, Marie Stopes, scientist and education reformer, was born in Edinburgh.

1881, In Britain the Education Act made school attendance compulsory for children aged 5 to 10. However this was still payable by fees which, at 3d per child per week, were unaffordable for poor families with several children. See 8/1891.

1880, England�s first High School for girls opened.

14 June 1877, Mary Carpenter, English educational reformer, died (born 3 April 1807).

1876, The UK�s Elementary Education Act forbade the employment of children under 11, and none were to be employed between ages 11 and 13 unless they had obtained a certificate of education of having reached a standard set by the local bylaws of the district.

1876, John Lyon School, Harrow, London, was founded.

1875, Leys School, Cambridge, was founded.

1870, Fettes School, Edinburgh, was founded.

31 August 1870, Maria Montessori, who developed the Montessori system for teaching children, was born.

9 July 1870. The Elementary Education Act was passed in the UK, giving compulsory free primary education to every child in England and Wales. UK primary education was devolved to some 2,500 separate Boards. This Act also provided for women to sit on the Boards of Schools providing such elementary education in the �Three R�s�. However most pupils left education at age 12, with barely 2% receiving any secondary education.

1868, The Public Schools Act improved the Governing Bodies of these schools. It also extinguished the rights of certain local farmers and tradesmen to have their sons educated for free at Harrow, Rugby and Shrewsbury Schools.

1866, The UK passed the Industrial Shools Act. This Act facilitated the committing of destitute orphans, children with parents in prison, and vagrants aged 8 � 13 to certified schools where they received board, clothing, food and were taught a useful trade.

1863, Cranleigh School was founded.

1862, Clifton School, Bristol, was founded.

1862, Haileybury School, Hertford, was founded.

27 January 1862, Edward Hawtrey, Headmaster of Eton from1834, died (born 7 May 1789).

1860, Kings School, Tynemouth, was founded.

1859, Oratory School, Woodcote, Berkshire, was founded.

1858, Ardingly School, West Sussex, was founded.

1856, Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire, was founded.

1855, Cheadle Hulme School, Cheshire, was founded.

1854, City of London Freemen�s School, Ashtead, was founded.

27 October 1854, Sir William Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys Brigade movement in Glasgow in 1883, was born.

1853, Wellington College, boys public school, was established in Berkshire. In 1978 it began admitting girls to the top two years 6^th form.

1853, Cheltenham Ladies College was established.

6 September 1852. The first free public lending library opened in Manchester.

21 June 1852, Friedrich Froebel, German educationalist who founded the Kindergarten system in 1837 at Blankenberg, died.

5 April 1852, John Keate, who restored discipline and order at Eton School, died.

1850, Bradfield School, Reading, was founded.

1849, Hurstpierpoint School, West Sussex, was founded.

1848, Lancing School was founded.

1847, Radley College, Abingdon, was founded.

1845, Brighton College was founded.

4 July 1845. Thomas John Barnardo was born in Dublin. In 1867 he started homes for some of London�s many destitute children. They became known as Dr Barnardo�s Homes although he never qualified as a medical doctor.

14 February 1845, Quintin Hogg, founder of polytechnics, was born.

See also Morals & Punishment for measures to protect children from labour exploitation and educate them

1844, So called �ragged schools� were set up in Britain to ensure even poor children received a basic education.

1844, Fleetwood School, Lancashire, was founded.

21 December 1844. Changes in the law now meant no-one under 18 years of age could work over 12 hours a day, and it was proposed to limit teenagers to a 10 hour day. Children under 13 were restricted to a 48 hour week and had to attend school for 2 hours a week.

1843, Marlborough public school, Wiltshire, was opened.

10 August 1842. The Mines Act was passed in the UK forbidding women and children to work underground.

12 June 1842, Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School, died (born 13 June 1795 in West Cowes, Isle of Wight).

1841, Cheltenham College was established.

1840, In Britain, the Grammar School Act gave powers to the Court of Chancery to amend the curriculum of these schools, adapting them to contemporary needs. See 1805.

7 August 1840, The UK Parliament passed an Act forbidding the employment of children as chimney sweeps. In 1840 only 1 in 5 of London children had any type of schooling, and most of the rest were working up to 80 hours a week. Chimney sweeping was very unhealthy; sometimes the boys got stuck, their knees and elbows got raw and infected and later they got cancer from the soot. Lord Shaftesbury campaigned against Victorian child labour and got the Climbing-Boy Bill passed as law in 1840. It decreed that no apprentice could be under 16. However this was not enforced until the Shaftesbury Act of 1875.

24 October 1838, Joseph Lancaster, English educationalist, died.

1837, The world�s first Kindergarten was opened by German educator Friedrich Froebel, at Blankenbrg, Thuringia, Germany.

1837, Wellington School, Somerset, was founded.

1836, King Edward Grammar School, Birmingham, opened.

29 August 1833, The Factory Act was passed in the UK. This applied only to the textile industry, but was the forerunner of many working practice reforms. The Act forbade the employment of children under nine, and children under 13 were to have two hours of schooling a day.

21 March 1831, Dorothea Beale was born, As Principal of Cheltenham Ladies College (opened 1853) from 1858, she did much to improve its standing, and new buildings were erected there from 1873 onwards. She died in post 9/11/1906.

1828, The Reverend Thomas Arnold became headmaster at Rugby School. He began a process of reform, introducing prefects, the ideal of �Christian Duty�, and a more rigourous intellectual atmosphere. Other public schools soon adopted these principles.

1827, Loretto, a public school near Musselburgh, Scotland, was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne (died 1848).

10 October 1818, The first reference to school exam marks was made, by Dr Samuel Butler, the Headmaster of Shrewsbury School.

5 April 1811, Robert Raikes, founder of the Sunday School movement, died.

1807, Hendon Grammar School, London, was founded by non-conformists.

3 April 1807, Mary Carpenter, English educational reformer, was born (died 14 June 1877).

1805, In the Leeds Grammar School Case, Tory Lord Chancellor Lord Eldon ruked that grammar schools could not use their endowments to teach anything other than the classical curriculum laid down by statute in Elizabethan times. This situation persisted until the Grammar Shool Act of 1840.

16 May 1804, Elizabeth Peabody, kindergarten pioneer, was born.

1802, Ampleforth School, North Yorkshire, was founded.

1798, Attendance at Sunday Schools across Britain was now over 300,000.

1796, William Pitt, British Prime Minister, proposed extending the system of Industrial Schools for pauper children to all children working in industry, but this was not implemented.

4 December 1795, Birth of Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian.

13 June 1795, Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School, was born in West Cowes, Isle of Wight (died 12 June 1842).

16 January 1794, Edward Gibbon, English historian and author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, died.

30 April 1790, Samuel Heinicke, German educator of the deaf and dumb, died (born 10 April 1727).

7 May 1789, Edward Hawtrey, Headmaster of Eton from1834, was born (died 27 January 1862).

1784, The first Sunday School opened in London.

21 April 1782, Friedrich Froebel, German educational pioneer who established the first Kindegartens, was born in Oberweissbach.

1780, Robert Raikes (1735-1811) opened three Sunday Schools in Gloucestershire. Sunday Schools then spread to other counties.

18 January 1779, Peter Mark Roget, author of Roget�s Thesaurus, was born.

12 January 1746, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, promoter of education for the poor, was born in Zurich.

1741, James Allen Girl�s School was founded.

14 September 1735, Robert Raikes, who founded the Sunday School system in 1780, was born in Gloucester, son of a printer.

1731, Longwood Grammar School, Huddersfield, was founded.

1729, Robert Gordon School, Aberdeen, was founded.

10 April 1727, Samuel Heinicke, German educator of the deaf and dumb, was born (died 30 April 1790).

1723, The General Workhouse Act was passed in Britain, and workhouses then proliferated in towns and large parishes. Many of these workhouses employed a teacher to instruct the children therein in basic reading and writing, and in spinning, weaving or knitting, in the hope that they might lead a productive life away from desttituion.

1722, Churcher�s College, Petersfield, was founded.

5/1714, In Britain, under the Schism Act, no person was allowed to run a school except a member of the Anglican Church.

1713, Keighley Grammar School, Yorkshoire, opened.

1712, Beccles Grammar School opened.

1705, Dame Allan�s Boy�s School, Newcastle on Tyne, was founded.

1700, The very wealthy did not send their children to school but had them educated by private tutors. The boys were then sent on �Grand Tours� of Europe. Here they would visit capital cities as far afield as Germany, Italy and Austria, and meet influential court men, and learn about European history, civilisation and etiquette.

The children of the lower classes seldom received any education afte age 10 or 12, but were then instructed in a trade instead. Secondary education was therefore utilised not by the very poor or the very wealthy, but by the middle and upper classes. Grammar schools taught Latin and mathematics, but not much history, English literature, science or languages. Science education was to improve after the advent of the Industrial Revolution.

1700, Small children in rural villages went to a �dame school� where an old lady might be able to teach them the basics of reading and writing.

1690, Haberdasher�s Aske�s School, Hertfordshire, was founded.

1676, Cockermouth Grammar School was founded.

1674, Folkestone Grammar School was founded.

1672, Midhurst (Sussex) Grammar School was founded,

1665, Dolgellau Grammar School was founded.

1665, Newport (Shropshire) Free Grammar School was founded.

15 July 1662, The Royal Society received a royal charter.

1 April 1662, King Charles II of Britain granted Royal Patronage to the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge. The group of scientists and� naturalists had been meeting since 1645.

30 June 1660, William Oughtred, English mathematician who invented the slide rule in 1622, died in Albury, Surrey.

1652, Halesowen Grammar School, Worcesterchire, was founded.

12 June 1647, Thomas Farnaby, educationalist who founded a school in Cripplegate, London, died.

1629, Exeter Grammar School was re-founded (originally founded 1332).

21/11/1626, Edward Alleyn, actor, who also founded Dulwich School on 21 June 1619, died.

1624, Marlow Grammar School, Buckinghamshire, was founded as a Bluecoat School.

1620, Merchant Taylor�s School, Liverpool, was founded.

21 June 1619, Dulwich College was founded by Edward Alleyn, actor (1566-1626). See 1882.

1618, Portora Royal School was established by Royal Decree of King James I (issued 1608). It was originally founded at Ballybalfour but moved to Enniskillen around 1661. Sometimes known as the �Eton of Ireland�, it was a boarding school but became day-only in 1993.

1614, The Royal School, Dungannon, Northern Ireland, was established at Mountjoy. It moved to Dungannon in 1636, and to its present site in 1789. It amalgamated with Dungannon High School for Girls in 1986.

4 April 1617, The mathematician John Napier died, at Merchiston Castle, Edinburgh.� He was the first to publish logarithm tables, in 1614.

1615, Douai School was flunded.

1614, Monmouth Free Grammar School was founded.

3 October 1614, Charterhouse School, London, for boys, opened, on the site of a Carthusian monastery destroyed in the Reformation; hence the name of the school. It was founded by a wealthy merchant, Thomas Sutton (1532-1611). It moved to Godalming, Surrey in 1872. Girls have beejnh admitted to the final two years since 1972.

1611, Aylesbury Grammar School opened.

1607, Downside School, Somerset, was founded.

1604, Blundells School, Tiverton, was founded.

1602, Newcastle Under Lyme Grammar School, Staffordshire, opened.

1596, Trinity School, Croydon, was founded.

1596, Whitgift School, Croydon, was founded.

1595, Wellingborough School, Northamptonshire, was founded.

1593, Stonyhurst School, Clitheroe, was founded.

1592, Bungay Grammar School, Suffolk, was founded.

1591, Bewdley Granmar School, Worcestershire, was founded (refounded 1606 by James I).

1 July 1589, Christopher Plantin, printer, died.

1584, Uppingham public school, Rutland, was founded.

10 April 1583, Hugo Grotius, (De Groot) jurist, was born.

1576, Cheltenham Grammar School was established.

5 March 1575, William Oughtred, mathematician and inventor of the slide rule, was born at Eton.

1571, Harrow School was founded under a Charter granted to John Lyon, yeoman of Preston, by Queen Elizabeth I.

1567, Rugby School, Warwickshire, was founded.

1 September 1566, Edward Alleyn, English actor, was born (died 21/11/1626). He also founded Dulwich College on 21 June 1619.

1564, Felsted (Essex) Grammar School was founded. In 1851 it was reorganised into Felsted Public School.

1565, Highgate public school was founded.

1562, Horncastle Grammar School opened.

1561, Kingston School was founded.

1561, Mansfield Grammar School was founded by Queen Elizabeth I.

1560, Dunfermline High School was founded.

1560, Merchant Taylor� School, Northamptonshire, was founded.

1560, Westminster School was founded.

1557, Repton School, Derbyshire, was founded.

1556, Oundle School, Northamptonshire, was founded.

1555, Boston Grammar School (Lincolnshire) was founded.

1555, Gresham�s School, Holt, Norfolk, was founded.

1553, Doncaster Grammar School was founded.

1553, Tonbridge School was founded.

1552, Christs Hospital School was founded, in Newgate Street, London. It moved to Horsham, Sussex, in 1902.

1552, King Edward VI Grammar School, Birmingham, was founded

1552, Bedford Grammar School was founded by Edward VI.

1552, Leeds Grammar School was founded.

1552, Shrewsbury School was founded.

21 September 1551, The King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth, received its charter. However a school here may date back to the 8^th century (see 1276). After the religious guilds were dissolved in 1548 a petition was made to secure the school�s future, leading to the Charter.

1549,� Maidstone Grammar School was founded.

1548, Bradford Grammar School, West Yorkshire, was founded.

1547, Grimsby Grammar School was founded.

1542, Bristol Cathedral School was founded.

1541, Berkhamsted School, Hertfordshire, was founded.

1541, Christ College Brecon was founded.

1541, Ely Grammar School was founded by Henry VIII.

1541, Kings School Worcester was founded

1532, Bristol Grammar School was founded.

1532. Horsham Grammar School was founded (rebuilt 1893).

1529, Newark Grammar School, Nottinghamshire, was founded.

1528, The Kings Grammar School was established in Grantham. It is now a private school.

1527, Faversham (Kent) Free Grammar School was founded (moved site 1827).

1525, Sedbergh School, Cumbria, was founded.

1525, Newcastle on Tyne Royal Free Grammar School was founded.

16 September 1519, Death of John Colet, who founded the modern St Pauls School.

1515, Manchester Grammar School was founded by Manchester-born Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter.

6 February 1515, Death of Aldus Manutius, the first publisher of paperbacks and inventor of italics.

1512, Giggleswick School, North Yorkshire, was founded.

1512, Lewes Grammar School was founded.

1509, The Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey, was founded.

1509, St Pauls School, London, was founded.

4 April 1508, The first book printed in Scotland.

1506, John Colet (1466 � 1519) was made Dean of St Pauls Cathedral, London.

1502, Macclesfield Grammar School was founded by Sir John Percyvale. It was refounded 26 April 1552 by King Edward VI and is now known as the Kings School.

The Gutenberg printing revolution

1500, Some 30 to 35 thousand different editions of printed books were now available across Europe. This equated to some 15 to 20 million individual copies of books. In the following century some 150,000 further editions appeared.

1500, Wynken de Worde set up a printing press in Fleet Street, London. Fleet Street then became a centre of printing for nearly 500 years.

1495, John Tate set up England�s first paper mill, at Hertford. Spain and Italy had such mills from the 13^th century.

3 February 1468, Johannes Gutenberg (born ca. 1395), German inventor of printing from moveable metal type, died.

1454, Moveable type was first used at Mainz.

30 September 1442, Johannes Gutenberg�s Bible became the first book to be printed using moveable metal type.

1495, Loughborough Grammar School was founded.

1486, Hull Grammar School was founded.

1477, Ipswich School was established. It was re-founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1565.

14/11/1477. William Caxton issued the first dated, printed, book from his printing press in Westminster. It was Dictes or Sayengis of The Philosophres.

1442, City of London School was founded.

1440, Eton School was founded by King Henry VI.

1382, Winchester College was founded by William of Wykeham, setting a model for future public schools.

1332, Exeter Grammar School was founded (re-founded 1629).

1276, Earliest definite reference to a school in Louth; this establishment may date back to the 8^th century. Now known as the King Edward VI Grammar School, see 21 September 1551.

1274, Aquinas, see Christianity.

1128, The Royal High School, Edinburgh, was founded.

973, Kings School, Ely, was founded.

948, St Albans School was founded.

705, Sherborne School, Dorset, was founded by St Aldhelm, as Bishop of Sherborne

627, St Peters School, York, was founded.

604, Kings School, Rochester, Kent, was founded.

597, The first English school was founded, Kings School, at Canterbury.

859, The world�s oldest library opened, the Al-Qurawiyy in Morocco.

529, Emperor Justinian closed down the Greek pagan schools of philosophy.

105 BCE, The mathematician Heron founded a college at Alexandria.

212 BCE, Archimedes died.� He was engaged on a mathematical problem and was killed by an invading Roman soldier when he refused to leave until he had solved the problem.

287 BCE, Archimedes was born.

307 BCE, The great library of Alexandria was founded by Ptolemy Soter.

Austria

1869,School attendance between ages 6 and 14 became compulsory.

6 December 1774. Austria introduced the world�s first state education system.

Belgium

1983, Belgium raised the school leaving age to 18.

1914, Belgium made attendance for school compulsory for 6 � 12 year olds.

1879, Religious instruction was now removed from the Belgian school curriculum, and the clergy could provide such instruction outsode of school hours. The Belgian population, still mainly Catholic, opposed this measure. Within 18 months many Catholic primary schools were established.

1842, All Belgian communes now had to provide primary education, which was to be free to poor children.

Chile

1928, Free and compulsory schooling for all children aged 7 to 15 was introduced.

China

1905, The rigid system of examinations based on knowledge of classic Confucianism, giving access to jobs in the Chinese civil service was replaced by a modernised system based on a wider curriculum, The old system had become increasingly corrupt during the 19^th century.

Ethiopia

1907, Education was made compulsory for all male children aged 12 and over. Coptic teachers were brought in from Egypt and State schoole erected.

France

14 May 1968, French workers called a one-day strike to support the students. The French Franc plummeted.

10 May 1968, Student clashes with police continued in Paris.

3 May 1968, French police evicted striking students from campus, sparking large street demonstrations.

2 May 1968, Students rioted in Paris.

31 March 1900, France passed a law limiting the working hours of women and children to 11 hours.

Removal of Church control of schools

1889, The cost of teacher�s salaries was taken by the French State, leaving the communes only responsible for the physical structure of the school buildings.

30 October 1886, Only lay persons were now allowed to teach in France; specifically religious teaching was abolished.

28 March 1882, School was made free, non-clerical and �compulsory in France.

16 June 1881, All French teachers must now possess the brevet (diploma) de capacite. However it was impractical to enforce this law on every existing teacher and even by 1902 just 60% of male and 52% of female teachers possessed this qualification. This day, fees in all French primary schools and training colleges were abolished.

1879, All French Departments now had to maintain a teacher training college, for male and female teachers.

1 June 1878, By French law, all communes now had to purchase their school buildings; the French State set aside �2.4 million for this purpose.

1869. Under the tenure of Education Minister M Duruy (1865-69) primary schools for girls had to be provided in all communes of population over 500.

Church control over French schools

15 March 1850, The Loi Falloux made provision for clergy to be able to teach in secondary schools without need for further qualifications than their religious certificate, whereas lay teachers needed a university degree. It also made provision for separate girls� schools, and for adult and apprentice education.

1833, France made it compulsory for all communes to maintain and pay for schools and teachers, under the Education Act of Louis Philippe.

28 June 1832, France passed the Primary Education Law, giving the Church extensive control over the nation�s primary schools.

1808, The baccalaureat, equivalent to British A Levels,was instituted.

1806, Napoleon centralised all French education under a State monopoly, the Imperial University.

1793, France made education compulsory for all children from the age of 6.

1791,The French Constitution decreed that primary education was to be libre, that is, not under State control. However this remained merely an ideal, see 1806.

1755, The first school for the deaf was founded in Paris by Abbe de l�Epee.

Germany,

1963, The school leaving age was raised to 15; a 9^th year of schooling was added, in regiuons where not already in force.

1900, Sex education was introduced in German schools.

1873, Saxony made school attemdance at �continuation� (secondary) schools compulsory up to age 17.

1850, German teachers became civil servants, and elementary education was made free. However elementary school fees did not totally disappear until 1888. Even then pupils from outside the school district could be charged.

1826, School attendance until age 14 made compulsory in Prussia.

1807, Prussia abolished the semi-ecclesiastical Oberchulkollegium asnd placed education under the Ministry of the Interior.

1794, The Allgemeines Landrecht decreed that all schools established in Prussia must he with the knowledge and consent of the State, and come under its supervision.

29 October 1790, Friedrich Diesterweg, German educationalist, was born (died 7 July 1866).

25 July 1790, Johann Basedow, German educational reformer, died in Magdeburg (born in Hamburg 11 September 1723).

1737, The Prussian State set aside 50,000 Thalers for the establishment of new schools.

11 September 1723, Johann Basedow, German educational reformer, was born in Hamburg (died in Magdeburg 25 July 1790).

1717, School attendance in Prussia was made compulsory. Frederick William I ordered all children to attend school, where a fee of 5 pfennigs or � d� a week was payable

1642, Compulsory school attendance began in the state of Gotha.

1528, The State of Saxony provided for the establishment in all tiowns and villages of Latin schools. Luther had urged the establishment of such a universal education in 1524.

Greece

1905, The Greek Government consolidated its primary schools, reducing the number of them from 3,359 to 2,604.

Hungary

1868, Education became compulsory for children aged 6 to 12.

Iceland � see also Iceland

1974, An Educational Act made school compulsory for all 7 to 16 year olds. This became 6 to 16 in 1990.

1908, A teacher training college was established in Reykjavik. In 1972 this college was authorised to train for teaching at university level.

1907, Iceland passed a public education Act, making school attendance compulsory for children aged 10 � 14. This age range was extended by stages, becoming 6 � 16 by 1990.

1882, A high school opened at Modruvellir in southern Iceland.

1880, A secondary school opened at Modruvellir. It later moved to Akureyri.

1874, A girl�s school was established in Reykjavik.

1846, Reykjavik Grammar School opened.

Ireland

10 September 1966, Ireland said it would introduce free post-primary education from 1967.

1900, The old system of teacher payment by results was abolished; teachers now received a fixed salary.

Italy,

1963, Latin ceased to be a compulsory subject

6 January 1907, Maria Montessori, Italian educator and humanitarian, opened her first school and daycarecentre for working-class shildren in Rome.

1877, Education became compulsory for Italian children aged 6 to 9. However this law was often not enforced through poor administration.

Japan

8/1872, The Japanese Meiji Government made school education compulsory.

5/1869, Japan�s first public elementary school opened, in Kyoto

Mexico

1888, Mexico proposed to make attendance at primary school compulsory, between ages 6 and 12,� but this did not come into force until 1896.

Netherlands

1900, School attendance was made compulsory.

1857, Secular teaching was provided in primary schools at State cost.

1618, Free village schooling began in some areas

Nigeria

20 January 1913, The Ijebu Ode Grammar School was founded in Nigeria, It remains the oldest operating school in the country.

Poland

13 October 1973, The Polish Sejm (Parliament) passed a Bill adopting a national system of education, 11 years from ages 7 to 18, 3 years primary, 5 years secondary, and 3 years specialised secondary for certain careers.

Spain

17 July 1857, In Spain, education for all children aged from 6 to 9 became compulsory.

Switzerland

29 September 1908. In Switzerland, the international conference on worker�s rights banned night shifts for children under 14.

Turkey

1863, Robert College, Istanbul, was founded, to foster links between East and West.

USA

2 July 1973, US Congress passed the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) mandating Special Education federally.

1935, The US became the first country to adopt a �core curriculum�, that must be taught at all schools, as opposed to optional or discretionary teaching. The UK took up this idea in the 1990s.

21 July 1925, In the USA, John Thomas Scopes was fined US$100 for teaching Darwin�s Theory of Evolution at a school in Tennessee, where it was illegal to tech ideas that contradicted the Old Testament. The conviction was later overturned.

1918, Missouri was the last US State to make school attendance compulsory.

5 September 1911, The first adult literacy school in the United States began, when Cora Wilson Stewart, school superintendent for Rowan County, Kentucky, began what she called the Moonlight Schools. The night classes at the county's 50 schools took place so long as the Moon was bright enough for students to safely travel. She had expected that 150 might come; however, 1,200 signed up.

1870, Just 2% of US citizens aged 17 or over had attended High School; by 1970 this figure was 76%. In 1870 67% of US children aged 5-17 were attending school, a figure that rose to 78% in 1920 and to 87% in 1975,

1867, The New York State Legislature voted to establish a free public school system.

1860, The first US English-speaking Kindergarten opened at Boston, directed by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody.

20 October 1859, John Dewey, US educator, was born in Burlington, Vermont.

1855, The first US Kindergarten, German-speaking, opened at Watertown, Wisconsin, directed by Mrs Carl Schurz

1852, Massachusetts made school attendance compulsory; the first US State to do so.

24 April 1800, US President John Adams approved the spending of US$5,000 to set up a Library of Congress. This library was established on Capitol Hill, and is now the largest library in the world.

28 February 1797, Mary Lyon, US educationalist, was born (died 5 March 1849).

23 February 1787, Emma Hard Willard, US educator, was born in Berlin, Connecticut (died 1870).

1786, The first Sunday School in America opened.

1647, The Massachusetts Bay Colony established publicly finded schools, paid for by a tax on dwellings. This was to ensure that Puritan children learned Bible virtues.

1635, The Boston Public Latin School was founded; the first secondary school in the American colonies.

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