Page 197 - J Delaney - City of Cessnock Education and Schools

220.

MI L L F I E L D S C H0 0 L

that the teacher was a "Mrs. Margaret Snedden", and she had a school en-
rolment of ten boys and nine girls. The first Church of England Synod,
held in 1865, made a grant of £7.10.0. ($15.00) to this Millfield Church
of England School.

The Public Schools Act of 1866, introduced by Henry Parkes,
by its terms of a minimum of thirty pupils for the granting of assistance
to a Denominational school and of which minimum the Anglican Denominational
School at Millfield fell well short, resulted in this school losing its
State financial aid. Under the same Act, a 'Provisional Public School'
could be formed with only a minimum of 15 pupils.

A local Millfield committee, on 20th September 1868, made an
application for the previous Anglican Denominational School to be declared
a Provisional School. The new Council of Education had appointed the
following Local School Board:-

William C. Browne
Robert J. Roberts
William Sweetman
James Howell
John C. Denean

The new Millfield School was to receive financial aid from 1st
October 1868. The teacher was to receive £36.0.0. ($72.00) per annum,
provided a minimum attendance of twenty (20) children was maintained.
This salary was also to be supplemented fro~ fees, in this case, set at
sixpence per week. A condition in the 1866 Act for the establishment
of a 'Provisional School' was that local residents had to supply a school
building. At Millfield, this had been overcome by using the Anglican
Denominational School. This school buildi~g belonged to the Church of
E;.~land and had been built in a small paddcc~. The school was a slab-
~alled structuie and had a shingle roof. :here was also a four roomed
residence under the same roof and a deLachec kitchen adjoined. The first
teacher was Margaret C. Snedden, who had been teaching at the Anglican
Denominational School and she continued on at the new Millfield Provisional