Tiny Moorlands School

The seven pupils of tiny Scaling School having a painting lesson under the instruction of their teacher, Miss Nancy Jordan. 

A Loftus School Teacher, Miss Nancy Jordan plays on both sides when her pupils have a game of cricket. This is necessary because her school, at Scaling on the Whitby-Guisborough moor road is one of Yorkshire's smallest, having only seven pupils.    The need for the school is vanishing rapidly and it will close on Friday, after which the seven will be transfered to Loftus, six miles away. There are only two prospective pupils in the area it serves - and they are both babies. 
What do the children think about the change? "It's smashing" said Andrew Chisholm aged nine. "Now we will be able to play proper cricket". 

From scattered farms 

Andrew and his brother Michael, aged seven, live at the village garage, and are the only Scaling children attending the school. The other five come in by bus or taxi from scattered farms. Four of them, Graham Scott aged ten, and his sister Maureen, who is six, of Tranmire, and the twins Edmund and Mary Sunley, aged ten, of Gerrick, Moorsholm, live more than three miles away. The fifth Freda Thompson aged 11, lives at Waupley, which is somewhat nearer. 
Miss Jordan says the children have excellent attendance records despite their isolated homes which are often surrounded by deep snow in the winter. 
She herself has come out from her home in West Road, Loftus, by bicycle, motor scooter and car, but when the weather is really bad she walks, taking short cuts over the fields. "I did blot my 100 per cent record one rough day last winter when I could get not farther than Liverton," she added. 

Kittiwakes' home 

Moor sheep nibble the roadside grass and invade the garden surrounding the tiny one room school. Opposite is the huge man-made lake Scaling reservoir, on the far fringe of which kittiwakes and mallard nest hard by grouse, pheasant and other moorland dwellers. 
In such surroundings it is not surprising that Freda Thompson has collected 241 different wild flowers this summer. 
School dinners will be a novelty to the children, who are used to sharing their mid-day sandwiches over a pot of tea brewed by their teacher. Electric light and piped water are comparitively recent innovations as is a radio set installed since Miss Jordan came to Scaling seven years ago. "There were 21 pupils then". she recalled. "We had oil lamps and in the winter it was so dark that sometimes we could not see to write. Water came from a pump which was often frozen solid. We had to borrow boiling water from the villagers to thaw it out for our mid-day tea." 
During the oil lamp and pump era Miss Jordan took the children on an eventful visit to Loftus school. "They were facinated and spent much of their time switching the lights on and off and flushing the toilet." 

1901 foundation stone 

The school is used as church every Sunday morning, when the Rector of Easington and Rural Dean of Guisborough, Canon A. H. Watson, travels 4 1/2 miles from Easington to conduct the service. It is hoped that this use will continue, although official confirmation has not yet been received from Northallerton. 
The stone-built school, 15 yards square was opened on April 8 1902, by Miss Palmer, daughter of Sir Mark Palmer, of Grinkle Park. There were eight pupils. A weather-worn foundation stone, almost hidden by rose bushes, announces that it was laid by Mr George Britche, chairman of Easington's first school board, on August 15 1901. 
Repairs and decorations included in this years work schedule for North Riding Education Committee are still going on at the school. It is understood that in accordance with the usual procedure, the school will be offered for sale, preference being given to its use for local amenities.