Here Comes The Science Bit

Science at Truro School has come a long way since the early days of the school in the 1880s. It has become much broader in scope, expanding from maths and elementary science in the late 19^th century, through the physical and life sciences, to include social sciences such as ethics, economics and psychology in 2015.

When the school first opened, ‘little more than the three Rs … crossed their mental horizon’. However by 1890 the school prospectus boasted a seven-pronged syllabus including many branches of maths and elementary sciences as well as the possibility of Practical Chemistry in the newly built, well-equipped laboratory, for an extra three guineas a year. The new lab was a vast improvement on the small cupboard in the main schoolroom where all the chemistry apparatus had been stored before. Early school exam successes included engineering and pharmacy as well as first places nationally in geography and trigonometry in 1890. Only a few years earlier Ernest Coleman became the first student at the school to pass the London Matriculation exam and enter university to study medicine. A significant proportion of pupils at this time also went on to mining and engineering careers.

Various science-based clubs and societies were started, some lasted better than others, including the Scientific Society, established in 1938, which evolved into Senior and Junior Science Societies by the 1950s. There were several incarnations of photography, radio and electronics clubs engaging pupils with the various processes involved. Possibly inspired by digging up the playing fields for potatoes during the war, and because many of the students were from farming families, a Young Farmers’ Club was set up at school by the early 1950s.

From the 1950s onwards there was an increased number of trips out of school to see science in action. One of the earliest was a trip to the London Planetarium in 1958. Science in industry was also observed by visits to the Rosewarne Experimental Horticulture Station and the Climax Works, Camborne. Geology trips took place to the Isles of Wight and Arran, and more recently to places like Tenerife.

Many students have gone on to science-related careers after leaving Truro School. One of these is commemorated in the C.L. Bryant Prize for Science awarded annually at Speech Day since 1959. Charles Leslie Bryant (TS 1890-1896) became a science teacher at Harrow in 1913, but his earlier career was spent developing new methods and techniques for teaching science and mathematics in the ‘laboratories of educational experiment’ at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He was also the first chairman of the Truro School Society.