ST BARNABAS School has been teaching children in the Oxford district of Jericho for 160 years.

It has flourished in times of prosperity and survived periods of “dirt, disorder and disease”.

The two pictures published here come from reader Roy Perks, of Cowley, who found them in his family archives. The dates are unknown.

The school opened in 1854, thanks to the generosity of the Rev Addington Venables, curate of Jericho and later Bishop of Nassau.

It has always been at the heart of the community. One such occasion was in 1958 when Jericho held a community week, in which pupils, staff, parents and its building played a pivotal role.

The event opened with a concert by the City of Oxford Silver Band in the school playground, the crowning of the Gala Day Queen, Jennifer Bush, of Cardigan Street, a children’s fancy dress competition, a parade of 24 gaily decorated floats through the streets and a dance in the school hall.

The prize for the best float went to a tableau illustrating nursery rhymes produced by Mrs Collet and a group of children. The Gala Queen and her attendants were runners-up.

Other events during the week included services at St Barnabas Church, a High Tea for the Over-60s, entertainment by Macnamara’s Band from Botley, a children’s outing to California, a fun fair and pleasure ground near Reading, a parish party and a whist drive.

The celebrations ended with a Gala Day and Summer Fete in the senior school playground, with displays by the St Barnabas Wolf Cubs and the Daphne Miles School of Dancing, a Punch and Judy show, stalls and sideshows, and an ankle and other competitions.

That happy occasion was a far cry from the conditions pupils faced in earlier times.

Conditions in the parish in the mid-19th century were deplorable and there were serious outbreaks of illness.

Dr W Ormerod, a surgeon at the Radcliffe Infirmary, who carried out a sanitary survey, reported “an open drain of the filthiest kind” ran through Jericho.

He described it as an area that was “chiefly visited by disease generally”.

The early school logbooks recorded many occasions when attendance was low due to illness, with colds, measles, ringworm and scarlet fever among complaints listed.

In 1876, Jericho topped the table in the city for deaths from infectious diseases, with 21 out of a total of 95.

The logbooks also recorded cases where pupils received the cane, particularly for truancy.

In March 1872, two months after William Wheatley became headmaster, a boy was caned in front of his class and “held up as a warning to others”.

Three other cases of truancy were reported that month and the punishment was the same.

In September 1876, several boys skipped school to go blackberrying.

Three months later, it was noted that the head had to “send round for absentees” – one father claimed his son had “inflammation of the lungs and is not expected to live”.

There were several occasions when parents complained about the punishment of their children.

In 1885, several teachers were cautioned after hitting boys – only the headmaster was allowed to do so.

A Mrs Bucknell was a serial complainer – she often marched into the school to confront teachers, accosted them in the street and even called at their homes.

After a claim that a teacher had “knuckled” her son Gilbert under the shin and on his forehead was found to be untrue, headmaster Richard Neve wrote a stern letter, warning her against insulting or threatening school staff in future.

The letter seemed to do the trick – no further complaints from her were logged.