In both the Girls’ School and the Boys’ School, prizes were given for good work and good behaviour as well as for religious knowledge.
A commentary on the 4 Gospels of the New Testament was given as a prize to
Henry Knight on July 25th, 1876. The label showed that it was adjudged to Henry Knight by the Vicar, the Rev. C.P. Hutchinson, and was 1st Religious Prize, 1st Class.
The Diocesan Inspector presented a prize to a boy in 1895 from the Diocese of
Winchester.
Ethel Hayward, who used to live in Inverness Road, had a bible as a prize in
1908 for Religious Education. It was presented to her by the Diocesan Inspector for the Diocese of Winchester. Perhaps the Diocese of Winchester could no longer afford to buy Bibles as prizes later
on as it seems that the childrens’ attainments in Religious Knowledge were later rewarded by the giving of a certificate, except when a teacher gave a book prize.
There was an annual Scripture Examination in Church Schools. The
inspector would visit the school and go to each class and ask questions on the syllabus to ascertain how much the children knew about the allotted Scripture stories. He would either ask the class,
or an individual child to recite a psalm or a passage of scripture that they had learned. The older children were sometimes given written work to do. After the examination the children were
given the rest of the day as a holiday.
In 1919 Maud Vear was awarded a certificate for Religious Knowledge by the
Diocese of Winchester. At the top centre of the certificate were the Arms of the Winchester Diocese, the crossed keys of St. Peter. Winchester Cathedral was pictured below the Arms. A
pleasantly coloured formal design of leaves and flowers bordered the top and halfway down the sides of the certificates and there was a linear pattern in the lower borders and along the bottom.
