"As early as 1816, Parliament passed the first Common School Act, which provided for the election of three trustees for each township, whose duties were defined as including the hiring of teachers, selection of books etc. but the great question of means to carry on the work was left almost entirely to private and individual enterprise and liberality, till the year 1841, when the Hon. S.B. Harrison brought in a Bill, providing an annual grant of $200,000 to the various counties, in proportion to their school population and conditional upon the said counties supplementing the said respective funds by like sums for similar purposes. Shortly afterwards in 1843 the Hon. Francis Hincks introduced a bill under which the townships were divided into school sections..... the application of all the details were under Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., who in one generation brought the system to such a high order as to compare favourably with any system in the known world."

"The first regular school in the present limits of Perth was taught by Alexander McGregor in the village of Stratford, although a private school may have been held previous to this by a John J.E. Linton, in a Canada Company log building on Lot 29, Conc. I., North Easthope; this school is said to have been the third in the whole Huron District."

"In 1842 there were but two schools in the township of South Easthope, one in English school in Lot 10, Conc. I and the other a German school where Sebastopol now is. The former was the first erected in the township. It was built the next year after that, in North Easthope, north of Shakespeare, and the first to teach in it was James Izzard. For many years it also answered the purpose of a "meeting-house" before any churches were built in the locality.

In 1844 Mr. Trow, later M.P. for South Perth, applied for the school on Lot 21, Conc. II North Easthope and was obliged to procure a "District Board Certificate". So he walked all the way from East Zorra to Goderich and was there examined by a committee, consisting of Daniel Lizars, John Longworth and a number of clergymen. He applies for a Third Class but obtained a Second Class.

"In 1847 Perth's share of the $200,000 annual government grant was as follows:

Twp.	No. of Schools	Grant	Teacher's Salary
Stratford	1	£22/2/6	£85
Blanshard	3	8/7/8	118/
Downie	3	18/7/9	145/10
North Easthope	4	36/9/6	213/
South Easthope	1	19/3/11	60/
Ellice	1	13/14/10	25/
Hibbert/McKillop	3/16	16/5/4	126/
			£776/10

By 1849 the number had increased to 33 with four in South Easthope."

SOUTH EASTHOPE
- from the Tweedsmuir History by the Athlone Women's Institute.

"The policy of the Canada Company was to open up the township quickly by putting its lots up for rent with a ten-year lease and an option to purchase. This facilitated road-making organization of church parishes and school sections. Seven schools were built in South Easthope."

Land for these sites was granted by individuals under certain stipulations set out in the deeds.

One hundred years later such documents have been giving difficulties to private buyers of school properties in sections which have become part of the consolidation movement. When S.S. No. 8, Sebastopol joined the Township Area with its fine new School at Shakespeare in 1965, the two-room school was put up for sale. Trinity Lutheran Church, who had been getting its water supply from the school-well for some years at a nominal rental of $10 per annum, was anxious to acquire this enclosure within their lands for some future expansion. The bid price was driven up to $9100 by a competitor, although on the same day he had bought other properties, Blum's and Pork Street, for $3500 or less. Upon legal advise, the Church Board found that the owner of the surrounding lands had prior claim and the original sale was cancelled. Finally, by compromise, a more reasonable price was reached and the transfer of lands and buildings made in 1967.

Since the first school available to Tavistock residents was S.S. No. 8, Sebastopol, the report of July 9, 1903, in the Tavistock Gazette, may prove interesting, although the Tavistock students no longer attended:

PROMOTION EXAMINATIONS

SENIOR CLASSES:
Jr. 4th	- H. Hahn 643, Arthur Foerster 586, R. Preiss 561,
	Wilson Weicker 465, Austin Hahn 454, L. Mogk 435,
	Mike Hermann 416.
Sr. 3rd	- Emerson Weitzel 462, G. Hermann 400, Christ Habel
	392, E. Heinbuch 370.
Jr. 3rd	- W.Berg 435, E. Heinbuch 369, Dan Hermann 304.
JUNIOR CLASS	(in order of merit)
Sr. 2nd	- E Heinbuch, Flora Hermann, Elroy Duval, F Hoelscher.
Jr. 2nd	- H Weitzel & Pauline Veit equal, Martin Berg.
Sr.Pt. 2nd	- Julius Weicker, L. Kube, Charlie Yause, M. Kaufman,
	D. Steinman, E. Roland, B. Preisz & M. Preisz equal,
	A. Wettlaufer.
Jr.Pt. 2nd	- E. Streicher, B. Hoelscher, M. Berg, I. Heinbuch.
Sr.Pt. 1	- Alma Kaufman, E. Wettlaufer, F. Kube, Wilfred Herman.
Jr.Pt. 1	- T. Yungblut, Robert Walter, E. Heinbuch, Alma Walter,
	Gordon Roland, M. Naismith, teacher

SENIOR CLASSES: Jr. 4th ...