2-809-464 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ann Street School, Birmingham, 1855. The Quaker run British Infant Schools Society opened Birmingham Infants Central School for 90 pupils at 48 Ann Street in 1826. The school closed in 1867 and the site is now occupied by Birmingham's Council House. The painting depicts the education of different groups of children of aged from 3-12. Close inspection shows that the apparent chaos of this school room in fact organised into 5-6 different age-groups each with one or two adults in charge. Classes are gathered in seated rows or standing groups around a monitor. A trio of smartly dressed onlookers, a woman and two children, are picked out by the main shaft of sunlight.