Sunday school
A Sunday school, known as a Sabbath school in some sabbatarian Christian denominations, is an educational institution or weekly activity in a place of worship, usually Christian in character and often intended for children or neophytes.
Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are used to provide catechesis to Christians, especially children and teenagers, and sometimes adults as well. Churches of many Christian denominations have classrooms attached to the church used for this purpose. Many Sunday school classes operate on a set curriculum, with some teaching attendees a catechism. Members often receive certificates and awards for participation, as well as attendance.
Sunday school classes may provide a light breakfast. On days when Holy Communion is being celebrated, however, some Christian denominations encourage fasting before receiving the Eucharistic elements.
Early history
Sunday schools in Europe began with the Catholic Church's Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, founded in the 16th century by the archbishop Charles Borromeo to teach young Italian children the faith.Protestant Sunday schools were first set up in the 18th century in England to provide education to working children. William King started a Sunday school in 1751 in Dursley, Gloucestershire. Robert Raikes, editor of the Gloucester Journal, started a similar one in Gloucester in 1781. He wrote an article in his journal, and as a result many clergymen supported schools, which aimed to teach the youngsters reading, writing, cyphering and a knowledge of the Bible.
The Sunday School Society was founded by Baptist deacon William Fox on 7 September 1785 in Prescott Street Baptist Church of London. The latter had been touched by articles of Raikes, on the problems of youth crime. Pastor Thomas Stock and Raikes have thus registered a hundred children from six to fourteen years old. The society has published its textbooks and brought together nearly 4,000 Sunday schools.
In 1785, 250,000 English children were attending Sunday school. There were 5,000 in Manchester alone. By 1835, the Sunday School Society had distributed 91,915 spelling books, 24,232 New Testaments and 5,360 Bibles. The Sunday school movement was cross-denominational. Financed through subscription, large buildings were constructed that could host public lectures as well as provide classrooms. Adults would attend the same classes as the infants, as each was instructed in basic reading. In some towns, the Methodists withdrew from the large Sunday school and built their own. The Anglicans set up their National schools that would act as Sunday schools and day schools. These schools were the precursors to a national system of education.
The educational role of the Sunday schools ended with the Education Act 1870, which provided universal elementary education. In the 1920s they also promoted sports, and ran Sunday school leagues. They became social centres hosting amateur dramatics and concert parties. By the 1960s, the term Sunday school could refer to the building and rarely to the activities inside. By the 1970s even the largest Sunday school had been demolished. The locution today chiefly refers to catechism classes for children and adults that occur before the start of a church service. In certain Christian traditions, in certain grades, for example the second grade or eighth grade, Sunday school classes may prepare youth to undergo a rite such as First Communion or Confirmation. The doctrine of Sunday Sabbatarianism, held by many Christian denominations, encourages practices such as Sunday school attendance, as it teaches that the entirety of the Lord's Day should be devoted to God; as such many children and teenagers often return to the church in the late afternoon for youth group before attending an evening service of worship.
Development in Protestant churches
United Kingdom
The first recorded Protestant Sunday school opened in 1751 in St Mary's Church, Nottingham. Hannah Ball made another early start, founding a school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in 1769. However, the pioneer of Sunday schools is commonly said to be Robert Raikes, editor of the Gloucester Journal, who in 1781, after prompting from William King, recognised the need of children living in the Gloucester slums; the need also to prevent them from taking up crime. He opened a school in the home of a Mrs Meredith, operating it on a Sunday – the only day that the boys and girls working in the factories could attend. Using the Bible as their textbook, the children learned to read and write.In 18th-century England, education was largely reserved for a wealthy, male minority and was not compulsory. The wealthy educated their children privately at home, with hired governesses or tutors for younger children. The town-based middle class may have sent their sons to grammar schools, while daughters were left to learn what they could from their mothers or from their fathers' libraries. The children of factory workers and farm labourers received no formal education, and typically worked alongside their parents six days a week, sometimes for more than 13 hours a day.
By 1785 over 250,000 children throughout England attended schools on Sundays. In 1784 many new schools opened, including the interdenominational Stockport Sunday School, which financed and constructed a school for 5,000 scholars in 1805. In the late-19th century this was accepted as being the largest in the world. By 1831 it was reported that attendance at Sunday schools had grown to 1.2 million.
The first Sunday school in London opened at Surrey Chapel, Southwark, under Rowland Hill. By 1831 1,250,000 children in Great Britain, or about 25 per cent of the eligible population, attended Sunday schools weekly. The schools provided basic lessons in literacy alongside religious instruction.
In 1833, "for the unification and progress of the work of religious education among the young", the Unitarians founded their Sunday School Association, as "junior partner" to the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, with which it eventually set up offices at Essex Hall in Central London.
The work of Sunday schools in the industrial cities was increasingly supplemented by "ragged schools", and eventually by publicly funded education under the terms of the Elementary Education Act 1870. Sunday schools continued alongside such increasing educational provision, and new forms also developed, such as the Socialist Sunday Schools movement, which began in the United Kingdom in 1886.
Ireland
The development of Sunday schools in Ireland was significantly influenced by the efforts of the Reverend Dr. Kennedy, who served as curate in the parish of Bright, County Down. He established his Sunday school programme in 1770 before Robert Raikes organised his Sunday-schools ten years later in July, 1780. Concerned by the widespread neglect of Sunday observance among local youth, Dr. Kennedy initiated gatherings focused on singing practice. This initiative proved successful and was subsequently expanded to include the reading of Psalms and scripture lessons.By late 1785, Dr. Kennedy became aware of similar educational movements in England aimed at establishing Sunday schools. Recognizing that his own initiative aligned with these efforts, he collaborated with local associates to adopt a more structured and comprehensive approach modelled on the English system. During the winter months, they disseminated information about the concept and secured financial support from interested parties.
Following these preparations, the Bright Sunday School was formally inaugurated on the first Sunday of May 1786. Robert Henry, Esq., was appointed superintendent, with members of his family and other respected individuals serving as instructors. Thomas Turr, the parish clerk, also contributed to the school's operations as needed.
In 1787, a correspondent writing in Robert Raikes’ newspaper reported that the Bishops of Cloyne and Clonfert had established Sunday schools within their dioceses. These initiatives yielded such evident results that the governing authorities of Ireland resolved to propose to the a national education plan aimed at extending educational opportunities to the poorest segments of society.
Further institutional support emerged in 1805 when the Irish Methodist Conference passed resolutions advocating for the establishment of Sunday schools in every circuit. This endorsement facilitated the rapid expansion of the system throughout the country. As the movement grew, the demand for educational materials became increasingly pressing. However, the Sunday School Society in London was unable to provide adequate assistance, highlighting the need for a local organization to manage resources and support. This led to the founding of the Hibernian Sunday School Society, which played a pivotal role in sustaining and expanding Sunday school education in Ireland.
Daniel Delany, Roman Catholic priest also started a school in 1777 in Tullow, County Carlow. He set up a complex system which involved timetables, lesson plans, streaming, and various teaching activities. This system spread to other parishes in the diocese. By 1787 in Tullow alone there were 700 students, boys and girls, men and women, and 80 teachers. The primary intent of this Sunday school system was the teaching of the Catholic catechism and articles of faith; the teaching of reading and writing became necessary to assist in this. With the coming of Catholic Emancipation in Ireland and the establishment of the National Schools system, which meant that the Catholic faith could be taught in school, the Catholic Sunday school system became unnecessary.
The Church of Ireland Sunday School Society was founded by the established Anglican Protestant church in 1809. The Sabbath School Society of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was founded in 1862.