Here’s a lesson in local history for you. We’ve uncovered some education-themed photos from our archives which date back to the roaring twenties.

The photos are from March of 1924 and mostly show students taking part in a special open evening event to mark the achievements of what was classed as ‘Southend Higher Educational Institutions’ - in other words courses for those aged over 14.

Students are captured on camera demonstrating their knowledge of academic subjects for the benefit of their parents and visitors, such as chemistry and physics as well as technical courses like carpentry and engineering.

Others are pictured having fun outdoors learning skills such as surveying and measuring.

One of the images is of the modelling room at the the School of Art which once stood in Victoria Circus. The school opened in 1919 and remained in the town until 1966.

At this time in history King George V was on the throne and Ramsay MacDonald was Prime Minister.

The law had been changed a few years earlier so that children could not leave school until they were 14.

Before that it was 12 years old and this meant many children went sent straight out to work in harsh factories and workhouses.

But the Education Act of 1918 helped to change this and it put a stop to the widespread practice of child labour.

Another photo from this time shows the laying of a foundation stone for a new science laboratory to be built at Lindisfarne College.

Long gone now, the private school and college once stood in Valkyrie Road, Westcliff, after being founded in 1891. During the Second World War the college building was requisitioned by the military and the school transferred to Yorkshire.

Another photo in the gallery shows how work to build a new school to be known as the Westcliff High School for Boys was shaping up in 1924.

It would welcome its first generation of pupils two years later in 1926 and of course, remains open today.