Background
Finlay-Johnson was born in Hampstead in 1871.
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Harriet Johnson
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Her parents were Thomas Connolly and Jane (born FitzPatrick) Johnson. She qualified in 1892 after working for eight years at Street Mary"s School, Willesden. She became the headmistress of the village school in Sompting in Sussex in 1897.
Her sister Emily was employed on the same day on the same salary.
Emily was in charge of the infants whilst Harriet was head She led fifty children and she decided that only a revolutionary approach would put the children as the focus of education - "to help them to grow".
She started by using nature walks. The approach at the school was not based on control but in empowering the children with educational visits.
By 1903 she was one of twelve teachers chosen to serve on an advisory board on elementary education in her county.
Finlay-Johnson"s major work was described in her book "The dramatic Method of Teaching". Her book explains how she had encouraged children to create their own plays. Sometimes these would be based on works of fiction but at other times they would create their own original plays based on their own research of facts from history.
The teacher was seen as the facilitator and not the lead in the investigation that created the drama.
Moreover she believed that the final creation should not be judged by adult concepts of how good the production was but through the eyes of the participants. Her work was built on by Henry Caldwell Cook at The Perse School and popularised in his book "The Play Way".
Johnson"s life has been the subject of a biography by Mary Bowmaker. The school building in Sompting is now a community centre which is named the Harriet Johnson Centre.
On the side of the building is a blue plaque to Harriet Finlay Johnson.
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