The 12-year-old Nostradamus of 1913

It was the year King George V was on the throne, the Morris Oxford two-seater car went on sale and frustrated suffragettes set fire to public property.

Against this backdrop, a 12-year-old schoolboy turned his thoughts to the future – and wrote down a list of predictions about life in the year 2000.

Edgar Codling, of Hillington, Norfolk, believed that by the turn of the century, aeroplanes would be as common as cars and bicycles would be cheap.

And he predicted a boom in leisure travel as well as an increase in affordable popular newspapers.

In 1913, just a year before the First World War broke out, Edgar wrote in a school essay: 'In the year 2000AD bicycles will be produced for a small sum of money. Aeroplanes will be seen floating in the air and will become as common as motorcars. They will be used for business and enjoyment too. Newspapers will be very cheap.'

However, while his expectations about technological advances may not have been too far off the mark, he wasn't quite as certain when it came to female emancipation.

'Perhaps the suffragettes will get their vote, but probably they will not,' he wrote.

The sentence is followed by a neat 'Good' in red ink – though it's not clear whether the teacher was praising his writing or sharing his scepticism.

The essay has come to light as part of an exhibition charting the development of schooling during the last 200 years.

It is the result of a two-year project by volunteers who painstakingly surveyed, photographed and researched every surviving rural school in Norfolk built before 1950 – and uncovered essays such as Edgar's.

The survey also relied on a range of archives held by the Norfolk Record Office including architectural drawings, log-books, punishment books and accounts and exercise books, some of which are included in the display.

One log-book from a school in Deopham recorded problems with cold and damp from 1909 to 1924 because pupils were housed in a structure of corrugated metal – made by Norwich-based manufacturer Boulton and Paul, which advertised pre-fabricated buildings as a low-cost alternative to bricks and mortar.

Despite this, the metal building is still in use as a private residence, and is known locally as the Old Tin School.

Derrick Murphy, the leader of Norfolk County Council, said: 'When you compare these one-room classrooms to schools of today, you see how much things have moved on.'

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