School

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Do you remember starting school?

Dorothy Morris (born 1923)

Yes I remember when I first went to school, I’d probably be about four or five, because they used to go quite early when I went because they still had slates when I went. I can remember that. There was a lovely teacher, her name was Miss Scott and she was lovely. We all had little mats to sit on the floor and every Friday afternoon she said, “We’re going on a surprise mystery tour” and we used to …she used to talk to us. We were all at different places all over the World. She was fascinating and she was so lovely and we really thought we on a magic carpet, you know? I think in the Arabian Nights they had these Arabian people sitting on carpets flying through the air. That’s what we pretended that we were doing and it was lovely. So she was my first teacher and I loved her.

George Lyons (born 1923)

Well the school days were the happiest days of my life. I started at school at four and left at fourteen, same school, and I got certificates for attendance. I got 40 for 100 percent and I missed half a day, snow were up to bedroom window. So we couldn’t get out to school. So me father were a miner and he dug through the snow a tunnel for us to get out. And I went to school at lunchtime, but I missed half a day at school. And that was the only half day that I missed in five years. I enjoyed school. I left as school captain at finish.

Peggy O’Rourke (born 1920)

Well, the first school I went to was just one old lady who took about five or six pupils at a time and we went into her sitting room, we always sat round in her sitting room. She really only talked to us about things. I don’t think we were too bad. We had history and geometry and maths I suppose, I don’t remember. Then I went on to a bigger school as a boarder, I stayed there. That was a bit too much for me. It was … what was I, probably about eight and I found it too much, I couldn’t cope so after about a year, I left and went to a day school which was at Sandown, so I had to go through from Ventnor Station through to Sandown and then there was quite a walk but that wasn’t too bad. It was called Bounsfield . It was a big house, do you know where the Catholic Church is? You go past the Church towards the sea and it was on the corner. They’ve pulled it down quite recently. I was sorry to see it go. It was a beautiful house.

John Sandell (born 1929)

I went to the school called the PNEU. I can’t remember what that stood for. I had to take a cup to have a drink and a pair of shoes to change in to and in those days, I had to wear…....gaiters which I had to wind up and my shoes also had laces which seems very strange. The gaiters went right up behind my … almost behind my knee and you had that all day. I was only allowed to write in pencil until I could write properly and then they allowed me to have a pen. And of course it was pen and ink then, not biros. Yes, I remember that quite well.

Margaret Groves (born 1925)

I went to the National School in Newport, my teachers were Miss Millgate and Miss Brigdon. You started school in the small building and then moved to the bigger school when you were a bit older. The girls were taught downstairs and the boys were taught upstairs. I didn’t like many of my lessons. I left school when I was 14, that was the leaving age then.

Ted Busbridge (born 1928)

At the age of seven, disaster struck : I was diagnosed with suspected tuberculosis and it was decided that I should go away to a residential open air home by the sea: St Catherine's Home, as it was known then, in Grove Road, Ventnor......The emphasis was mainly upon the health side of things at St Catherine's but we did have our schoolrooms and dedicated team of teachers. School started at. 9-45 a m. until 12-30. And 3-p m until 5- p m. Except Wednesdays and Saturdays when it was morning school only. I was considered fit to be discharged just before my tenth birthday. Unfortunately on that very morning of discharge, my nurse realised that I had caught measles, so was rushed off to the isolation ward, where I stayed for about three weeks. Unable to travel home. I was eventually released from isolation and able to go home.

Did you have school dinners?

Bill Jenkins (born 1920)

I’m sorry, you’ve got me beat there. Never had such a thing as school dinners in our time I’m afraid. We could go home for lunch but you had a sandwich box or something like that, but the school wasn’t in a situation where they could provide meals and you know …it was a very small school and a very small staff.

George Lyons (born 1923)

Oh no, no. There weren’t such a thing then. No, we used to get an hour and a half for lunch, 12 o’clock to half past one and we used to have to go home, get your lunch and get back again. And the school times were 9 o’clock ‘till 12, with a quarter of an hour playtime and then half past one ‘til 4 o’clock with a playtime in the middle. A quarter of an hour playtime in the middle and that were a school day. There were no kitchens......

Ken Lawrence (born 1934)

The school dinners were horrible! Well they’re better now but in those days they weren’t very nice, you know, ‘cos a lot of parents used to give their children sandwiches ‘cos they moaned about the dinners.

Did you have school milk?

Ken Lawrence (born 1934)

Yes. Yes, a third of a pint. You had it around lunchtime. When Margaret Thatcher got in, she done away with all that.

Were there any punishments that you had at school if you misbehaved?

Bill Jenkins (born 1920)

Well I must tell you, now that you’ve brought it up, I’m afraid being a keen footballer I was kicking a ball or a tin can around all my time and in the small play ground that we had, half a dozen of us boys who used to kick a football around while waiting to go in sort of thing, and one day someone cracked a window and the order went round from the Head that football in the play ground was kaput, none, no more. And I’m afraid six of us acted inadvisably and carried on kicking round the ground and we were caught my a Master, “In you go line up outside the Headmaster’s room” and we did, the six boys. The Headmaster came out, Sherwood his name was, and he was a very fair, tall, strong man, and he went through the why and wherefores as to why we were there and he said, “Right, you can’t go unpunished, you were told not to do it and you’ve done it, so one by one hold out your hand.” And we each got six of the best on each hand all of the way down the line. Little boys there trying not to cry and tears were … and that was the punishment we got for playing football. I don’t think he did that all the time, but he was very serious about these breakages.

George Lyons (born 1923)

If you were naughty, you had to be a good ducker, because we had one teacher he’d throw the chalk at you and another teacher, you know all the blackboards, they don’t call them blackboards now do they, but there used to be a wiper to wipe the chalk off. But if you weren’t a good ducker, that used to fly through the air …

I used to get the cane, you know, and I mean the cane were about, I don’t know, about that thickness, I don’t know what it is in centimetres, I don’t know centimetres. Headmaster were about six foot, you know, and he used to … “hold your hand out.” It’s a wonder he didn’t break us hands. I had the cane about three times and always sit front of the class. Not in the Headmaster study, no, ‘cos the Headmaster used to take classes, you know the top classes, the Headmaster took the top classes and yeah I used to get caned but I daren’t go home and tell me father or he’d say, “Oh, you got caned again I don’t know.” So you just got to take it rough, you know.

John Peace (born 1947)

When I was at Secondary school, we used to have to cover all our exercise books in either brown paper or wall paper and one time I didn’t do it so I got 500 lines of … but it was the Maths teacher and I had to write out ‘A plus B all squared which is, well you know, ‘A squared plus 2AB plus B squared’. I had to write that out 500 times and then he caught me eating in the class so he give me another 500 and I had to do it by the next day (laughs).

Ken Lawrence (born 1934)

Oh yeah, used to get the cane if you were late. Yep. And there was Mr Dobson with his big size 10 slipper, and when you was late, you’d get the cane and the slipper. Didn’t half hurt...on the bottom. Yeah that was the slipper one but the other one was on your hand. Ooh, I can feel it now! That was about it, or misbehaving generally. But what that was I can’t remember, it’s such a long time ago. The teachers were pretty strict. As I say if you were late you used to get the cane, you know, and then Mr Dobson … I used to sit on my hands and he said, “What are you doing?” “I’m sitting on my hands sir, it hurts.” He said, “Good.”

What subjects did you enjoy at school?

Bill Jenkins (born 1920)

Well I was very keen on History and Geography actually and of course in those days it was such a thing as the British Empire existed and of course far reaching across the World all these countries where we had invited ourselves and joined in all round the World really and looked upon it as if it all belonged to the British Empire which of course in real life now it doesn’t and never did and breaking up all the time. But yes, I think at that school we were led to believe that we were a few points above the rest of the World if I can put it that way.

George Lyons (born 1923)

I always enjoyed learning and I still enjoy learning even today. You know you never get enough knowledge you know, same as you girls. Pack as much knowledge as you possibly can in to your life, because in later life it will always come in handy. So learn as much as you possibly can whilst you’re at school. You don’t learn as much, you know, you only read from papers and that once you get older. We had the same teacher all term. We didn’t change any classes, we just had the same teacher all the time, you know, for all subjects.

John Sandell (born 1929)

Biology, Chemistry and Physics but the teachers of course had all gone to the War so we had old gentlemen who had no experience of teaching children for quite a time and they couldn’t … I never knew what a percentage was, I couldn’t understand half of the Maths, hence I didn’t care for it that much. We had to learn Latin. I don’t know why. Nobody explained why. I was hopeless. Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant!. That’s Latin, but I couldn’t pick it up and I couldn’t understand why I had to learn Latin. I wish I had known then because all the plants had Latin names and I was keen on gardening, as you can tell!

Jo Scott (born 1936)

The usual history geography maths and English, English literature and English grammar....when it came to the 11 plus, at the Covent School we didn’t have 11 plus like ordinary children did, we had an exam for Sheffield Grammar School......I know I’ve got certificates for handwriting, copper plate handwriting for Sheffield grammar and mathematics....

Ken Lawrence (born 1934)

Arithmetic, they used to call it, geography, history. My favourite subjects were history and geography. Didn’t like maths and those subjects. No too good on English because I didn’t speak like I does!

Did you have a school uniform and what was it like?

John Peace (born 1947)

When I went to Secondary school, yes we had. We used to have a navy blue blazer with a badge. A red and blue tie and a school cap as well which you had to wear all the time. Well not in school obviously. But you got a detention if you were seen outside in the street without a cap.

George Lyons (born 1923)

I never wore long trousers until I was 16. I wore short trousers and these trousers had more patches on than what they were trousers (laughs) and nobody bothered because everybody were the same, you know, everybody were poor and they were just the same. And me father, when I got to 16 he decided to get me a pair of long trousers. Well in those days they were turnups. Have you seen trousers with turnups at the bottom? Well he got these here trousers a bit long so he cut the trousers off by top of the turnups. So then, the trouser were too short and when I used to go out in them, lads used to say, “Who’s died?” I’d say, “Nobody, why?” They said, “Well you’ve got your trousers at half mast.”

Bill Jenkins (born 1920)

No, no, but you had to wear a tie. It was only an elementary school and they didn’t believe in uniforms in those days if you weren’t Army. No.

Jo Scott (born 1936)

Gymslips, that was our school uniform, gymslips. You had a yoke here and you had three big box pleats here and then that was all the way down but pulled in with a girdle round your waist. Done like a tie. You did that like a tie but it wasn’t a belt, it was a long thing and you had your dangle bits down, you know, just like a tie but on your waist. The performance it was … you had a little breast pocket up here to put your hankie in or what have you. I remember the performance of mum washing it. She used to stitch all the pleats in before she put it in the wash so that when it came out, it was all still in it’s pleats, you know. It only got washed once a term mind you. We had white blouse ….it was navy blue jumpers in winter but summer was the white blouse. And we had a tie.

Sandra Wood (born 1942)

My school uniform at Sandown Grammar was a navy gymslip with a white blouse and a navy and light blue striped tie. We had blue and white striped dresses in the summer. We had hats which were awful things, mine was second hand and it ended up in holes! It was like a beret with a brim. I hated wearing that!

Peggy O’Rourke (born 1920)

Oh yes. We had a straight skirt with four pleats in the front and back. It wasn’t a bad thing, uniform really, quite nice and coloured blouses. I think ours were check, a small check, gingham blouse.

How old were you when you left school?

George Lyons (born 1923)

We had to leave school at 14 and I didn’t want to leave because I enjoyed school so much but I had to leave school to get out to work.....You know,14 that was it. You had to go. I enjoyed school. Nobody enjoyed school no more than what I did so enjoy your school days while you can because once you leave school, it isn’t the same. Learn as much as you can.

Gwen Croad (born 1931)

I think I was one of the youngest who ever left school. Yes, because I was 14 in the August and we broke up in the July, so I was 13 and for a month I didn’t pay any insurance. You see I left the term War finished and we were lucky to even have a teacher let alone anything else

What sports did you do at school?

Sandra Wood (born 1942)

When I was at Sandown Grammar we walked down to Sandham Grounds to play tennis. We also went down to the Fairway for domestic science and hockey. We spent a lot of time walking to and from all these places.

John Sandell (born 1929)

In the junior school there was … they played football and I enjoyed that. Go to the senior school, oh no that’s rubbish, that’s for the lower class you know? It’s rugby over here and I couldn’t stand that so I was usually given a place at the back. I can’t remember what the position was called, and if you got into a scrum, a loose scrum, which is where they all join up … they join together to try and get the ball out on their side, and it collapsed. There was an awful twang and somebody’s leg broke underneath it! Oh no, I didn’t like that. There was cricket of course. There was nobody to teach PE so the senior boys taught the junior ones.

Bill Jenkins (born 1920)

I played football for the school and I was lucky enough to be chosen for Portsmouth school boys in 1932 and 1933 and we did very well and from then on I carried on and I was fairly good at it. I was a Centre Forward, striker now isn’t it?....We did Best School one year and we also won the trophy playing for Portsmouth Schoolboys against Guildford I think it was, if I remember rightly. I did play at Fratton Park four times in the 1933 year and that was very good. The home games were played at Fratton Park you see which if you don’t know is where Portsmouth FC are housed. And they aren’t doing very well these days either.

Did you learn music at school?

John Sandell (born 1929)

I did. When I was in the junior school, I learnt to play the piano and tried to learn the violin because my grandfather played the violin in Southampton, in the orchestra there. I took to the piano and I didn’t do too badly there and I continued ‘till I was just about to leave the junior school and I was quite good at singing and we had an Open Day where we had to sing and play piano or whatever we did and I thought oh, I’ll get a good point for my singing but I didn’t. I got them a good point, a first class for playing the piano and that rather shook me!

Did the war affect your schooling?

Winifred Smith (born 1935)

I was a schoolgirl during the war at Whitwell School. We had an air raid shelter which was a concrete building with a slanted door and steep steps at the side, it was like a cellar. There were wooden benches to sit on, the teachers took torches because it was dark down there and we had to carry on with our lessons.

Ken Lawrence (born 1934)

We didn’t have a school uniform in those days. Oh yes, because it was War time, that’s why you see. And if you went to a Grammar School, I didn’t, you used to get a uniform from a firm who used to supply the schools with uniforms.

Winifred Smith (born 1935)

The first time I saw a banana was at school, somebody (I cannot remember who it was) brought a box of bananas into school, one for each pupil. We were also given a bar of chocolate, what a day that was!

John Sandell (born 1929)

From my first school I went to a primary school just up the road and that was called Oakmount School and I was only there for a short while, for about six to nine years I would think and then the War came and the whole school was evacuated to the Forest, the New Forest and we were in a Manor there.

Of course the war was on and doodlebugs were coming over and we got so used to them that unless the doodlebug happened to … if you heard the engine stop, you laid down flat on the ground and after it had exploded, you got up again and went on playing cricket.... I didn’t care. It was nothing to be concerned so long as it exploded somewhere else, but we had some of the first doodlebugs coming over and there being an American airport nearby, I thought there was a bomber coming back and it had one of its engines cut out because it was such a loud noise and then I heard the explosion and I thought, oh, poor kids. Having landed in the airport and exploded but it wasn’t that at all. It was this doodlebug. That’s the sort of experience I had at school.

How did you get to school?

Jo Scott (born 1936)

Oh another story of me and school days. During the War, I told you before, we were here in Ventnor after being bombed out, when we went back to live in Newport, that’s when I started going to the Convent because my aunt lived in Newport and that was nearby, but then I was only, barely eight when we moved down to Cowes and I’m not sure if I was seven or eight when we moved down to Cowes, but I still went to the Convent. At that stage, you didn’t travel far to go to school and I was the first child to travel from Cowes, up to Newport, change buses to go up to Carisbrooke for school. When I left school as a senior, there were about three bus loads coming from Cowes to Newport, you know, with school children, but I was the very first child to travel that distance and it was during the War. Changing buses and going up to Carisbrooke. I couldn’t have been more than seven and a half, eight at that time.