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Original poster

What did you take to school as a kid?

35 replies

veryshortbusinessman · 05/02/2020 08:50

Name changed as potentially outing (but potentially not!) Pom bears, screaming at the sistine chapel, etc etc.

Chatting with a friend and suddenly remembered that as a kid in primary school, I kept my stuff (exercise books, pencil case, lunch) in... a briefcase.

A black leather briefcase with a combination lock.

Didn't wear uniform, and this was the mid-90s, so I would have been a 7 year old with frizzy blonde hair and big glasses, wearing leggings, an oversized t-shirt, big white trainers and... an adult-sized black leather briefcase.

It's JUST occurred to me (at the age of 33) that that is SERIOUSLY WEIRD!

Asked my DF what in the world we were thinking, and why I didn't just have a backpack like a normal kid, and he says it WAS normal in those days – but I don't seem to remember any of my peers also having a briefcase like someone working in the City Grin

What did you carry your books in as a kid? Any other briefcase enthusiasts?!

OP posts:
bsc · 05/02/2020 09:06

Aw, children are funny! I bet your parents thought it was v sweet.

We didn't actually take bags to primary, because we didn't have to take anything (sometimes a packed lunch) and had no homework. (I know! Pre-national curriculum, and performance tables/sats) I am shocked by the amount of stuff my children cart around!

bsc · 05/02/2020 09:08

I would just say on the homework/NC front- I didn't actually know any times tables, and couldn't do long division when I went to secondary school still can't. No-one cared not even my parents.

Raindancer411 · 05/02/2020 09:09

I had a satchel for secondary school...

Interested in this thread?

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7 year olds General education General style & beauty
TeetotalKoala · 05/02/2020 09:13

I just remember having a lunchbox for middle school. Though I do also remember having a pencil case so I must have carried it in something. Can't remember what though. Probably some sort of satchel. I also got the bus to school independently aged 9 onwards so would have carried a purse too. That's going to annoy me all day. I have zero memory of that bag.

TeetotalKoala · 05/02/2020 09:14

My lunchbox was a light blue plastic one (the type that had the flask that slotted inside) with a picture of Winnie the Pooh on it. I remember being most jealous of my friends My Little Pony and Care Bears ones as I was never big on Winnie the Pooh (and have never understood the obsession since).

elliejjtiny · 05/02/2020 09:18

There was a girl at my school who had a brief case (someone told me she sells 50 shades of grey style sex toys now Shock).

I had an orange and black hi-tec back pack when I was in primary and then in secondary I had one of those massive sports holdall things on pe days and one of those shoulder bags that looked like they were made from old curtains when I just had to carry my books and pencil case.

JuanSheetIsPlenty · 05/02/2020 09:22

Im the same age as you OP. Most of us had back pack style school bags. I remember having a one strap shoulder bag too. One boy in our class had a satchel that I think might have been his father’s too at one point. I think that’s pretty sweet.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 05/02/2020 09:23

A leather satchel at junior stage, but then I’m pretty ancient.

I used to envy the girls who had a proper leather music case as well - seemed unbelievably flash. Didn’t get one even after I started piano lessons though - music books just had to go in the satchel.

ladybee28 · 05/02/2020 09:27

@elliejjtiny I promise that's not me Grin

Im the same age as you OP. Most of us had back pack style school bags

@JuanSheetIsPlenty thank you! I'm not losing my noggin! My dad's been trying to convince me that:

"When you were a kid, nobody used backpacks. It was a briefcase or a satchel. Backpacks only came in when people got laptops" Grin

No, Dad, that might be the case for adults, but not 7 year olds!

NameChange84 · 05/02/2020 09:29

At my private junior school in the 90s we were only allowed briefcases or plain satchels. Thinking about it now it was really weird! It was suggested that we have them monogrammed too.

I changed schools for senior school and it was a case of anything goes despite it also being a private school. I had lots of different bags; a jansport rucksack, various “named” shoppers (Versace, DKNY, Kookai, Shelley’s, Jane Norman) etc. Never a briefcase again though.

JuanSheetIsPlenty · 05/02/2020 09:30
Grin

definitely back packs! We used to hang them on the back of our chairs and sometimes when we stood up our chairs would fall back with the extra weight and everyone would laugh. I have no idea why the teachers didn’t just let isn’t hang them with our coats.

KittenVsBox · 05/02/2020 09:37

I'm a bit older than you, and also had a briefcase as my school bag for a while.
The only other bag I remember was a head bag.

inwood · 05/02/2020 09:38

I had a briefcase in primary, burgundy, combination lock, gold initials on it. I must have been 8 at the time. 😂😂

Also wore penny loafers, with a penny in the top bit. Once I got older I progressed to Grolsch bottle tops a la Bros.

Started primary in 1985.

ladybee28 · 05/02/2020 09:42

@KittenVsBox, @inwood, @NameChange84 – you too!!

This is VERY interesting news...

stitchwitch85 · 05/02/2020 09:44

Same age as you, OP, and I had a briefcase too! All my class had them - a couple of the boys had those extra big ones which were for some reason nicknamed "pantechnicons". I wish I could remember why! 😆

I have memories of my briefcase exploding open at the end of one of my lessons and jettisoning my stuff everywhere. Obviously this made an impression on the elderly male latin teacher who had never taught girls before, as he said to my parents on parents' evening, "Yes, teaching Stitchwitch is very interesting…did you know she plays conkers?!" 😆😆

inwood · 05/02/2020 09:45

@ladybee28 everyone had them in my school!! Admittedly it was a private convent school, and my friends who went to normal schools thought it very very odd indeed! You couldn't even fit anything in them!

NameChange84 · 05/02/2020 09:46

Ugh exploding briefcases. They were the worst.

norealshepherds · 05/02/2020 09:47

Backpacks here. But satchels in primary school

ladybee28 · 05/02/2020 09:50

"Yes, teaching Stitchwitch is very interesting…did you know she plays conkers?!"

GOLDEN.

Stravapalava · 05/02/2020 09:53

I never took a bag to primary school, all our stuff was kept at school. No uniform, no homework, endless summer days.... Ahh nostalgia!

JuanSheetIsPlenty · 05/02/2020 09:56

Yes, teaching Stitchwitch is very interesting…did you know she plays conkers

😂😂😂

Brilliant! Was conkers an odd thing to play when you were a child?

elliejjtiny · 05/02/2020 10:12

@ladybee28 Grin I have to admit I read your age and description twice to check you weren't her before I posted.

moobar · 05/02/2020 12:58

@ladybee28 are you OP because you have changed name...

We took nothing to school. Backpack high school.

Johnsonsfiat · 05/02/2020 13:01

I was at school in the 80s. Certainly up to year 9, I have no memory of taking anything except myself. I don't even know if I had a pencil case and I don't remember much homework.

sunshineandshowers21 · 05/02/2020 13:15

my sister took a briefcase to primary school in the early 00s. she bought it from a jumble sale at our local church and she took it everywhere for about 6 months. even food shopping and swimming lessons 😂