If you were at primary school in the 80s

[isabellerossignol]

I've spent what seems like all morning printing off worksheets for my primary aged child. And I was suddenly struck by a vivid memory from primary school. Hand typed or handwritten worksheets that were printed on a machine, in the days before printers, with really poor quality paper and all the writing came out with a bluey/purple tinge.

I've had a Google and apparently it was called a Banda machine, and was used a lot in schools because it enabled relatively cheap printing. Does anyone else remember it?

The thing I remember most is that the printed sheets had a really strong, distinctive smell. If I could smell that now, I'd feel like I was 8 all over again.

@AndNoneForGretchenWieners

Are you a Londoner?

My dad was head of art and design at the local high school. He would design all their documentation...headings...etc. all painstakingly done with letraset. Lining it up, choosing the correct font and letter and rubbing it just enough for it to attach to the paper. This was the 1970s and 1980s

Loved my matching flask and lunchbox
I had the Get along gang on mine

Always really wanted a pink My Little Pony one, wonder why I didn’t get that now , perhaps they were more expensive.

Had to be so careful not to smash them though

Our school hall had the big pull out wooden frames that were used for gym lessons then pushed back to the side for food or assemblies

Did anybody else have “ felt fuzz “ story boards at assembly ? Our head teacher was really into telling bible stories through the medium of felt

Like a flip chart stand but with a felt blanket which he placed felt Jesus / Mary etc to tell stories

What a lovely thread. So many memories! Anyone else remember music lessons using a taped programme and song books? I still remember one of the songs. Saw a copy of the book once as an adult and was seriously impressed that I'd got it pretty much right.
The folkier songs were probably from one of the A&C Black books - a quick google suggests Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay. I may or may not be slowly buying some of the series for Junior Choir...
I loved the smell of banda printing too. I think it came in blue, purple and green? We had a competition to design the cover for the programme for the school production. I moved for 3rd and 4th year junior because we moved house, to a school which did big end of year musical productions. I loved them. Looking back, I hadn't realised before how many of my memories involve music and singing. I wonder how many children now will have that?

@AvoidingTheWineAisle, I’m a Londoner and we sang all those songs.

@LoadsaBlusger. We had Fuzzy Felts.

Yes, I remember those music lessons. We had a large square speaker that was on some kind of extension from wherever the radio or cassette player was in another room. I remember many of the songs, word for word, to this day.

Lunchboxes - my ET lunchbox was my pride and joy after seeing the film at the cinema and raving over it like practically everyone did at the time. I even talked my mum into buying some 'ET' branded biscuits which were bright green and revolting.

We also had radio programs which were taped onto cassette and played on the big chunky top loading cassette player in the library

It was like a brown wooden laminate tape cassette player

The radio programs would always be Newsround BBC .

I remember a little machine that you ran a card through which had a magnetic strip on it. The card had a word on and when you ran it through the machine there was a recording of the word. However we figured out that the same machine could be used to re record the word...with hilarious consequences!
Also remember the banda machine. And the dot matrix printer and the der der der, der der der sound it made.
Music and movement PE lessons - standing in the hall imagining you were a terracotta soldier or something of that ilk!
Yes to the apparatus - the wall bars that had ropes on, and we were allowed to climb to the top. Wooden benches hooked over the bars to make a ramp.

Oki toki unga was one of the music books.

I had a cheap knock-off "My Little Pony" lunchbox which a relative bought back from Spain. It had a picture of a cartoon mule and it said "Babe Burro" on it. I think Mum had to throw it away because it made my sandwiches smell of chemicals.

We only sang hymns in assembly, but we did do regular "concerts" for the parents, which would involve recorders and songs. That would be when we did non-hymn songs. The ones I remember most were Alexander's Ragtime Band (me neither) and yes, we did Maxwell's Silver Hammer as well! Definitely not a suitable subject for kiddies, that.

Did anyone else ever Do 'marbling ink' at primary in the 80's. You would drop these special coloured inks into a tray of water then carefully float your paper on top before picking it up carefully. lovely psychedelic swirly patterns! We would then cover our books in the paper.

I loved Granny's Garden, was a real treat to see the BBC computer being wheeled out. We used to have after school recorder club and once you had attended for a year you were allowed to be in the recorder band that used to play for everyone as you filed for assembly. Amazing at the time but probably sounded horrific to the rest of the school

From my own primary school-days (1960s) I recall-
Listening to schools' radio broadcasts from large brown wedge shaped loudspeakers.
The absolute joy of SRA reading cards; moving up through the colours.
My favourite primary teacher reading to us all of the C.S. Lewis books over the course of our year with her.
Singing hymns from massive printed flip-charts fixed high on the wall at either side of the stage.
The jungle-gym in the playground.
In 4th year (current year 6), being on the rota, in pairs, to go to the staffroom 10 minutes before morning break to make cups of tea and coffee for the staff. We were allowed a biscuit each!
I blooming loved primary!

Anyone remember these maths books?

We used to wash up the teacher's coffee cups after break ! It was a treat as you got to sneak a look at the staff room though you usually couldn't see much because of a haze of cigarette smoke

“when did they change from infants ,,juniors and seniors to year 1_etc?”

It was around when i went to secondary school so about 1991? They were used fairly interchangeably throughout my secondary school career, until post 16 when it was always lower and upper sixth never Year 12 & Year 13. In fact the college I went to is still called Sixth Form college.

We used to have lots of dot matrix 'scrap' paper as my dad had lots of inventory sheets for his work. I was quite old before I realised they weren't scrap because he'd accidentally printed it all on the wrong side with the green and white stripes.

I think Maxwell's Silver Hammer might be in that Oki Toki Unga book, which would explain why so many people remember singing it. We had the book at home because my mum was a primary teacher. I was a keen pianist from an early age and remember working my way through all the songs. Oh my Darling Clementine, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Lilly the Pink and a Mouse lived in a windmill in old Amsterdam...

I did an A-Level Computer Science course in the 70s. I had to take two busses to the local college, twice a week as my secondary school didn't offer it.
This was in the days before PCs; all of our programming was done in BASIC on coding sheets, sent off to be converted to punch paper tape and run through the room-sized computer.
I gave it up after a year - so tedious!

They had that in the 70s??? I know someone who did a degree in computing in the 80s and I thought that was pretty amazing! He said they were bloody huge!

I remember those maths books

How about cuisenaire rods for maths?

https://images.app.goo.gl/ZWeYYNtyDVHtromz5

Or a radio programme called maybe 'Singalong' ? Where you ummm sang along...

Cuisenaire

Two is still red for me...

Bowchic you can get marbling inks now!

Anyone remember the legendary ‘Through the Dragon’s Eye’? That evil crow thing ‘Charn’ gives me chills to this day!

Anyone remember The Boy From Space? Early 80s school tv

@zaphodbeeble yes!

We were allowed to make the coffees too once in P5. The staff room had so much smoke in it tou could have cut it with a knife. But such responsibility to make the hot drinks for the teachers.