Memories of secondary school in the 70s (or thereabouts)

[waltzingparrot]

Pink custard and Spam Fritters (not together)

Budgie Jackets

Smoking in the toilets at breaktime (with lookout)

There was a phase of piercing friends' ears with a safety pin in the corridors (any old safety pin, no antiseptic) If you were lucky, they'd agree to do it at the weekend with an ice cube behind it.

Bomb Alerts - always seemed to be piling out to line up on the school field - garrison town.

But best best memories of packed lunches on the school field with your friends in all that glorious sunshine.

Essex 74-79

We had a very 'loose' uniform as long as you had the correct colour skirt , shirt and cardigan .
Polo neck jumper under shirt in the winter .
Shirt undone to second button with really wide school tie .
'Simon' shirts in summer .
Platform shoes as high as you dared .
Followed by a fashion for chunky flat black shoes worn with blue knee socks around 1979.
Hairstyles from Charlie's Angels.
Lots of hairspray .
Blue eye shadow and lipgloss (I remember the roller ball gloss not sure if this was school or college ) .
Jackie and Mates magazine .
Long stripey socks to keep our legs warm in PE.
I remember the bay city rollers song , think I was a bit younger (middle school)
We had lunchtime disco's at middle school .
Making tea for the teachers and washing up afterwards to skive lessons .
Covering our school books with pictures of our favourite pop and TV stars. I had Starsky and Hutch on mine .
Being mortified as being refused entry to see Saturday Night fever when I was 14 attempting to look 18.

Late 1970s

People used to call the fire brigade from the pay phone under the stairs at our school

@CovidClara

The boys asking ‘What size do you take?’ all the time.

And you answering innocently a size 6. Then they’d all collapse with laughing😮😁

White high heels. BIG hair created by HUGE can of hair spray! Teacher throwing wooden blackboard eraser at pupil’s head and making it bleed. Smoking in toilets. Zero pressure to sit exams......not like the pressure kids are under nowadays. Kids being bullied by teachers as much as pupils. Warm, sunny weather. Junk food for school dinners. Blue eyeshadow. Heather Shimmer lipstick. Sexist lessons, boys could only take woodwork and metalwork and girls studied Food & Nutrition or sewing.

Being given sweets by the headteacher (a nun in full habit) when caught smoking.

Not being allowed to drink cans in public as it was common and brought the school into disrepute.

Being made to stretch up to turn on the showers and being watched by the openly gay female PE teachers, who all lived with each other, as in relationships and were forever telling us so. (Convent girls’ school)

The French teacher going round the A level class telling us which girl he found most attractive. 🤮

Polyvelt shoes - like Cornish pasties, with over knee cream socks held by elastic.
Split skirts.
Silky polo neck under your school shirt.
Communal showers ugh.
Cross country where they’d just tell you where to run and hope you got back in time for the end of the lesson. We’d all walk then stand on the motorway bridge waving at lorries
Staff room full of smoke.
Pub full of teachers and 6th formers at lunchtime.
Boys got the cane, girls got the slipper.
Those fruit flavoured lip glosses in the glass bottles with a roller.
Shrinking crisp bags in the oven to make badges.
Making holes in your ruler with tippex.
“Training” your hair to flick with hair grips.
Really bloody awful perms.

Late 70s early 80s.

Hated school. Apart from the school dinners that is! I used to have seconds and sometimes thirds. There were a group of us that couldn't say no! We were almost feral when food was dished out. I can only speak for myself when I say I was not denied of food at home and can now only wonder how I managed to eat a dinner at home too in the evening (both my dad and I eyeing up any leftover spuds!).

Gypsy tart was my favourite pud!