School in the 1970s

[Malie]

Was chatting to a friend who also went to school in the 1970s. We agree they were quite different to now. Anyone else go to school then?

Born 1973 here, bottled milk with straws, cane as a punishment. p.e in vests and pants. Sitting cross-legged on the floor in assembly every morning. Singing in assembly, morning has broken and a song called were you there?

Wide range reader books

Drinking what from a bottle?

Late 70s. I remember an occasion when a boy who wouldn't stay at sitting his desk was tied to his chair with rope. Imagine the outcry if that happened now! It would probably be on the front page of the Daily Mail.

we were put over the teacher’s knee a few times in primary school.

Haha, I completely forgot about P.E. in knickers.
We had "nit wash" at the beginning of each term, where everyone had their hair washed with some very smelly liquid.
I also remember that all the girls at 12 were summoned by the biology teacher. We were shown a short film of a woman giving birth (camera at the business end), which was horrific. I think that was our sex education. This was early 80s.

Yeah, the pirates were Roderick the Red, Gregory the Green and Benjamin the Blue. All operating their piracy empire from the island of Acrooacree. When you finished those books (I think that there were 12 in the series, becoming more difficult in sequence) it was on to the good old ‘Wide range readers’ books.

I remember knocking on the staff room door with a message for a teacher, and the fag smoke nearly knocking me out when they opened it!

Also, the Headmaster used to look in on every class to say hello to the kids whilst smoking a pipe. The smell was strangely comforting 😄

I bet the same headmaster would cane any kid he found smoking!

@Iamthewombat I can read ITA!

They taught it when I started school, but as I could already read I went straight on to TO! I've never met anyone else who has a clue about it.

I think boys got the slipper at my primary and girls weren't hit.

i was a goody two shoes so I don't really know though - perhaps I should ask my older brothers 😂

there were rumours of "the slipper" at secondary but I don't remember any concrete episode of corporal punishment.

I am another one who remembers ITA, the Initial Teaching Alphabet.
Wide Ranger books, SRA, Dolphin books.
Boys got caned, slipper for girls.
Teachers hurling chalk or the board rubbers.
Staffroom filled with smoke.

Today they would find out he had ADHD. Looking back, the Naughty Boy in my primary class very clearly had it but it wasn't really a thing in the 70s.

There was certainly things one wouldn’t want to go back to. There is certainly far more understanding of children now which is a thing we should be grateful for. On the other hand there is far less discipline and far more indulgence.

Ha, good times.
Nitty Nora the head explorer
Warm milk
No sunscreen
No uniform
A single teacher, no TAs
PE in vest and knickers
Bay City Rollers
I also remember a brass band coming to school and playing Eye Level.

Ahhhh happy days

Went to infant school in '68.
Girls played separately from the boys... only be cause the school was an old Victorian one and the playground couldn't be opened up from the old boy/girl split from decades before.
It clearly never occurred to the LEA /Head to just split year groups but maybe the classroom structure wouldn't allow it.

At my secondary school, all pupils sat on the floor for daily assemblies unless you were in the sixth form.
As soon as the weather got cold, it was cross-country running time. Unsupervised, I might add.

Loved our school dinners. The very best chicken and vegetable pie I've ever tasted was made by Cook, on site, as well as the best mashed potatoes... one scoop for lower school, two scoops for upper school.

We all had to take practical subjects for a couple of years. Boys did Metalwork, Woodwork and Technical Design.
Girls did needlework and Domestic Science.
Very sexist, I know.
Wish these subjects were taught across the board now.
And properly taught, not like today.

Ooh gypsy tart and half an apple for pudding

I bet the same headmaster would cane any kid he found smoking!

Well to be fair, it was a Primary school! 😂

Point taken! A rather genial picture then!

I didn’t have a PE kit so had to do it in my knickers and vest.

School dinners. Nice. Chocolate sauce on chocolate sponge.

Being designated to take the register to the office every morning and lunch time.

Peter & Jane ladybird books. Having to go up to teachers desk to read aloud to them.

Fire drills in the playground.

Out in all weather at play time except wet play.

Last day of term bringing in a toy from home.

Sitting on the floor at assembly and having classical music played as we all filed in. Having to name the song and composer.

Being ravenously starving ALL THE TIME, being miserable and unhappy due to DV at home. No one noticing.

The smelly kid, the bruised kid, the kid with the dirty clothes, no one noticing.

Concrete playgrounds with no health and safety.
Low fences - we spoke to many strangers from 4+ years old.
Gates always open, many entrances to just leave from.
Huge red berry bush in infants playground, we were told not to eat them, older kids would hurl them at you.
Pretending to be a seed growing into a tree for p.e.
Cane for boys, slipper for girls.
Being allowed to bring bin bags to use on hills as sleds during winter.
Not allowed to go to the toilet by certain teachers.
Not allowed to sniffle if you had a cold.
Sewing for girls, some mystery activity for boys.
Period talk for girls, mystery talk for boys.
Teachers pushing, pulling, flinging kids about.
Horrible little bottles of milk.
Watching “Picture Box” on a tv that was inside a giant cabinet with wheels.

As soon as the weather got cold, it was cross-country running time. Unsupervised, I might add.

which is why we identified a tree, part way round the two lap course through the woods, which we could climb and wait til the others passed on their second lap 😂

Infant school from ‘75. Tiny Victorian village school, freezing cold in the winter. Playing ‘what time is it mr wolf’ in the playground at break time, and doing impressions of Margaret Thatcher and singing songs from Grease. Dinner ladies being on strike and having to take packed lunch. Sitting on the floor for story time at the end of the day. I LOVED the milk, everyone who hated it gave me theirs! Those little beanbags you got in PE - I can’t remember what we did with them!? And yes, the ‘apparatus’!

Those little beanbags you got in PE - I can’t remember what we did with them!?

threw them for "catch", ran along with them balanced on our heads, threw them into a hoop on the floor...

There was only one boy who had packed lunches; everyone else ate the school dinner where there was no choice. I still think that was a good thing because it encouraged you to eat something you might not try otherwise. Having said that, quite early on I managed to be table monitor, doling out the food and able to get as much or, more importantly, as little I wanted. Dinner ladies patrolled to make sure you ate up.

Also, in my lower school, so 5 to 8 years old, we had 5 & 6 year olds together and then 7 & 8 together in a class. Most of the learning was independent. Good I'm that you learnt to be independent. Bad in that, with 1 teacher only, we spent a lot of time queuing to speak to the teacher at their desk.

No National curriculum.