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?

@tobee think this was the famous 'cough and wobble'

Started primary in the 70s seems like such a different world to nowadays. Small bottle of milk every day which I hated and was often warm. Morning assemblies. School gates were wide open all the time anyone could could come and go. You could go out to the sweet shop at lunch time. Was so much more freedom. The belt/strap was in use I avoided it just thank goodness...I was threatened with being hit with the belt for talking too much. Can you imagine 😳that seems so severe now. School had a TV that was wheeled in on a stand.

Hymn practice! I remember that.

scuffing the Izal waterproof toilet paper on your hand to make it slightly less scratchy and marginally more absorbent. 😂

Have mentioned the BT 1p/2p to check the time

I mentioned the Speaking Clock (Talking Tim... imagine the horror when it changed to a woman!) to my children not that long ago. They looked at me as if I was bonkers.

Just remembered the nit nurse

I am so pleased that so many posters not only remember ITA but can still read it!!

had forgotten the pastel anodised aluminium cups and the public footpaths through school grounds walking the dogs.

I used that SRA system in one primary school I went to, couldn’t see the point of it but was just blindly following instructions

My brother's school had the slipper for younger children and a split cane for older ones.

Started primary in the late 70s. Also remember the big TV screen being wheeled around the classrooms. My favourite educational programme we watched back then (early 80s) was ‘Dark Towers’. Anyone else remember it?

I remember a classmate cracking their head open on the concrete large tubal outdoor equipment we used to play on 😅. I’m sure it wasn’t long after that schools had a rethink and banned all concrete play apparatus.

I think I'm a bit weird coz I liked the warm milk!
Ds in nursery got give milk cartons from a broken fridge and was always puking up everywhere

Has anyone been as sad as me and looked at Pinterest or eBay and found images of some of this stuff? Can become quite Proustian.

Demountable classrooms

I started in Reception in 1980 but have very vivid memories.
I really struggled to settle (my ASD wasn't picked up until I was much older).
The one thing that helped me was my mum waving to me through the window after she had left me in the classroom.
One day I rushed to the window to wave to her. The teacher pulled me back by the sleeve of my jumper and waved her finger at me telling me never to do that (wave to my mum) again.
The next day she had put cardboard in the window to stop me looking out. I remember it as clear as anything. 😥

Were demountable the same as 'terrapins'? I think the prefabricated classroom buildings were called terrapins by the teachers here.

In primary school, so about 1975 me and another girl had to collect all the teachers coffee cups, take them to the staff room, wash up and make them fresh drinks and carry them round on a tray back to the teachers in the classroom. There were usually complaints from the ones last to receive theirs as they only had half a cup - we dropped loads as we went from room to room. I was a good girl which is why I was picked to do it. It was seen as a privilege not to be in the classroom. No way would that be acceptable now.

I recall the treatment and awareness of ND children was terrible. Deaf children too were encouraged to be sent to other schools. Safeguarding and H and S too.

Children used as gofers for aa day out of class in secondary now and see it as a treat and privilege so perhaps some things don't change. Less of a focus on exams perhaps linked to the expectation of jobs before the 1980s deindustrialisation and recession.

I remember these!!

We did swimming in the gym. Actually learned the breast stroke standing on one leg. I can still do the exact movement now.

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

We may or may not have (we did!), "accidently on purpose" threw them at the horrible teacher we had in 4th year primary. We always said a humble "sorry miss" which just about kept us out of the head's office.

Maxaluna I also remember the SRa and orange maths books. I started primary in 1976 in small village school. By the late 70s early eighties as per a previous poster uptrend, it seemed to be the fashion to let us choose our learning for the day. In one class we roated round the subject tables and in another we just chose what to do that day.
I did SRA as I loved working through the colours. And we got to do our own projects. For me that just meant I read books as much as I could in class.
Did sewing age 7, made a wee apron I still have. Knitted a Teddy same age. But wanted to do the model making the boys were taken to do.
Big field with cows or maybe pigs? ..after dinner time the left overs got thrown over the wall by a p7 that got the job for the week.
P7s checked hands for cleanness as we walked into dinner hall.
8 kids at a table with p7s bringing the meals to the table.
P7 was crap, I remember doing times tables and a project on the world Cup or European finals or something that was it.
Frequently sent home as the boiler was broken or the weather was bad. We'd walk home together in a big huddle in a storm. No adults.
TV being wheeled into class.
Teacher sending us out to run round playground a million times as she couldn't control us.
Crazy times.

I think schools in the 70s were very much for the completely physically able (for want of a better term) and presumably everyone else went to an entirely separate school?

It was a big deal when I went to secondary school in the 80s and a kid in a wheelchair and a kid in callipers started along with the rest of us.

Also, dyslexia was just about recognised but everyone else was thick, a daydreamer, weird or naughty

I was born in 1969 and started school in 1974

we were the pilot year in our area for ITA what a peculiar thing that was

remember wooden benches wooden sea saws wooden playhouse pe in knickers and vest great big wooden bars to climb
assembly every day
school dinners no such thing as packed lunches
outdoor pool that was freezing
climbing frame no such thing as health and safety
if you had special needs you went on bus to special needs school no matter how minor inclusive education was unheard of
if you struggled to read and write you went to remedial class every day dyslexia unheard of
tv would be wheeled in black and white to watch selected childrens education programmes
if you were naughty and a boy you got six of the best with a came girls didnt get this
in the juniors girls learnt sewing with headmistress boys woodwork with one Male teacher
exams at end of year where you were placed in the class was read out for all to hear
we had milk in a little bottle in morning and orange squash in the afternoon we were all encouraged to bring an apple in for morning playtime no free fruit
jobs in last year of junior school included doing the teachers shopping in nearby high street alone at 11
and doing the washing up in staff room sometimes they would leave us a left over cake