Anyone at school during the 1970s? Memories?

[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?

Tuck shops selling sweets Jamie Oliver would have a fit

jam rollypoly with custard for pudding

celebrating the queens 25th jubilee

Warm milk in a blue triangle carton 🤮

I was just thinking of the Christmas times when we were at school in 1972/3 and as boys we were told P.E was cancelled and along with the girls we had to learn how to dance, WITH GIRLS, dance's like Bradford Barn rings a bell but I might be wrong, This was Wharrier Street Junior school in Walker Newcastle upon Tyne,

72-79. School was taught as it had been for years before. Strict on uniform but training shoes weren't a thing then. Almost everyone arrived by bus. Can't remember snacks being eaten but there was a tuck shop which I didn't frequent. But it was limited in opening and stock.fountain pens were the norm. School was 9-4. People brought records in,usually boys and the records were loaned around. Rock bands like The Who or Yes. Bowie and Bolan were popular with both sexes but Bryan Ferry/Russell Mael (Sparks) and Steve Harley appealed to the girls. Top of the Pops was always discussed on Friday am. Class was always boys one side, girls the other. We were streamed from the 3rd year. Some were just brighter and they would be taking O levels a year earlier and poss going to Oxbridge. The rest would going to good universities eg Bristol or Sheffield. Lancaster was regarded as an easy option. An E in General Studies would get you in. Think it's top 15 now.

The 11+ was still a thing in South Wales in 1971. Everyone sat it as routine- it wasn't just children of the tiger mothers who could afford all the extra tuition. Kids who passed it went to grammar school, kids who didn't went to a "secondary modern" school. To give some indication of the spilt, in my area there was one grammar school and four secondary moderns.

Uniform policy was very strict, and still a bit Mallory Towers - we wore tunics with a blouse underneath, a tie, a beret and a mackintosh or duffel coat. We also wore dresses with navy knickers for PE, and all had to share a communal shower afterwards, naked.

The timetable was in four chunks of 2 x 40 min lessons. So two lessons/break/two lessons/lunch/two lessons/break/two lessons/home. As we got older, we used to have "double periods" (80 mins of the same lesson) and in 6th form we occasionally had a whole morning or afternoon of the same subject.

School finished at ten past four. Most of us walked to and from school, though there were school buses for kids from further out.

We also learned Latin from the first form up to starting our O Levels.

I remember being taught how to make 'posh' cheese and tomato sandwiches in domestic science. If I remember correctly,it entailed mixing grated cheese with tomato ketchup. I remember thinking at the time 'WTAF?!'. This must have been around 1977.

Funny. The person who invented it must have thought ketchup was an upmarket version of fresh tomatoes