WTF moments from childhood

[Lyannaa]

I vividly remember sitting in a circle at primary school and playing a game (facilitated by teachers). It was a variation on ‘spin the bottle’ and this boy named the girl he wanted to kiss. The feeling was not mutual from her end and she began running around and around the circle, trying to evade both the boy and the disgraceful teachers trying to hold her down. Vile. How was this a thing? All I remember was sitting there thinking ‘thank goodness this isn’t me’.

This was 1989…

Primary school in the 80s - probably about aged 10? School show where we were can-can dancers - had fishnets, rara skirts & leotards - we all bent over the lifted our skirts at the end!

While we’re remembering PE knickers…

At my girls school we had special large pants with a double layer in the back for PE. They were a special shade of mid-blue, and for sport we wore them with little matching blue wrap-over skirts.

Except we took part in an (civic?) event held in Blackpool Tower Circus (in the ring, not as part of the circus!), when the blue pants were replaced by bright red ones so they showed when we did tumbles etc.

I thought it was fun then but take a different view now.

At the international school in a hot climate that my kids went to, they had two sets of uniform: one smarter one, and one 'PE uniform' which they wore all day - on days they had PE. No wasting time getting 25 4 year olds to change!

Having to get showered after PE with all the girls, there were no shower curtains to separate each girl, it was just one big shower room, no privacy and the female teacher stood at the door watching.

i remember one day i was meant to have swimming but my period came on, i told a female teacher I couldn’t go swimming she told me to tell a male teacher I had my period (I was 13), and he shouted at me in front of the class saying just because I had my period didn’t mean I shouldn’t be taking part in PE and should have brought my short. I got slagged horrendously after that by the boys, that I seriously considered taking my own life.

I also remember the teacher throwing the chalkboard rubber with the big wooden bit on it at us children, one boy was hit on his head with it, and it burst his head open.

I remember reading about experiences of PE in primary school stopped women from playing and enjoying sport for life.

I remember being 16, and me and my mate wrote to a record label to see if we could interview a local indie band lead singer for our school magazine. School agreed, both me and my pal went to this bloke’s house on our own to interview him. Sat in his lounge having a cup of tea and some Jaffa cakes taking about the local music scene. He gave us a signed copy of his book each. Absolute gentleman, could’ve been so much worse!

I'm an 80's kid, so many horrors I could tell you!

Getting changed for PE in the classroom with boys until Primary 7 (10/11 year old).

Girls being allowed to get changed for PE in the toilets in Primary 7 but boys still getting changed in the classroom.

Primary 2 teacher (1985/86) had a man's belt in her handbag and used to threaten us with it. I can't imagine it was ever legal in 1985 to threaten 5/6 year old kids like that.

My Grandad's friend giving me homemade sherry to drink when I was at his house, probably around 6 years old at the time.

What would be yr6 primary now, girls had to go into the staff room after each break and lunch and wash and dry up the crockery.

To be honest, I loved it, being in the otherwise forbidden space. Guessing whose cup was whose ( mainly we got the women due to the lipstick)
Emptying ashtrays was boak. 😬

Having a poke around and being nosy. Being out of the classroom. 👍

Looking back though, it was clearly a role for girls only. 🙄

Not as dramatic as many but I remember getting confused on a counting excersise in year 2 (age 6?l

I went ninety-nine, twenty! Out loud

The teacher told me my face looked rude and wrong and I was scared of maths ever since

At school camp aged 11/12 we had to strip down for showers in the main changing area and then the teachers told us to get into a shower with a partner for 2 minutes when they'd abruptly swing the door open. You had to have a shower every day, you couldn't wear swimwear and the teachers would pick the girl you were showering with so you couldn't just choose a friend.

The only person allowed to use a cubicle to change was the one girl who had her period -- and everyone knew this was the reason she could use a cubicle.

My classmate dating a teacher when we were 16
He's still teaching, they're still together now 26 years later

We had to sit boy girl in 4th year junior with 2 at each desk. We never had to do PE in our underwear. But we did have to get changed next to the boy's.

Some of these are but mine is just silly.

I remember being in the playground (well, the field, in summer) and playing some game where we would all sit in a circle around another child, who would be lying on the ground, and sing some kind of chant, then we would each put one finger under the child and somehow we would be able to lift them up in the air. I was convinced it was magic. I don't know now whether I was simply very caught up in an imaginary game or there is some kind of phenomenon which allows that to happen, similar to how ouija boards work maybe (where you move the glass but aren't aware you're doing it).

In PE lessons at my 1980s primary school, the teacher would ask the two best netball players, Sarah and Claire, to take turns in selecting girls to be in their teams.

It was alway the same three girls who were picked last. The very last girl to be picked, every time, was physically disabled and had a club foot. So inappropriate!

Haha we did this as well. The chant was something like 'light as a feather' repeated 😆

There was a young female teacher at my high school in California - it was a small school in a small town.
She drove a small, odd car, one we had never seen before - it sloped down the front & back exactly the same.
This teacher had a terrible temperament - she’d yell at her students and even throw things. She was not popular.
One day, a group of boys picked up her car and moved it to the middle of four connecting benches - it was trapped there for days until they got a crane to lift it out.
They had to get a giant crane lol.

We were forced to sing in front of the class to see if we good enough to be in the school choir, marks given out of 10.

It started with something like, "This is the power of levitation.....". Can't remember the rest.

We did the lifting a child on the finger thing too

I'd totally forgotten about it

It worked, bizarrely

In the last year of senior school our form tutor was a pe teacher and he was very laid back. A week before we left school he took us all up the pub one lunch time and we all got pissed then went back to school. This was 1985.

We did it too but ours was more disturbing. The child at the laying down child's head told a story, didn't matter what you made it up, but at the end of the story the one laying down died. Everyone round the child went round the circle one at a time repeating "then you died/it killed you" and then we lifted them up because they'd supposedly become lighter as their soul got tricked and started to rise up to heaven.

We did something in tutor set once where the boys had to line the girls up in order of popularity. Fuck knows why

Also in home economics we had to go around in a mixed class at age 14 and state in turn how old we were when we started our period. I did gymnastics and hadn’t started mine. Mortifying.

im 50 so this was late 80s

i was at primary school from 1982-1989 aged 4-11 and i clearly remember that we were ranked at the end of the year after doing exams, I was always either 1 or 2 with another girl but they went on to 30. Can you imagine how the poor sods felt who were right at the bottom?

would never be allowed now.

my dc are 13 and 21 and both went to my primary school and when I told them about the above they were horrified.

how times have changed. Thankfully.

My eyes just popped out at this! Jesus!!

My dcs school publishes all exam results in descending order..