Lessons you had in school that you’re not sure still happens

[Soubriquet]

I remember doing cookery, woodworking and something with a solder iron. I can still remember the smell of the solder burning.

I did those in year 7. I also remember having to rush to local supermarket with my parents cos I needed last minute ingredients for my cookery lessons

My dd is in year 8 but she doesn’t do any of these lessons

Marie Claire et Claudette! Also Flavia and Cornelia in Ecce Romani - don't think Latin is widely taught any more?

And at primary school gathering around the B & W TV to watch Picture Box or the reel to reel tape recorder to listen to Singing Together!

I also remember in primary school learning to read using some bizarre US scheme based on colours (spelt colors!). You did a test which gave you the level and you had to work through articles and questions to move up through the ranks. This was Scotland in the 70s.

Latin. I thought it was pointless and i would never have a need for it but now i am older and slightly wiser i know it wasn't a total waste of my time.

Sex ed in the 70s was designed to put you off. Films about STDs ( or ‘VD ‘ as it was known then) how it spreads, films on women giving birth and looking in pain, not sex Ed, but public information films about dying on train lines if you loitered on there ( the finishing line ‘ film was graphic) not doing anything that may cause you pain or death was hammered home. I often think it was a bit an experiment really , stop people doing anything! I am sure they don’t show those to teenagers anymore!

I made a an ashtray in metalwork.

I cut my finger badly on a circular saw in woodwork.

Both were around 1976, when I was 12.

I still have the ashtray.

Just googled - apparently it was 1992 that the law started to change and you couldn’t sell devices without a plug. I distinctly remember lots of plugs in my dads garage that he removed from any device he was throwing away because we would need them for new ones 😂

How to use a calculator in primary school - the tories decided this was unnecessary in 2014 and now children must work out calculations like 16536 divided by 47 manually.

most of what is mentioned on this thread should be taught in schools still - sewing is on the NC under DT fo example, and my y2 child made a puppet last term. Do secondary schools not have to teach DT in y7/8 any more??

Latin is largely gone, some grammars and private schools near me offer it . I didn’t learn any language in primary but that is now on the curriculum, but mostly taught badly as schools don’t have the money for specialists and the chances of all the KS2 teachers speaking the same language (given the mix of French/spanish/german taught at secondary) and being able to teach it effectively are low. I had extensive training in how to teach French and a good scheme of work and resources and tried really hard but still struggled.

My dh did Latin, but then he went to a half decent school in London ( not grammar, but not far off)
They barely taught ‘ the three R’’in my one! Lol

For my AC cookery became home economics and was also about marketing rather than feeding your loved ones. I was not best pleased!
Latin was a subject I did which I guess is less common now.

Child Development was aimed at students who were interested in a career with babies of children.

Woodwork/metal work/ textiles, etc all came under the umbrella of ‘CDT’ when I was at school. They still do these now as ´DT’.

In Home Economics we made/sewed cooking aprons from blue gingham fabric to wear for cookery the following term. (80s girls' school)

My child is in year 11 - did cooking (food tech) half the year and technology (wood work and soldering irons!) the other half, until year 9 then they decided to continue one or the other until GCSEs where they obviously choose their own subjects

I chose it too as a very academic student who wanted to do child psychology. I was pulled aside by a teacher and told to change it as it was 'not appropriate for someone like me, it was for those who would never aspire to be anything more than a mother or a nursery nurse'. I was shocked! I did it anyway, it was indeed an easy A*, but I loved learning attachment theory!

I remember in Primary School learning Tudor Dancing. I have no idea why but we seemed to do it a lot.
Also in primary, we were taken to (bear with me because this sounds insane, but it’s how I remember it) a model house.
We were taken upstairs by some fire officers and the house was filled with smoke, I’m guessing from a smoke machine.
We were then taught how to survive/escape a house fire.
My husband remembers doing it too. This would have been late 80s/early 90s.

Our home economics lessons in a 90s girls school were very traditional. We learned how to balance a housekeeping budget, how to wash up correctly, how to cook basic meals and meal plan, how to wear make up and how to iron correctly.

I don't think it goes that far, but Yr6sin my area have a day of various safety things taught by police, fire brigade etc.

We did a lot of Irish dancing. The teacher was Irish though. Also ‘ country dancing’
I bet they don’t do any of that now.

Yes I remember a similar conversation but I didn’t take the hint. I must admit I remember looking around the classroom thinking that I didn’t know anyone and being a bit scared of some of the more, shall we say, worldly girls? 😂

We had to watch a police dog take someone down who was running around the football pitch. The police dog was hanging off his arm which had been padded out a lot to stop him getting hurt. It was actually quite frightening, but not as scary as PE and cross country or hurdles !

At primary school, testing our directional hearing, by being blindfolded and pointing at somebody clapping, then doing the same again with one ear covered. Is this still done?

The police coming in to talk about their work, demonstrating handcuffs and fingerprints, and using a police dog to catch a burglar.

@OllyBJolly I remember Flavia and Cornelia in Ecce Romani, and the rebellious Sextus. Those stories really made it interesting!

In GCSE physics, an experiment to calculate the speed of a bullet, fired from an actual air rifle, in about 1995. Yes, really! Certain precautions were taken: the rifle was attached to a very large wooden base, and lots of safety screens were put around it while the experiment was done. I can't imagine this experiment being done now; although, the school did have a cadet force and did things like stripping guns, so I imagine there was some gun safety.

@EstoyRobandoSuCasa Yes, primary schools still do topic work. The one I volunteered in gets the children to research using ipads in the classroom, and once a term, they do individual presentations, often with a model, or a video (usually with a lot of parental help).

I think Tudor dancing wins the thread 😀

My dd did all of those (now in 20’s) dd2 did good tech gcse as well

@the80sweregreat That sounds very like what they demonstrated at my primary, with the police dog. The "robber" was one of the policemen dressed in brown, and they couldn't get the dog to let him go when it was meant to!

Still doing sewing in our primary school this year. DD made a stocking for the dog just before Christmas.

We had a man come in for a chat who was once in prison. He was a bit odd , answered a few questions and then disappeared again. I admit it put me off a life of crime , it sounded grim. He said it was for fraud I think , but a long time ago now.

No, the police dog really held on the this man. He was running around quite fast but the dog caught him and it was all quite scary really.
They really did try to get us to be model citizens I think