How often did your school bring out… The Apparatus?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

My school very rarely opened it out. My primary school didn’t have a hall until I got to year 5 and in those last two years I spent at primary, they brought out the apparatus maybe once that I can recall. It was brand new, why didn’t they use it more?!

But my husband said they always used to have it out at his school!

Loads at mine. Was so jealous of the kids who could climb the rope

Never

It was a pretty rare and very special event at my school.

Loads (early 80’s), I loved it !

Loads.
We'd have 2 PE lessons a week. One was outside (if possible) and the other inside and we'd have the apparatus out about 90% of the time inside.

The only times we didn't have it out was when the stage was set up because there wasn't then space. That happened about once a term for 1-2 weeks.

I was hopeless at climbing the ropes though.

I think you mean the BIG apparatus 😄
When I was teaching (80s/90s) the big apparatus was timetabled for half a term each term. The setting up and putting away took time so it was set up so all classes used it during the designated half term. First teacher had to set up, and teacher of last class before lunch had to put it all back. Kids loved it! More of a nightmare for teachers as in those days we didn't have TAs.

During the whole of my primary years, I remember it being out about twice. I was desperate to have a swing on the ropes! One occasion we were doing circuits around the hall with several bits of other equipment (I mainly remember the bench turned up so use as a beam). When it got to my group to go on The Apparatus, the teacher blew her whistle to signal it was the end of the session, I was so disappointed.

One of my early memories is climbing on the apparatus in my knickers and vest in the school hall. I don’t recall having it in junior school (years 3 - 6).

Hardly ever. The benches were used often and the paper thin blue mats, but The Apparatus hardly ever came out.

This thread is the first time I've realised that it isn't just some sort of school decoration - like having children's art on the walls and a map of the world - but actually has purpose and is meant to be used...

We got to use it frequently and I used to get it out for my own classes when I became a teacher. I even used to demonstrate how to safely climb over the top ladder and back down the other side. I don't think I would fit through the space nowadays!

Hardly ever, unfortunately. Don’t know if it’s the case in most primaries but our gym hall also doubled as the dining hall, assembly hall etc, and it took up a lot of space so I suspect that’s why as it was probably a lot of hassle putting it all away constantly

Ooh loads - I loved that! And yes we had to do in vest and knickers too ! (In the 70’s) 🤣

Never, after my best friend fell off it and broke her arm.

Never. Not even once. And I really REALLY wanted to use it. I suspect I might have been more sporty if we’d been allowed to climb, or really do anything other than netball.

It's actually super easy, barely an inconvenience. 4 bolts in the floor and a tightening lever attached to some thin ropes. It takes about 2 mins to set up and the same to push it back.

Hahaha what a blast from the past! THE APPARATUS

In primary. A LOT. But our school was newly built and the hall didn’t double up as the lunch space.
High school had an older building with gym apparatus plus an upper building with a proper sports facility so had a gym with weights.
Ive never been able to climb a rope!
Now it strikes me as odd that a flimsy looking wall mounted thing pegged into a parquet floor could hold so many kids- and with only one teacher supervising?!!

I can still remember the weird feeling of seeing the hall from the top of the ladder. Weirdly close to the big hymn sheets that had to be hauled up by a cord by special hymn sheet monitors that I was jealous of.

Never, neither at primary nor secondary school. Even worse was the secondary school and a huge storage room of all kinds of sports equipment, such as table tennis tables, huge trampolene, various gymnastic benches/rails etc. mats etc, which were never used either. PE/Gym was always something simple like netball. Even as a teen, I despaired at the amount of money wasted on loads of equipment that we never got to use.

Primary School in the 80s = every week.
We had to make up a little routine using every piece of equipment out and took turns to "perform" it.
I hated the performing part and would always try to hide behind one of the bigger pieces.
Secondary = possibly once in 5 years 😂
The boys used it quite a lot though. I don't know why the girls didn't. We just seemed to fanny around doing star jumps on the mats for our gymnastics lessons from what I can remember.

Ooh yes all the time - 1970s/80s. Also the 'horses' and the beams, well I think that's what they were called though sounds a bit odd now. Lots of bean bags and medicine balls (!?) too!

❤️ The Apparatus ❤️

Every week for PE. I could climb the ropes and also had red painful friction burns on my inner thighs from sliding down them.

My friend used to immediately climb to the top of the rope, let go and hang upside down from the rope clamped between her legs for the full five minutes we had on the ropes while a teacher on the ground, unable to reach her, fretted.

My children's school had one when they started, with a sign saying "Dangerous Do Not Use" on it. Looked great in background of the Nativity play and all assemblies. 😂

Never enough! The ropes were the BEST 😂. Oh, happy days!

Mid 90s - I remember it well. Rebecca was the only one who could climb the rope all the way to the top. The rest of us just sort of pottered about on the hoops and ladders.