PE teachers inspecting pupils' feet - Unusual?

[noverrucasnowadays]

Something's just jogged my memories of the verruca checks we had in middle school (in the UK - late 90s/early 00s).

At the start of each new term we all had to sit on the gymhall floor in queues, shuffling forward one by one on our bums to have our feet inspected. The teachers sat on chairs at the head of the hall, wearing gloves, and we had to extend one foot at a time to them for examination.

The context was that all indoor PE lessons were expected to take place barefoot, unless you (at the beginning of term ) had a verruca, in which case you were allowed to wear plimsolls or trainers.

To me it feels (and felt) really quite strange.

For all I know though, it wasn't uncommon at all. Now I'm really curious!

Help me out fellow MNers... Did this happen at any of the schools you attended?

I've NC for this, just in case it turns out that the only UK middle school this happened at was my one!! :). Thanks for your time.

We didn't have this but we did have the scoliosis check which I remember because the teacher said we had to "strip down to our bras" and I (as a late developer) wasn't wearing one. To be honest PE lessons in the 1980s were just one humiliation after another.

We had to do most things barefoot and in our navy blue knickers
I remember doing PE in white vest and black/navy knickers. Can't remember any foot inspections though.

I couldn't imagine DC doing PE in knickers now. It seems such a strange thing to do now.

Never happened at my school ~mid -late 90’s

Never, and I was at secondary school 92-97.

Completely normal for me and my schools (both primary and secondary)
Obviously only for swimming or anything in bare feet.

Yes we had termly verruca checks in the 1970s

I remember the scoliosis check ! Also the nit nurse - nitty Nora, the bug explorer

Yup, before swimming and gymnastics. Late 70s/early 80s.

Yes, we had the verruca inspection regularly. This was in the nineteen-seventies, though.

Didn't prevent me getting a verruca, mind. Then again, I was dim enough to lend my pumps to someone else.

Yes before swimming and gym. Would have been early to mid 80s.

Yep.

We were the big comp with a swimming pool!

Yes we did before gymnastics. Early 00s

Primary school age in the 60's here. Yes to the foot inspection. We also had 'Nitty Norah once a term, who also inspected our hands/feet and the nails on both. Plus we had to open our mouths for her to have a good look at the innards. I remember one of my class mates being sent home with nits, and her coming back to school the next week with all her lovely long blond hair shaved off, and wearing a white swimming cap type thing. With the lack of basic hygiene knowledge in most families, this was standard practice. ?Horrific!

We also had an NHS dentist visit the school once a term to check our teeth. We would dread being given a pink slip of paper which meant we would need further treatment at the dental surgeries!

Standard of living/hygiene for a lot of people then was a lot lower than it is now. EG

• baths once a week with a lot of family sharing the same water. Outside loos or nearly as ours was in the outer passage by the back door opposite the coal house. Dark and freezing in winter....no encouragement to wash hands. Not many had washing machines....we had a basic one with a hand turned mangle, which was my job to turn. No central heating and so often woke to find thick ice on the inside of my bedroom door in Winter. Chest complaints abounded. Poor clothing and poor food (usually not enough) was also prevalent

Looking back I think that these health professionals and their diligence helped to improve standards of children's health enormously..

No inspection for PE, we did it in pumps. But if we could show we had a verucca we could get out of a shower after gym. Early 90's

Ugh navy gym knickers
Made it look obvious when you had a brick in your pants
Why didn’t our mums complain ,and at least get us skirts to go over
..so humiliating

In 1980s UK we had to have showers at school and did pe in knickers type garment (like elasticated navy granny knickers) and short navy pleated skirt that only folded over at front (hence opened) and barefoot. No jumper allowed and it was freezing.
The showers were merciless. Imagine forcing teenagers to get naked now and laughing when they attacked each other by flicking towels. They should be in prison.

I'm in my 40s and I've not done any sport since.

I hope there are pe teachers on here hanging their heads in shame that they've put a whole planet off sport.

Skirts over gym knickers in the 80s???
Not in my school sadly

Yes at beginning of every term.

@ConcentricCircles exactly the same as you.
We had a pocket in our navy blue school knickers too. Just a square patch type. Never did know what that was for.

We had those pleated skirts over gym knickers in the 80's, ours were grey and hideous. Also aertex PE blouses and vast amounts of impulse body spray

Yes! We did. We had to kneel up and hold onto the changing benches with our soles presented for inspection. I’d totally forgotten!

yes I remember that. and she asked a lot of questions if I had a plaster on my foot (for a verruca). I remember how odd that seemed at the time.

Yes, we had the foot check too, every term- they also used to pull the toes apart to check for athlete's foot.

Gym was performed in an Aertex blouse tucked into large green knickers with pocket (for one's hanky ) at the first school I was at. For games we wore wool culotte-type shorts, which chafed between the legs in cold winters

You were supposed to wear your big green knickers under your tennis skirt too, and I got into Big Trouble for neglecting to do so one year...(They didn't worry about basically admitting they looked at your pants back then)

This was in the 70s.

I don't remember verruca checks. We did have to do PE in our underwear in infant school, and older if we'd forgotten kit. I was very self conscious about it. Some things do change for the better! At least by the 00's schools (well mine at least!) didn't make you shower naked after PE. That would have been really traumatising!

Oh and yes to the Nit Nurse too.

I liked the Nit Nurse- 'twas like having someone playing with your hair.