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1982 school medical exams

19 replies

Ukguy101 · 24/07/2026 22:01

Hi all
Hoping someone can help me put a difficult memory together.

Year was 1982
I was 7
Location Essex

Tihis was some form of extended school medical exam.
I had forms to complete
Happened after school
Took perhaps 30 mins

Was deffinatly NOT the standard quick once over every one got all together as a group

This was a 1-1 type thing my mother was there too.

Ring any bells for anyone....
Please its driving me nuts..
There are some other details ive not included ...

Kr
P

OP posts:
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Pearlstillsinging · 24/07/2026 22:04

I would have expected the parent to fill in the forms, not the child. Could the 'forms' have been some kind of assessment themselves, e.g., which shape comes next in this pattern?

scalt · 24/07/2026 22:09

With my vivid memory of childhood, I remember this “medical” at school. I was 5 or so, my mum was there too. Things I remember about it were:
The doctor using a stethoscope.
Asking me if I knew certain colours in French, just after i’d mentioned going to France.
The doctor looking at me through a tiny hole in a piece of paper, saying “I can see you through this little hole, you can’t see me”.
Eyesight test.

I also remember lots of routine eye tests, hearing tests, dental check, head lice checks all happening at school.

Ukguy101 · 24/07/2026 22:23

Yeah no sight or vision tests included here often ran separatly i understand.

Hoping to find someone with a simmilar memory.
Pretty sure there were 2 pieces of a4 to wrire on but it was so long ago i dont recall exactly think there were some sums ..

Other details of the test are deeply peronal id prefer to do over IM or email with someone.

OP posts:
tsmainsqueeze · 24/07/2026 22:29

I remember having a 'medical' in secondary school and feeling self conscious about it , i seem to recall thinking it wasn't much of a medical and couldn't see the point but didn't have a 'voice' then to refuse.
No parents there and no memory of filling in paper work.
I know it was secondary because i can vividly remember the room and the area of the school it was in, i think i was 11/12 ish.

MrsMoastyToasty · 24/07/2026 23:14

I was in my middle teens by 1982. The only medical things I remember happening at school was the rubella and flu jabs.

Ukguy101 · 25/07/2026 08:26

Yeah this was in part very much a guy thing if you understand.

OP posts:
Ukguy101 · 25/07/2026 08:28

I think this was some kind of combined referal. But was never placed into special measures etc...

OP posts:
Shinyandnew1 · 25/07/2026 08:29

Was it a ‘put your testicles in the doctors hand and cough’ type of examination? That’s not my experience but I’m not a man.

modgepodge · 25/07/2026 08:34

Is there a chance you participated in some sort of medical/psychological study? They may have asked the school to recruit participants and done the study at the school.

MorningCoffeeAfternoonTea · 25/07/2026 09:01

I remember having this too! I had to hop on one leg 🤣 Not sure but I think the headmistress and school nurse did mine? Memory test, eye chart thing, that same peepy hole thing through the tissue described above… Plus standard tooth check, hearing check, nit nurse, etc.

lanthanum · 28/07/2026 23:30

Back then there were some individual medicals - I know I had a couple. The second was because they picked up a heart murmur at the first; I don't know why the first - maybe it was because I was very underweight, or maybe it was those on free school meals. Parents were invited, but for one of mine they hadn't received the letter, and the nurse got into trouble because she didn't check with me that my mum knew about it.

Changeisstillpossible · 28/07/2026 23:32

I remember having a medical exam in the 80s- being weighed and asked about my periods.

I don't know what medical the boys had.

NeatJoker · 28/07/2026 23:38

I think I know what you’re getting at. I remember a 1 to 1 medical with my mum present and GP from local surgery. Would have been mid 80s and I think a similar age. I remember being deeply embarrassed and ashamed for years not really understanding why the doctor had to look at me. Nothing untoward happened but it was so confusing

Edited to add: I am female and this was a medical at school. Boys had one too.

VivienneDelacroix · 28/07/2026 23:42

I had one of these, it would also have been 1982. I was in infant school. My mum was there, and the school nurse took us into the school "audiovisual room" (TV room). I had to answer questions, run and hop around the room naked, and the nurse checked my labia.
Id completely forgotten about it until now.

NeatJoker · 28/07/2026 23:53

I remember standard questions I think maybe puzzles,shapes, colours etc all very fine and normal just like any other school day. Then out of the blue by the way the doctor, a man, is going to look in your knickers now. It probably seemed like nothing to the adults but I was, inwardly, humiliated.

What was all that about? Any GPs or nurses from that era around?

Prrrprrrprrr · 29/07/2026 00:01

AI says this:

This is almost certainly the standard school entry medical examination, run by the NHS School Health Service, which was routine (and effectively compulsory) for children starting infant/primary school in the UK right through the 1980s.

• Structure: it was a one-to-one appointment, not a group check — a school doctor (often called the “school medical officer” or a clinical medical officer) did a full paediatric exam, with the school nurse assisting and doing preliminary measurements. That’s why it needed forms, took ~30 minutes, and happened outside normal group activities. The examination included a parental interview, growth and visual acuity measurements, and a hearing sweep test carried out by the school nurse, plus a paediatric examination and neurodevelopmental assessment carried out by the school doctor.

• Parent present: standard practice — parents were invited/expected to attend, especially for the youngest children.

• The physical exam, including genital check: this was routine, for both boys and girls, as part of the standard paediatric exam — checking for things like hernias, undescended testicles, hip problems, or other physical abnormalities.

• “I can see you through this little hole, you can’t see me”: this sounds like part of a vision test — a pinhole occluder is a real, standard optometric tool. Vision screening for young children in this era used tests like the STYCAR system, which involved matching shapes/letters at a distance and various occluder tricks to test each eye separately or check acuity — dressed up as a game for a small child.

So in short: it wasn’t one specific mysterious event — it was the routine “school entrant medical,” standard practice across the UK from the early 20th century up until it was scaled back/phased out through the 1990s (partly for cost reasons). The fact that it was 1-to-1 with a parent present, involved forms, took half an hour, and included a full physical + vision/hearing screening is very consistent with this rather than an ad hoc or unusual exam.

Handeyethingyowl · 29/07/2026 00:06

I have zero memory of this and my memory of childhood is usually weirdly detailed. Started school in 82.

modgepodge · 29/07/2026 08:31

I started school in 1991 and remember stripping to my pants with a nurse in the heads office (with my mum there), but nothing else! No one looked in my pants though, I think I’d remember that.

I think there is now a basic check of weight, height and vision in reception? We were asked to consent but didn’t attend, I assume the whole thing is now done clothed!!

NeatJoker · 29/07/2026 14:54

We did this recently - they do height, weight, hearing and vision now completely clothed! Nothing intrusive and just ask if there are any concerns.

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