Back In Time For School Anyone watching?

[ppeatfruit]

This is fab.

Kazzy Were both girls and boys educated 'free' in your grammar school from the start? That's what surprised me I know that schools were for the upper crust from the beginning but I thought it was only for boys and the posh girls had governesses at home.

Yes North East England at a county primary. Both her children are left handed too now but thankfully the school system changed and they have been allowed to use theirs!

Were both girls and boys educated 'free' in your grammar school from the start? That's what surprised me I know that schools were for the upper crust from the beginning but I thought it was only for boys and the posh girls had governesses at home.

Not too sure whether "from the start", but we certainly have a semi-famous (locally) historical female who went there in the mid 1800's.

That is something I didn't know Kazzy thank you.

BTW is anyone listening to Micheal Morpurgo's History of Childhood on at 2.15p.m. R4Extra?

I watched it, and I quite liked the way it wasn't immersive. Previous series of the type always seemed more play-acting to me, where they all pretended to take it very seriously the whole time but you knew it wasn't - here they at least gave a sort of social commentary at the same time, like the teachers were learning stuff about the time period just as much as the children were, with instructions on how/what to teach/wear/do given from someone higher up. This all seemed more realistic, and actually teaching something about the history and changes.

I too was surprised at how much girls were allowed to focus on science and maths in the first couple of of years of the 1900s, and then suddenly it was all taken away from them.

Pickle Exactly !!! ..the teachers were learning stuff about the time just as the children were....

None of us know the reality of late Victorian\Edwardian schools (i was a teacher too).

I was also surprised that there were written rules FOR THE TEACHERS about corporal punshment.

In reply to PP I felt that the teachers were having to say / teach things that are now seen as completely unacceptable and so they were making it clear that these were not their views. They seemed very uncomfortable having to say those things

I watched it, it was filmed at my old school. Not a huge amount of changes needed to take it back in time, the desks were the ones used when I was there in the 90s (although they have normal tables now). It was really odd watching it and thinking - the sports block is there, that's where the rugby team pushed a Mini into the pool, etc.

Fun fact: it's also the "posh" school in the Nativity films, if you thought it looked familiar.

Oh that's really interesting AndNoneFor Was it a strict school in the 90s?
Sorry for my ignorance which Nativity films?

Very strict. The head wore the gown for assembly and we had to stand up every time an adult entered a classroom. Detentions could be on Saturdays for serious misdemeanours. The uniform was also strict, you could only buy your (made to measure) skirt from the school seamstress.

The Nativity films - Christmas froth about a school nativity, the first one had Martin Freeman in it.

When they talked about lining up for assembly in height order, it instantly brought back a memory of my schooldays in the 60s that I'd virtually forgotten. Oh, the triumph when I finally grew enough to graduate to the second row!

It vaguely annoyed me that they made the boys try to read out bits of Latin which clearly meant nothing to them to illustrate the Latin lesson. Given they didn't expect the girls to dive into the most complex sewing, it was illogical: it would have made more sense to start with some of the basics.

It was interesting that the teacher commented after the sewing lesson how therapeutic it had been, simply sitting around, creating something and chatting. That's basically the ethos behind knitting groups now, and I suspect it could fruitfully be used in school rather more.

Blimey Gretchen it sounds awful! I bet the powers that be were annoyed that they couldn't administer corporal punishment! Is it\was it a selective school?

On tonight!

Yes, selective independent. It was a bit of a culture shock for me, coming from a no uniform, folk singing state primary school! It was ok because everyone pretty much towed the line. The worst thing was games, having to run around the local area in red pants (no joggers or netball skirt allowed for cross country) and having our periods monitored by the games mistress (noted with a red "P", the only reason you could escape communal showering with a teacher watching you to make sure you undressed fully). The rest of it - the compulsory Latin, long school hours but even longer holidays - not so bad.

Good god that sounds worse than my secondary school in the 60s . We had the teacher watching showers too, {do they get off on it do we think ? )

I'm sure it wasn't as bad in my dc's schools in the 90s, but they were in comps. and one in a progressive private school; Mind you the PE department was NOT progressive either.

We used to have to call out "period" if you were to be excused a communal shower when the register was called out before games, that was in the 80s. There was only one teacher who used to watch the showers though, the other female PE teachers just let us get on with it (or not if we could get away with it).

I'm afraid the 2nd episode was as shallow as the first - it looked like they'd spent no more than 1/2 a day 'in' each year.
Slightly surprised that none of the children had learnt what happened after the 1st (and 2nd) war, when women were sent back to the home to make way for men to take over their jobs.

In our school (mid 70s) us girls did Chemistry and Physics for the first 2 years of secondary with the boys and they did Needlework and Housecraft/Cookery with us.
Does anyone else remember ironing and being marked on the correct ironing of a shirt?

We also had the shower thing and our female PE teacher would interrogate us on when our last period was. ‘Ok Augustus I remember you had one 2 weeks ago’...usually said very loudly in front of whole class!!
Mind you, I loved my school days so it can’t have been that bad, although I grew up in a fairly rough area and we were all pretty resilient.

We girls did dressmaking in the 60s ( I remember having permanent trouble with the damn bobbin on the machine ). I suppose we must have done ironing but we weren't marked on it, I learnt more about ironing from dh because his mum had a dry cleaning\laundry business.

We weren't asked about our periods publicly which is odd considering we were forced to shower after swimming and P.E. I think we just told the teacher we were 'not well' and we weren't forced .

My sister was a lefty. She went to school in the 80s/90s. She was forced to use her right hand. If she used her left her work was ripped up and she had to start again.

Really??? Are we talking about the 1980s or 1880s? I started school in 1977 and am left-handed. It was never an issue with any of the teachers I had throughout my school career. I'd say your sister's experience was very unusual.

Love all the "back in time" series. Reaction of the girls to having to learn mothercraft while the boys were doing physics was priceless. Liked the idea of an afternoon nap in the fresh air though.

Macarena It shocked me too.

It didn't happen to any child at my schools in the 6os. But there was the odd very unpleasant teacher.

DH was literally force fed ( till he was sick) by a nun when he was little in a private prep school.

In our school (mid 70s) us girls did Chemistry and Physics for the first 2 years of secondary with the boys and they did Needlework and Housecraft/Cookery with us.

I was at secondary mid 70s and there was no difference between sexes. We all did cooking & needlework (called home economics) and we all did all 3 sciences and tech (metalwork and woodwork). Our mixed classes weren't separated at all.

I'm convinced this is the main problem with modern education. There's just no consistency. I feel we need the "McDonalds" approach where all schools do the same basic stuff, same policies, same rules, same subjects, etc. Far too much of individual schools (and teachers) doing their own thing and the kids lose out as a result.

The kids were on a jolly as were the teachers. It was ridiculous and so light weight that it couldn’t be taken seriously. I am not bothering with any more.

I remember seeing one set in the fifties and that was ridiculously inaccurate and I was at secondary school then.
I rember asking my grandmother about the teachers in her Victorian era and she said her teachers were really lovely.