A few more memories. (School days Part1)

Five years ago I said I was closing the "40's Boy" blog but I've decided I still have one or two things to say and talk about.

While we've been confined to our houses because of the virus I decided to read back through some of my 40's Boy posts, mainly to pass the time.  I was reminded of the posts regarding my school days and that I only covered my experiences at school up to the age of 11.  

These days we refer to year 1 or year 6 etc. when recalling a childs progress through school, and now of course they remain at school until they are 18 years old!  We started at age 5 and finished (in most cases) when we reached 15 years old.  We started at the Infant School when we were 5, then we progressed to the Junior School at age 7 years and finally, aged 11 years we went to Senior School.

In my case I went to a Secondary Modern School, which was a new inovation just after WW2.  In those days there were three choices for a childs senior education, if you came from a wealthy family you could pay to go to a private  school (strangely called Public Schools). But the rest of us took our 11-Plus exams and if we passed with a high enough grade we were able to go to a Grammar School; if you didn't quite make that grade then, like most kids, it would be a Secondary Modern School, which is were I went. 

So, why didn't I post anything about my time at the Secondary Modern School?  In a word, I HATED IT (that's 3 words) most days were filled with apprehension, unhappiness and fear, they were the worst 4 years of my life.  So why now, why even mention it?  While remembering the happy days recalled in my 40's Boy blog I started to relive my time at the senior school and I realised that by direct comparison to how todays kids are educated, my memories could be thought of as a social commentary on the changing times and worlds apart from the education system we know now.

I have no photographs from my final years at school and I wont be naming the school, or any of the teaching staff there, for reasons that will become very obvious.  So here goes.

1958.

I progressed to the Secondary Modern School in 1958.  Secondary Modern schools were introduced in 1944 and remained unchanged until 1970 and  were to cope with the large increase in children born after WW2 known as the "Baby Boomers".  They were co-educational schools with both boys and girls sat together in big classes of 40 + children.  National Service continued for several years after WW2 ended and when men finished it they could  opt for a short teacher training scheme and go straight into a career as teachers.  This boosted the number of teachers required.

I'm afraid some of them brought the tough regime of National Service with them into the classrooms.

Corporal punishment was commonly used in those days to instil discipline and administered by the male teachers, but only to the boys.

So, I've set the scene and in my next few posts I'll recount some of my memories of my final years at school.