Secondary School - first day

[Marine Boy]

Re: Secondary School - first day

My school had a red week and a blue week, & in 1 or 2 years there was an odd day where all the periods were 5 minutes shorter so there were 7 in a day.

The bells had a different ring on those days just to add to the confusion.

My school had 2 buildings which meant some days had a lot of walking between them.

I had several buildings too. My poor little 11/12 year old mind trying to work it all out!

[Richard1978]

Re: Secondary School - first day

My school had a red week and a blue week, & in 1 or 2 years there was an odd day where all the periods were 5 minutes shorter so there were 7 in a day.

The bells had a different ring on those days just to add to the confusion.

My school had 2 buildings which meant some days had a lot of walking between them.

[Marine Boy]

Re: Secondary School - first day

...And yes, the timetable, which seemed like the most complicated document I'd ever seen, and getting used to bells going off between lessons and struggling to find my way around all the sprawling corridors. All quite terrifying!

Yes. Richard talked about a two week timetable. Mine was mad too, ... something like a 6 or 8 day timetable where you went on the "day 1, day 2" thing rather than the actual day of the week. And the weird bells that you sometimes had to ignore. And the endless corridors and staircases. I remember longing for my primary simplicity.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Secondary School - first day

I remember us all having to gather outside in the yard to be sorted into our forms. I was excited but nervous and it was strange to be among such a big crowd of unknown people, all in identical uniforms. Once in our forms we started talking about which schools we had come from and suddenly it felt like sleeping with the enemy...all those hard-won netball matches and brooding resentment of my former 'rival schools' had to go. I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that I was now sharing a class with X from dodgy school A with the hard as nails, rough kids and Y from school B with the softy stuck up kids. I had immediate impressions of people from their school origins alone. It was worse than Hogwarts!

We'd been told which form we'd be in and the teacher's name at primary school so I had a full six weeks in which to conjure up some horrible thoughts about what my teacher might be like. Luckily he was ok, but dressed in the typical 80's garb of big coloured-rimmed glasses and jazzy, patterened shirt. Looked like a cross between Mark Curry and Timmy Mallett.

And yes, the timetable, which seemed like the most complicated document I'd ever seen, and getting used to bells going off between lessons and struggling to find my way around all the sprawling corridors. All quite terrifying!

[Richard1978]

Re: Secondary School - first day

I remember being sorted into forms & then spending the rest of the half day (my school always seemed to have a half day with no actual lessons at the start of each school year) copying down the timetable (quite complicated with 2 colour coded weeks in rotation) & being given the ropes by our form tutor.

[Marine Boy]

Re: Secondary School - first day

I recall my first day quite well. We all crowded into the hall - there were four parallel classes in our year so it must have been about 120 kids. The classes were called out and off we went to our new classroom with our new teacher. Mine was Mr. Cope and he was by turns matey, funny and sarcastic. Nicky Cruz's 'Run Baby Run' was his choice of a book to read to us, which says something about the guy!

I sat right at the back, wishing it could all be over. Our form room was the technical drawing room with those easel things on each desk. Quite good to hide behind.

MB

[80sChav]

I can recall this sort of (though not totaly alltogether), but I remember being well excited about it, though if I knew what I did now, i'd really see this truly see it even more differently I think though.

Mainly in the main it was about spending the first day in our Form Room and writing up our timetables/ learning about where places were in school etc, some of the best times of School that first week was for me I think on reflection before thing's became "the norm" as it were. It would be great if any other members recall your first day at High school/Secondary School and what happend etc?

80sChav