Infant school in the 70s....

[Kiop]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

We had the 'Ladybird' books at our Infants School - some were educational and some were stories.

I also remember the school tuck-shop where you could get four mojos for a penny and some weird chocolate things shaped like DIY tools (saws, hammers, etc).

I hated the school dinners - I used to tip the contents of my plate on my chair when the teacher wasn't looking and then sat on it. LOL. I remember one day I hated my dinner so much that I purposely threw up all over it so I wouldn't have to eat it...

happy days!

[CoteDazur]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

Does anyone else agree that there was a certain aroma in infant and junior schools...I think it was either a scent from the school note books, or maybe from detergents used by cleaners. My local polling station is my old junior school and one wiff sends me right back.

In my junior school there was an atrium in the middle, where a giant walled sandpit was. Only a couple of people a time were allowed in very occasionally as a special treat. And it was a treat because the sand was so deep and there were all kinds of toys buried all over the place. My favourite was the sieves that would produce "worms" if the sand was dampened.

I remember sawdust for a different reason from the OP - it was used after someone had been sick (usually in the midst of assembly)

I remember dancing around the Maypole, which nowadays seems a bit reminiscent of the Wicker Man, being upset because the teacher's pet was picked to be May Queen, the smell of newly baked biscuits, the dressing up box where all the girls always made a beeline for the denim clogs, Ladybird books, the Hungry Caterpillar, putting your hand up to answer a question and groaning desperately to let the teacher know you were frantic to give the answer, SpaceDust....

[Richard1978]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

I remember the sandpits at my first school were paved over while I was there, it didn't help that all the local cats & dogs were using it as a giant litter tray.

I've also the smell of industrial grade cleaning fluid in public buildings.

[chrisredditch]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

We had a few girls who used to leave little puddles for the teacher to clean up. I can't remember any of the boys wetting themselves. I daresay it did happen.
As mentioned above, that pile of sawdust on the hall-floor which gave away someone being sick.
Queues for the water fountains on very hot days.
I remember a boy fainting in assembley and being taken out by some teachers. I went home that afternoon and told my Mum that a boy had dropped dead at school! She didn't believe me! Imagine my amazement when I saw him running about the next day!!

[HG]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

I hated the school dinners - I used to tip the contents of my plate on my chair when the teacher wasn't looking and then sat on it. LOL. I remember one day I hated my dinner so much that I purposely threw up all over it so I wouldn't have to eat it...

happy days!

You didn't go to my infants did you

I remember someone eating his desert and promptly throwing it back up in his bowl, I was sort of expecting to see a strawberry or something on top of it as it looked like angel delight or something

One time at infants we were doing the nativity play rehersals in the church across the road and it turned into a mass spewing session. Several kids (including me ) were bent double over a cardboard box. That was school dinners for you in the 70's!

[bun]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

Infants school was, hopscotch, playground games and rhymes, ip dip sky blue etc, in and out the dusty bluebells...school dinners, that aroma was like no other, mince, semolina, gross, council run catering in those days.
Tiny toilets and tiny chairs. A nurse who would slap a load of stinging tcp in an open wound caused by skidding on some gritty concreted playground, then slap a big fat gluey sticking plaster on top. Lady bird books, warm milk with blue straws, sticky paper in different colours and shapes, stickle bricks, fuzzy felt, pipecleaners. watching 'me and you' during the morning, and Watch (programmes for schools and colleges)...

YouTube - BBC1 Schools Junction into Watch (c.1983)
fancy watching some paint dry??

[stockportyears]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

I remember being about five, and there had been a massive football hooligan fight involving United (they started it, as usual!) and City on the tv the weekend before. So during drawing lesson, all the boys were drawing pictures of stick men with red and blue scarves kicking s**t out of each other. The girls told on us, and one of the teachers went to the front of the class, ordered us to give our 'hooligan' pictures in and forbade us to ever draw pics of it again!

Fuzzy Felt was ace.

Flat Stanley was the book of choice.

We also had a lesson called 'choosing' where we could do what we liked. Usually involved plastecine.

[RezinaHamid]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

So similar. Did you go to my school ?

I also remember country dancing and singing lessons where we sang from sheets with BBC4 folks songs program. I wish I could recall what it was called.

Housepoints

Collecting ladybrids in matchboxes and crisp packets with leaves fro them to feed on.

Playing marbles on the grids

Collecting football cards and a throwing game where who ever could throw the furtherst towards a wall won all the cards thrown.

2tone grey and black bic pens we wrote with.

Wide Range Interest Books

Pirate Book series: Roderick the Red, Benjamin the Blue, Gregory the Green.

[themilkman]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

Yes as already mentioned, folk dancing of sorts........the 'gay gordons' if i remember correctly.

[havasack]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

Never done folk dancing but did have to do "dance and movement" in our undercrackers. ""Move like a tree in the wind", " Slither like a snake" etc.

[safclass]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

i have loved this thread - well done for starting it!!

But can I say as an infant teacher now - sooooo many of these things still happen!!!

[Trickyvee]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

The birthday cake in assembly. I can still see it now. A green bowl filled with green plasticine and four candles shoved in the top. If it was your birthday that week you had to get up and hold the cake whilst singing a birthday song. Usually a few would be up together all standing in a circle holding this cake.

What was the ratio of male to female teachers back in the day? For me it was about 50/50. Seems to be very female-heavy in primary schools now.

[Finnthedude]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

What was the ratio of male to female teachers back in the day? For me it was about 50/50. Seems to be very female-heavy in primary schools now.

Almost all female teachers at my primary school (I started primary school in 1973). Out of 10 teachers only 1 was male and he was a part-timer. Junior school was about 50/50 male/female teachers. Also at primary school I remember the teachers were also the playground monitors - at junior school this duty was taken up by the dinner ladies. Proably something to do with familiar faces - I seem to remember a few shy kids would spend most playtimes holding the teacher's hands.

Cheers,
Finnthedude.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

The birthday cake in assembly. I can still see it now. A green bowl filled with green plasticine and four candles shoved in the top. If it was your birthday that week you had to get up and hold the cake whilst singing a birthday song. Usually a few would be up together all standing in a circle holding this cake.

What was the ratio of male to female teachers back in the day? For me it was about 50/50. Seems to be very female-heavy in primary schools now.

I'm glad I was spared that indignity back in elementary school (Infants and Junior School combined). In our school there was only one male teacher, Mr Hooks. Picture if you will a combination of Bill Cosby and the DI from "Full Metal Jacket" (minus the profanity of course) and that was Mr Hooks.

One of the things I remember about elementary school was that halfway through my time there the custodial staff got lazy and stopped setting out chairs or benches in the multi-purpose room for assemblies so we had to sit on the floor. I hated it.

[bun]

Re: Infant school in the 70s....

Another thread sparked off some memories of infant school and the carefree times we had then, here's what I remember about mine (kind of in the same vein as the "lived" video in this forum):

Sitting on the carpet in the mornings for a story while someone drew shapes on your back or played with your hair (it was the 70s so it was long). Having a small plastic pull out drawer with your name on to put all your pens (pencil cases) and books in with Aniseed balls. Pull out racks for all the coats and wellies in winter and the fun of diving into the line of coats (then getting told off). Spelling books with pictures then being given the "grown up" one without pictures when you were good enough at spelling (I got mine after spelling Action Man correctly on my own). Reading the "Red Books" i.e book one, book two etc with the photo stories in. Then upgrading to the silver and gold books. Friday afternoons where you could play with toys you'd brought in and each other's (I remember playing with someone's Play People roadworks set). Sitting in a line along the corridor waiting for lunch then getting to the front and going in pairs to the counter to get your lunch. Rice pudding, semolina, jam, custard. Singing hymns in assembly and watching "Children's Film Foundation" films at the end of terms. Christmas plays. School fates when the whole hall smelt like Sawdust from the lucky dip. Decorating the assembly hall to match whatever big event was coming (xmas, halloween, easter, Guy Fawkes night, harvest). Bringing in tins of fruit cocktail or soup that had been in the cupboard for years (or pampass grass) for the harvest festival and going home with proper fruit. Making "miniature gardens" or "decorated eggs" for the easter fate and being chuffed with a "commended", a "highly commended" was like winning the pools. The library where Thomas the Tank engine seemed like the only books they had and it smelt nice and always felt warm, which was handy as it was where you always ended up when the heating broke down (if your parents were at work). Playtime in summer when you're allowed on the field and get balls, hoops, beanbags and ropes out of the coloured baskets to play with. Chasing hoolahoops around the playground. Sports days go-kart races. Sitting on black squares in the assembly hall when naughty. Painting, with your hands. Afternoon naps. Free milk.

Was your's the same?

Exactly!execpt we never were allowed naps

Also remember some awful dark brown sawdust being thrown down when someone puked.

Fuzzy felt, stickle bricks, peter and jane.

having vaccinations in the classroom.