Infant school in the 70s....

[staffslad]

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

I remember the annual visit of the photographer. He came every year from starting infants to the end of my secondary education. Ours never took any class photographs, just of individuals unless you had a sibling at the school. Then the 2 week wait for teacher to hand out proofs for you to take home to see if your parents wanted to buy one. Mine always did; I think they felt obliged to do so, even though those photographs could be less than flattering.

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

i used to love it at christmas when we did the nativity. i think this pic was taken in the late '70s.

[zabadak]

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

September '66 for me!

[staffslad]

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

I have enjoyed reading through this thread very much and it has brought back so many memories. I started infants school in 1966 or 1967 and then junior school two years later. I used to enjoy the school dinners at infant/junior school, my absolute favourite being chips, fish fingers and peas or baked beans, followed by chocolate shortbread with green mint custard. I remember the brightly-coloured metal water jugs on the tables and the clear, plastic beakers. There was a big hedge at one end of the playing field at infant school and we would search it for cuckoo spit. Also, putting your chairs on the desk at hometime to aid the cleaners. Somehow, whenever I remember those days it is always a warm, early summer day, though I also can recall those bright orange bands the school would sell to sew onto your coat for dark winter mornings and afternoons, plus making a calendar to take home just prior to Christmas.

[marc]

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

Thats a wonderful story.
The teacher u mention must be in her seventies now mate.

Was she your form teacher.

All my INFANTschool teachers are no longer about as far as i know.
Most where quite old when i was in primary school in there thirties at least.

Darren, yes she is in her seventies now. We did not have form teachers then. They took the class all day. It was only in the last two years of infants that we had two different teachers during the day. One taught us maths (sums has we said then), the other English (reading'n'writing has we said then). Some of our teachers were quite young when they taught us.

[Twocky61]

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

One treat at our infant school was being chosen to ring the bell to call us in at the end of breaks, lunchtime & going home time It was an electric bell which we enjoyed pressing the button

[darren]

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

Thats a wonderful story.
The teacher u mention must be in her seventies now mate.

Was she your form teacher.

All my INFANTschool teachers are no longer about as far as i know.
Most where quite old when i was in primary school in there thirties at least.

reading through this has brought back a lot of memories. My first teacher is still around, she often catches the bus i'm driving. Recently, i bumped into her in cardiff. Her daughter was with her. She was in my class up until we went to the comprehensive school. It was the first time i had seen her daughter, catherine, for about twenty years. One memory she mentioned, was of us being read a story at the end of the day. That was something i really enjoyed.

Another memory is that of leaving the class at the end of the day. The girls would be first to go out. The boys would then be told to go.......girls would then stand aside, to be out of the way of the stampede. I'm sure some of the teachers used to enjoy our exit!!!

[marc]

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

Reading through this has brought back a lot of memories. My first teacher is still around, she often catches the bus I'm driving. Recently, I bumped into her in Cardiff. Her daughter was with her. She was in my class up until we went to the comprehensive school. It was the first time I had seen her daughter, Catherine, for about twenty years. One memory she mentioned, was of us being read a story at the end of the day. That was something I really enjoyed.

Another memory is that of leaving the class at the end of the day. The girls would be first to go out. The boys would then be told to go.......Girls would then stand aside, to be out of the way of the stampede. I'm sure some of the teachers used to enjoy our exit!!!

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

A lot of this is memorable to me. I also seem to equate infant school with hazy Summery afternoons and sunny days...I went in the very early 1980s. I didn't learn much, I cannot recall ever having been taught how to write at infants / primary school - i.e. 'trace over this letter 'a' (lower case) and this upper case 'A' and then copy it underneath when you've practiced enough etc' - My Mum taught me at home, the alphabet, how to read, basic maths etc. I am very thankful for that otherwise my literacy would have been rubbish at school and probably still as its the route cause of adult literacy issues today...She used the Ladybird book of A, B, C' to do all that. All I did at my school was waste time - not me personally but lessons were simply drawing, painting, using hands, potato prints, I think we had a tiny bit of cookery, nativity plays - I was one of the Three Kings! We had many a 'bring toys in day' which my Mum forbade me taking in nice things as other kids would naturally break them out of spite or rough play - at the time I was sad of that but now I'm very glad she used to be that careful. We also played outside on nice days, we had loads of trikes and bikes and my Dad told me he used to like seeing me park the trikes back in the shed at the far end of the playground as he stood at the other end at the gates waiting to collect me...I remember the terapin huts used for hot dinners and packed lunches but I was lucky enough to live down the road from the school so Mum or my Sister would collect me and we could eat a meal at home - which consisted of 'help you grow up food' like mince in gravy, mash potato, tinned boiled carrot slices - bleurgh...lol. Sometimes Mum would let us stay at home afterwards (if she was in a good mood that is!). Otherwise, she'd give us a wash with a flannel to our faces and hands, change our clothes as she felt these places were dirty (lol) and take us back .

If you didn't have packed or hot lunches you couldn't venture into the lunch hut. Period. We had shaped climbing frames - a green circular one, a blue rectangular one and a red one - but I cannot remember the shape - they were all like trees growing out of the ground. I remember being on one like a monkey and saw my Mum wating for me to take me home for lunch and I slipped and bumped my head on a bar and ended up with a very painful bump so she used a damp dish rag and the now off cooker hob ring which she'd heated up and placed the rag on it to warm it a bit and placed it on my bump - we don't feel that cold packs help bumps and lumps, rather heat as it helps the blood flow more and heal the 'wound'...I remember it was painful - for a 4 year old!

We had Mr 'Egghead' Eastwood ring the bell for end of playtimes and for us to all run back in - well, 'WALK DON'T RUN!' Mr Saunders used to play very competitively with the bigger kids football, and foul them something chronic the blighter! We had a steel band which was well known in the local area, I think they appeared in the local paper from time to time and always had a float on the annual carnival the town used to hold back then - it was once a big event back then, sadly not the case now. The older kids were in it from the upper years. A play one year was 'The Magic Carpet', my sister appeared in the bit set in Denmark or Germany, it was rather funny seeing a bowl cutted Asian girl being some Deutch lass with that traditional outfit on and hat...and no blonde wig doing a hand clap dance...I remember she had on pink lipstick which I hated lol. My Dad, being Dad 'thought it was cr-p' on the whole and Mum was very glad she didn't go....lol.

We often got taken to the local parks - via a big double decker bus!!!! It was one of those older ones and I remember vividly one being blue on the outside, like a special charter firm. We'd just play in the park all day...and then go home. They once took us on a special planned trip to Brighton and my mate Andy swopped my nice Corgi Mercedes Benz for his Matchbox Fiat Arbarth, we'd both bought them from the same shop and he kept pleading with me for it, so I caved in and when I wanted to swop back he'd purposely scratched the roof...so I couldn't have it back

It was just one big playtime for me back then...and yes, we had naps, mats to sit on, reading time and we could choose books and then swop with someone else after a while etc, we had teachers that hit you if you were naughty still, Mr Saunders thwacking my Sisters arm for being sat on a desk at playtime and her coming home with a swollen arm and Mum going back after lunch with us and going APE with the overly brutal martinet was hilarious when she recounted it to me years later - the kids in my Sisters classroom found it hilarious seeing Saunders get a dressing down - in FRONT of them!

I'd say those years were the happiest of my life. Everything was simple then....

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!!!

[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.