I went to school when I was five years old; I remember the lollipop man,
the large classes even 60 pupils at one time. The rows of desks, slates
in the infants class, books later on, the chanting of the times tables and
money tables and other tables like weights. We performed on Birmingham
Town Hall for the Schools festival. I was a kangaroo in the "Mouse and
The Kangaroo" and a black cat another year. These were miming to music.
I used to go home for dinner and only a few children stayed at school.
At age 11, I took the 11 plus exam, passed and went to the Grammar school.
Primary School, "The Mouse and the Kangaroo"
In the secondary school things were very different. We had to wear uniform
including school hats which no-one liked. The hats had a blue and green
band and it was important to get this the right way up, otherwise you had
a "green sky". We had to get the bus to the playing fields a mile and a
half away and we were given tokens for this. If we walked we could save
the tokens and use them on the bus to school and save the money. We also
had to get a bus to the baths about three quarters a mile away. It was a
tradition at our school to have Thursday afternoons off, but in some years
these were used for swimming or sports. We were divided up into houses;
I was in Plantangenet (others were Tudor, Windsor, Stuart etc.) We had
house competitions, one year music, one year art and another drama.
The art competition involved painting big murals in the long playroom where
we went if it was wet at playtime or lunchtime. We used to have a big
cloakroom and we were not allowed to stay in it at lunchtimes. Some
girls used to hide in the coats so that they were not turned out in the
cold playground.
