General Chat

it was wartime and we took sandwiches - in Summer usually tomatoes as they were available and cheap - the smell of a tomato sandwich always transports me back to infants school

We had te letters of the alphabet all around the classroom with a beautifully drawn [in chalk] picture to represent the letter - a big shiny apple for A and a fat hen for H

We had a rocking horse in the classroom too

We learned to count by putting beads on string and then writing the number of beads on a tag at the end - shoved one of these beads up my nose one day - caused a bit of a do!!!!

I can vaguely remember being taken to school on my first day. My dad used to drive a lorry in those days and he and my mum took me to school in that. Mum had given me a piece of apple pie (probably because I didn't eat breakfast and never have done) which must have been to eat at playtime. As soon as mum took me in, the teacher said I wasn't allowed it, so mum had to take it home. I can't remember the school dinners in infant school but in my junior school they were really nice. The cook was from Yorkshire (we lived in Finchley, North London) and she was extremely fussy what she cooked and how it was cooked so the meals were good. Mum worked as a dinner lady at the school not long after I went there, which is how I found out about the cook. Her name was Mrs Davy, lovely lady she was.

I cannot recall my first day in 1950 myself but it was the subject of a story told about me for years to come. Apparently I was inconsolable because my mother had not kissed me goodbye before she left me to my fate. I cried on and off throughout the entire day. When my mother collected me after school the teacher had a word with her and told her never to do that again.

I can remember soon afterwards being appointed milk monitor, being responsible for handing out those little bottles of milk that all school kids got each day back then.

1st day at school - 57/58. Mum took me to the playground, teacher took me in. Mum went home. Mum there at 3.30/4.00 to pick me up.

No short days for a week or two to get used to school.

Sitting at a desk, no playing outside of play time.

And vile school dinners, where I was made to eat food that my mum would not even feed me. She knew I did not like some foods and because I would eat most she put in front of me, she did not push those that I really did not like.

So often picked up at end of day, having been sick, because I was forced to eat food I did not like....

Did all schools serve lumpy mash and sausages with skins you could chew on all day?

I started school in the September of 1951, Haxby Road (infants & juniors) York, I wasn't 5 until December.
I recall some of the first day, being shown my classroom, & where we were to hang our coats, we all had a picture above the peg that we had to use each time,mine was a string of coloured beads!
There was a large coal fire in our classroom,I remember the school dinners which I really enjoyed,made in our own school kitchens,& there was always plenty for seconds,lol, Shepherds Pie was my favourite.
Thoroughly enjoyed being at that school,& have some really good memories of my time there.

JOAN.

I do not remember the first day but remember the classroom. It had a wendy house and a sand pit on legs.

I cannot remember eating in the infants at all...although I must have as the only time I remember a packed lunch was when I was 11 and had swimming lessons one morning a week at a pool miles away from the school.

We didn't have a school kitchen until a couple of years before I left the juniors...it was bought in each day in big silver trays....and yes we had to eat more or less everything...the headmaster inspected our plates before we cleared them away

I started school in 1963

1941 was my first day at school - we lived in an isolated cottage in the country and I had no one to play with - I was so excited - I ran in leaving my poor Mum standing at the gates - she was devastated - I didn't like to ask where the toilets were resulting in me wetting myslf!!! Apart from that hiccup I had a lovely time :-D

My first day ay school was in 1948 in a mining village called Glencraig, my grandfather took me, half an hour later panic ensued, I had disappeared and I was found about a mile away from the school feeding the pit ponies.

HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST DAY AT INFANT SCHOOL
I DO,MUMS AND DADS WERE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE THE SCHOOL GATES
AND IM SURE MY MUM HAD A FEW TEARDROPS IN HER EYES,
THE INFANTS WAS A ROW OF THREE ROOMS EACH ROOM HAD A LARGE
COAL BOILER TYPE THING THAT WHEN YOU GO HOME YOU SMELT OF COAL,
FIRST DAY STRANGE I REMEMBER IT WELL ,
THE TEACHER MAY HAVE BEEN NICE BUT SHE TERRIFIED ME,,
WE WERE TOLD TO SAY YES MISS TO EVERYTHING AND I MEAN EVERYTHING,
ON THE FIRST DAY AFTER SHE CALLED ALL OUR NAMES WE STARTED FIRST THE ALPHABET THEN TIMES TABLE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
ALL ON THE FIRST DAY ,I WAS SO CONVINCED I HAD LEARNT THE LOT I DIDN'T NEED TO GO BACK AGAIN ,
LUNCH TIME WAS SO AWFUL THE DINNER WAS BOUGHT OVER FROM THE MAIN BUILDING IN TINS HALF HOUR BEFORE SERVING,WE SAT AT OUR DESK AS THE LADY PUT A PLATE OF SOMETHING RESEMBLING FOOD ,WHAT FOOD I EITHER CANNOT OR DO NOT WANT TO KNOW,
AND IN THOSE DAYS YOU ATE EVERYTHING AND I MEAN IT ,THERE WAS NO "I DON'T LIKE THAT" THERE WAS NO REASON TO NOT EATING EVERYTHING EVEN IF IT TOOK AN HOUR,AND NO THERE WAS NO CHIPS EVER ON THE MENU,
WELL SNAPSHOT OF MY FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL,


YEAR 1954