Web Page  No 2126

25th  January 2015

Top Picture: Here is an interesting Question

Middle Picture: Nit Nurse at work

 Lower Picture: The Polio prevention campaign

Bottom Picture: British Empire Map

Had this sent to me a couple of months ago and I thought you would all enjoy it.

Schooldays in the 1950s and 1960s

We all have strong memories of our first few days at primary school, although nowadays most children tend to go to pre-school, so it is not such a shock to the system for them as it was for the children of the 1950s!

In the 1950s there were no state pre-schools or nurseries, so for most children just turning 5 years old, their first day at school was the first time they had been on their own, away from home. Most mothers did not work outside the home, so for many children this was also the first time they had been apart from their mothers.

Consequently the first day of school was sometimes a very tearful event for both child and parent! Having got over the first pangs of separation, school life soon fell into a predictable routine. School milk was part of this routine, uniformly detested by most children. In Post War Britain school milk, a third of a pint per child, was introduced in schools to supplement the child’s diet. In 1971 school milk for the over-sevens was withdrawn  by Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Education – for this she was dubbed 'Thatcher, Thatcher, Milk Snatcher' in the press.

During the harsh winter months, it was a common sight to see the small crates of milk outside the school gates with the shiny bottle tops standing proud above the bottles on a column of frozen milk. Of course the only way to defrost the school milk was to place it by the radiator, and then the poor children were forced to consume watery, lukewarm milk. And forced they were – “milk is good for you child, you WILL drink it all up!”

The School Broadcasting Council for the United Kingdom had been set up in 1947 and the wireless or radio played a great part in the education of school children in the 1950s,. ‘Music and Movement’ was one such program and all over the country in school halls, children could be found leaping and stretching to the commands on the radio. ‘Now children we are going to sway like trees in the wind’ would be the instruction on the radio and all the children, boys and girls, would begin to sway with their arms in the air; but not in any class I was ever in thank the Lord!

There was no ‘gym kit’ in primary schools so the children just removed their outer clothes and did P.E. in their vests, knickers or underpants and bare feet or plimsoles (usually purchased from Woolworths).

Another such program was ‘Singing Together’ where the class would gather to sing traditional folk songs and sea shanties such as ‘Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me’, ‘A-Roving’, ‘Michael Finnegan’, ‘The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies’ and ‘Oh No John’. However, when as an adult you examine the content and meaning of some of these old folk songs, whether they were indeed suitable for the under 11’s is another question!

Visits from the school nurse would break up the daily routine. The nit nurse used to make regular visits to check for head lice and all the children in each class would line up to be examined in turn, their hair being combed carefully with a nit comb to see if there was any infestation. There were also routine eye and hearing tests, but the school dentist was based in the QA Hospital.

There was also the polio vaccine, given at school to every child on a sugar lump. Measles, German Measles and Mumps were not vaccinated against; most children contracted these diseases in childhood. German Measles, or Rubella, can affect unborn babies in the womb if contracted in pregnancy and so if a girl in the class caught German Measles, it was not uncommon for her mother to throw a tea party for the rest of the girls so they could also catch the disease and gain immunity.

Class sizes in the 1950s and early 1960s were large, often over 30+ children to a class, as these were the ‘baby boomers’, children. There were no classroom assistants, just the class teacher and so discipline was strict. It was quite common for a disruptive child to be rapped over the knuckles, on the buttocks or on the palm of the hand with a ruler or cane.

In the 1960’s it was very much a ‘talk and chalk’ education, with the teacher at the front of the class and the children sitting at desks facing the board. The Three ‘R’s were very important, as was learning by rote. Times tables were learnt by chanting aloud in class and poetry would be learnt by heart for homework. Neat hand writing was seen as very important and practised daily. Nature study was popular and often the only science taught at primary school, with children being asked to bring in things such as leaves and seeds for the teacher to identify and then to use later in craft work. 

There was also a strong sense of being British; singing traditional folk songs and learning about the history, geography and especially the pink bits on the World map.

Of course this was also the age of the 11-plus, a series of tests and exams that the children in the top class at junior school would take before moving on to secondary education Pupils would practise previous papers in school in order to prepare for these tests, which included writing an essay, a maths paper and both verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers. A reasoning paper was designed to test a child’s IQ with a puzzles and problem-solving questions. Always – and still so today - a contentious method of school selection, the 11 plus system did facilitate social mobility, as places at the grammar schools in the 1960s were allocated according to the results of these tests, and not on ability to pay.

All so long ago.

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

You Write:

Colin Writes:-

My old school friend (68 to 72) David Blake and his wife Jane passed through Hong Kong last year. It was really great to catch up with David. 

News and Views:

This week we welcome a new member Allen Plumley who fondly remembers his time at Court Lane Secondary Modern School.

On this day 25th January 1960-1965

On 25/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/01/1961 the number one single was Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.