A school life came to an end. I left somewhat unprepared. The school made little effort at preparing pupils for life beyond its gates. Careers lessons were almost nonexistent. The armed forces were allowed to parade their wares; no other mention was made concerning life beyond the school gates. The majority of pupils left with little ceremony and even less guidance.
The school Upper and Lower Sixth forms beckoned those academic enough to look to university and ultimately the professions. There was also Six G, the G standing for general, housing those pupils who had no idea what they required of life and those re-sitting failed examinations. I was ideal material on both counts for a place in Six G.
The headmaster, Mr Roberts taught at the school from 1930 to 1957. He must have taught thousands of pupils so I doubt he ever knew of my existence. Though, strangely enough, I was once and only once aware of his personal presence. He addressed me, in his rather posh way as “Stevens, you little arse.” To this day I have never known whether he did in fact mean ‘ass’ or ‘arse’. Now of course I’ll never know.
All in all there was little that encouraged a personal affiliation with the place, my personal circumstances partly, but not wholly to blame. I had friends and several of the teachers I liked. Football I approached with enthusiasm plus one or two academic subjects including art. But all in all my years at the Grammar School were rather wasted years. Rather the whole experience somewhat passed me by, an education, if that’s what it was irrelevant in the main to my personal needs. Many of us were products of the time, but so was the education we received. I was in too many ways a village boy out of his depth, lacking motivation, guidance or comprehension.
And eventually examinations, serious in their lifelong implications, but alas, not taken seriously by many, myself included, the results inevitably mediocre. I passed the General Certificate of Education at O level, in English Language, English Literature, Geography, Art and Divinity, and failed in Biology. Many fellow travellers of like mind including myself thus resigned to the reality of adult working lives in shops and factories rather than careers as doctors, fighter pilots or high court judges.
As stated previously my school career was never destined to be one of great academic success for the many reasons previously mentioned. But in fairness to the place it was an institution typical of its time and many pupils more 'tuned in' to this form of formal, somewhat unbending education benefited greatly. Gillian and Jane, unrelated were examples of pupils whose attitude and school careers contrasted greatly to my own rather erratic efforts.
Gillian's family for instance were far from well off, to the extent that she wore the traditional 'hand me downs' of an older sister and walked home at midday to save on the cost of school dinners. Nevertheless Gillian enjoyed the experience of a grammar school education. She went on school trips, and pupil exchanges, enjoyed netball, hockey and tennis, had pen friends visit, gained good passes in GCE examinations and a place in a teacher training college.
Jane, another pupil in my age group also coped successfully with the grammar school regime. Jane, like me travelled into school by bus from a nearby village but there the similarity ends. Originally from Wales, Jane's family moved to England to find work. But also Jane's family were very aware of the value of education in life. (The family deliberately had no television until the children left home.)
The school Upper and Lower Sixth forms beckoned those academic enough to look to university and ultimately the professions. There was also Six G, the G standing for general, housing those pupils who had no idea what they required of life and those re-sitting failed examinations. I was ideal material on both counts for a place in Six G.
The headmaster, Mr Roberts taught at the school from 1930 to 1957. He must have taught thousands of pupils so I doubt he ever knew of my existence. Though, strangely enough, I was once and only once aware of his personal presence. He addressed me, in his rather posh way as “Stevens, you little arse.” To this day I have never known whether he did in fact mean ‘ass’ or ‘arse’. Now of course I’ll never know.
All in all there was little that encouraged a personal affiliation with the place, my personal circumstances partly, but not wholly to blame. I had friends and several of the teachers I liked. Football I approached with enthusiasm plus one or two academic subjects including art. But all in all my years at the Grammar School were rather wasted years. Rather the whole experience somewhat passed me by, an education, if that’s what it was irrelevant in the main to my personal needs. Many of us were products of the time, but so was the education we received. I was in too many ways a village boy out of his depth, lacking motivation, guidance or comprehension.
And eventually examinations, serious in their lifelong implications, but alas, not taken seriously by many, myself included, the results inevitably mediocre. I passed the General Certificate of Education at O level, in English Language, English Literature, Geography, Art and Divinity, and failed in Biology. Many fellow travellers of like mind including myself thus resigned to the reality of adult working lives in shops and factories rather than careers as doctors, fighter pilots or high court judges.
As stated previously my school career was never destined to be one of great academic success for the many reasons previously mentioned. But in fairness to the place it was an institution typical of its time and many pupils more 'tuned in' to this form of formal, somewhat unbending education benefited greatly. Gillian and Jane, unrelated were examples of pupils whose attitude and school careers contrasted greatly to my own rather erratic efforts.
Gillian's family for instance were far from well off, to the extent that she wore the traditional 'hand me downs' of an older sister and walked home at midday to save on the cost of school dinners. Nevertheless Gillian enjoyed the experience of a grammar school education. She went on school trips, and pupil exchanges, enjoyed netball, hockey and tennis, had pen friends visit, gained good passes in GCE examinations and a place in a teacher training college.
Jane, another pupil in my age group also coped successfully with the grammar school regime. Jane, like me travelled into school by bus from a nearby village but there the similarity ends. Originally from Wales, Jane's family moved to England to find work. But also Jane's family were very aware of the value of education in life. (The family deliberately had no television until the children left home.)