I started at St Nicholas school in 1937 at the age of 5. The first class we were in, the teacher wore a long black dress. The cloakroom had beds and we had to have a sleep every afternoon. I went home for my lunch everyday, but most of the other children went home for lunch. When I went into class 2, the teacher was in charge of the whole school and we had very old books (late 18th century). The other year 2 teacher was very attractive, and I remember that my dad really thought she was lovely! I really loved school, particularly history and arithmetic. In the upper school (age 7) I remember an old tin hut in the playground and we had lessons in there. It has been moved from a site in school lane for use at the school as a classroom.
The war
During the war (I was in class 2 – Mr Cadwallander was the Head), when the air raid signal went off I used to go home. But I discovered that those children who stayed at school got under the table and Mrs Cadwallender had a tin of sweets that she used to hand out … and I couldn’t miss that! I remember that, after eating lunch, we were free to go down to Abbey Fields to play without any teacher supervision.
My year 4 teacher ( a male teacher) used to teach my father as well, although in those days boys could leave school at age 12 due to the First World War, and my father did. He then worked on local farms during the war.
Comments
My father, Owen Jones became head of St Nicholas in about 1948. I was born in 1950 and we lived in the school house attached to the school in School Lane until 1967, when my father retired. The school was demolished a few years later and is now the site of the fire station. The name Cadwalleder is familiar to me – I think my parents were friendly with the couple. When I attended St Nicholas, there was a Mr Bentley, Mr Barnet, Miss Jordan and a Mrs Simmonds. I don’t remember the other teachers’ names. I remember that a boy in our class died of polio, and that my parents were very concerned at that time. Miss Jordan’s class was in ‘The Tin Hut’, a funny old building in the playground. The other end of the ‘hut’ was used for storing the gym equipment. The boys and girls weren’t allowed to mix in the playground – the girls played at the top, and the boys at the bottom. There was a line across the playground that we weren’t supposed to cross. We used to sometimes meet the boys behind the tin hut and though we were very daring! The classroom end of the Hut had a coal/coke burning stove in the middle of it, with a big wire fireguard round it.
My grandfather Stanley Archer is also in the Class II photo. Just in front and to the right (as we look) of the girl in the back row with the white dress. He looks quite unhappy. His father was a journeyman gardener and took his large family all over southern England for work. I suspect my grandfather wasn’t in the school for very long.
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