Woodlands School

Hi Mick - yes, both he and Harvey Wyatt retired in the mid 1990s, and I left then for pastures new!

I liked Harvey, had more to do with him than I did with Bernard. As well as Harvey teaching me, he also ran the school football team. Good bloke!!

I have not laughed so much in ages, reading the post here. I was a Woodlands pupil in Stringer House from 1972-76, House Master Jock Edney. So FWIW - The Good - Jim Wilkinson, art teacher. A joy to be in his class. Great teacher, able to inform and inspire. Mick Twistleton, my form master. Kind man. Let us do 'enquiry studies.' Basically anything we were interested in. (-: Sue Underwood. I remember riotous applause when she played guitar and sang at a General Assembly. The Bad - Mr Hotot, French teacher. Once picked up a kid by throat and slapped him around the face, for talking in class! Harvey Proctor. Hit kids with metal ruler once for every item they forgot to bring to class. We learned fast. Mr Bowman, chemistry teacher. No control resulted in class scumbags making a gas chamber under desks! Then there was Don Thompson THM (rumour was that the letters stood for Tile Hill Mafia) who was completely bonkers. One edict was that 'boys must not wear coloured underwear' and he went around checking. Many years later I was told that he had been forced to retire by the board of Governors on grounds of insanity. But I don't know if that was true. (-:

Hi Woodland Survivor, welcome to the forum.

Reading through this old post made me recall Woodlands swimming pool (to which I must have donated at least £1 towards its construction in the early 60's) being so frozen over that Colin Dick (art teacher) was actually ice skating on it. Post copied from topic Coventry swimming pools & swimmers on 19th Oct 2022 11:21 am

I hated it, Mick. Don Thompson seen here making sure everyone froze.

Goodness, so many memory jerkers in this thread! I was at Woodlands 1960 - 1965 so I had a couple of years under the headship of 'Knocker' West before the onset of tyrannical head Mr Thompson. I think it fair to say that other than never being a fan of the previously mentioned cross-country running (hung over games master's easy option?), I 100% enjoyed my time at Woodlands. Maybe that's down to fact that I never got caned nor impacted by flying board rubbers or pieces of chalk? There is no denying that misuse of corporal punishment was rife at the time but I managed to escape with no more than a couple of detentions. All of which, of course, would have been based upon totally trumped up charges. My journeying to and from Woodlands was somewhat different to the five minute walk I had enjoyed whilst attending St Christopher's junior school. The preferred scenario to get to Woodies would start with a 7:50 am car ride with my father to his place of work at the bottom of Melbourne road. Then a short walk to one of the three sheltered bus stops on the city side of Spon End arches in order to catch a number 13 bus. The journey home would normally be the number 13 bus to Glendower Avenue and a walk down Glendower and up and over Grayswood Ave. Unless of course it was tipping it down with rain. In that case it paid to stay on the 13 until Hearsall Common and then get the number 1 to the Grayswood terminus. I well remember my first day. Enjoying something of a 'grown up' senior school vibe, I duly presented at Gibson house, the realm of Jim newton who would later become my English teacher. After being given a short welcome and a personal up-and-over book locker, it was soon time to be taken across to the main assembly hall. It was there that the 'grown up' vibe took a bit of a dent when I and the rest of that years 'fuzzer' intake, were instructed to sit down, cross-legged on the bare floor and be quiet. Names were then called out allocating individuals to their first year classes. On hearing your name, you were expected to stand and follow a master to your first classroom and lesson. I started in 1B. I played rugby and basketball (Capt.) and athletics for the school. I avoided going in the swimming pool like the plague. With a leaning towards maths, physics, TD and metalwork, I chose to give 6th form a miss and instead took an apprenticeship at Wickmans. I believe that if you were intent on learning, Woodlands really did have a lot to offer. Facilities, across the board, were top notch.

Mick, as I recall, the full saying used by 'Sooty' Corbett to command a pupil/slacker/victim to get to the front of the class and adopt a suitable pose for punishment was "Come yer boy and face the way the Wise Men came!" One poor lad, I think his name was Atkins, was a regular offender and must have had nightmares featuring that phrase. I too liked Sooty. Maybe it helped that I was good with maths and played rugby in the team that he coached? I do remember, back in the day when there were no handouts and you had to copy homework questions off the board and into your notebook, he took great delight in giving us an unbelievable mass of differential calculus questions for that night's homework. All due to be handed in for marking the next day. "Enjoy Bonfire Night boys." he said with a wicked grin all over his face.

Another disciplinarian of the early sixties springs to mind. Please correct me if I am wrong but as I recall, my gown wearing Latin master, Mr Barker(?), wasn't averse to wielding his cane? From an educational standpoint, I'm sure there will have been 'bonus, bona, bonum' reason to make us do two compulsory years of Latin. Needless to say, come year three, those of us who didn't envisage a career as a heraldic sign-writer opted out of Latin in favour of other subjects like........... well anything!

Firstly, thank you to the administrators for allowing me access to this site. I am honoured and delighted to be here. There are many names that I recognise. Hello Mick. This is a very old posting and I hope I am not too late to the party. I recall Mr. Boland vividly as he was one of my teachers during my two years at the school. I had been attending City of Coventry Boarding School (CCBS) prior to Woodlands and Mr. Boland's son was a pupil there (at CCBS) for a very short period; perhaps one term or so. I also know there are a couple of other people on this site who will remember his son very well.

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum

Thank you, Helen.

Hi everyone. I now live 12,000 miles away in New Zealand but Coventry and Woodlands School hold a special place in my heart. I was there from 1960 til 1965. I was in Brook House and well remember Bill Cleaver the housemaster and yes I was one of his Morris Dancing Team. Many boys thought we were mad but there was method, and many benefits, in our madness. I also remember "Sooty" Corbett and Mr Barker, both attached to Brook House. I had Sooty for Maths and Mr Barker for Latin and still have nightmares about them both. I have only just found this forum and still have a little reading to do. I'm not very good with names, unless you are a dog and then I have no trouble, so I'm looking forward to hopefully refreshing my memory. Many thanks for accepting me into your community.

Hi BarryW, welcome to the forum

Thank you Helen.