King Henry VIII Grammar School

Hi & thank you for all of your kind words.

That is so easily done. It's knowing what to do when we realise an error. Yesterday, I got off a Wolverhampton train at Galton Bridge, where I legged it up on to the high level platform, & boarded a waiting train that was about to depart, without knowing actually where it was going, but at least it was in the right direction, knowing that I could change at the next station where all trains stop. It could have been a special, who knows that, hey! The thing is, that you were aware of what was happening. Good old the grammar school. A lady conductor on a London Midland train (I do like the ladies, hey) was telling me that last week, that a couple boarded a train in Coventry for a shopping trip to Birmingham, who had no awareness of where they were, until the inspector explained that they were going in the wrong direction, as they approached Northampton. The train had stopped at Rugby, but that did not mean anything to them.

I don't use trains in the UK but sometimes do so abroad. That reminded me of an incident when we were in Germany a couple of years back. We were on a ship that docked at Warnemunde for the day and took the train to Rostock, about 20 minutes away. After a day there we returned to the station and, trusting German efficiency, got on the train marked 'Warnemunde' at the relevant platform. Off it went, and soon my wife pointed out that we were out in the country, rather than through suburbs that we had seen on the earlier journey. We were headed to Berlin! There were several other people from the ship on the train and we all decided to get off at the first station. This turned out to be a halt in the middle of nowhere and about 20 people trooped off, under the line through a tunnel, and on the next train back through Rostock to Warnemunde, and home in time for tea! There had been some Japanese passengers who had done the same, and although some tried to explain to them, they stayed on the train and, for all we know, could have ended up in Berlin!

Thinking about my time at KHVIII, the whole dreary episode seemed to be aimed simply at securing sufficient 'O' and 'A' level examination passes, for boys to be able to move on, either into a job (or career), or further "education", having secured the requisite number of passes The passing of an examination in a subject was the sole aim, not the actual teaching of the subject - and there were no "lifestyle" subjects (unless you were relegated to a stream which had to take woodwork with Bert Stanger) At no time was there any preparation for life in the outside world I'm still amazed that it was possible for teachers to spend a whole lifetime in education, without experiencing the outside world - they attended school, then teacher training college, followed by appointment into placement as a schoolteacher This gave little or no opportunity for life skills to be learnt by teachers and passed on I'm sure this was the case during my time at KHVIII, yet many of the "masters" there would have learnt life skills during the war and immediate post-war periods which could have been of tremendous value to students had the school made this possible - that sort of education probably wouldn't have achieved any 'O' level passes (so it didn't happen) but it could have been of great use (and, dare I say it, interest!) I too managed to achieve, despite KHVIII - I wonder how things might have turned out at a comprehensive/secondary modern school?

I went to Woodlands and was in the 'selective stream' - those studying for 'O' Levels. I walked out as soon as I was old enough to leave school so never took any of the exams. At 13 I had opted to take German - perhaps the only thing of any use to me. I spent a third of my 9 year army stint in Germany. My education has been learned at the university of life. I am a teacher in the truest sense. I pass on what knowledge I have to others.

Hello Philip, Thanks for your greeting and your anecdote. I was pleased to read that you had been able to come to the aid of the mature travelers, who were carrying suitcases bearing a Llandudno label. Blimey, that took me back. To those days when a trip to North Wales constituted travelling abroad for a Midlander. Now. Life lessons learnt at school. I have been grappling with this one for some time and whilst they are not as useful as yours, I believe them to me reasonably helpful, based upon my experience. One: Never find yourself at the bottom of a ruck. Two: Your best friend is someone who likes to eat the skin that has formed on the top of a pot of custard. Three: If you think school lessons are boring, wait until you spend a day in full-time work. Four: When the bell rings to denote it is time to leave - skedaddle. Five: Appearances matter. If you wish to maintain a modicum of credibility then avoid dressing like a school teacher. Six: Always carry a pen, because doodling can get you through the most trying of times. Seven: Attending an all-male school will guarantee that when you try to converse with a girl you find very attractive, you will make a total ass of yourself. Eight: Grading by ability is essential. And should be applied rigourously within the teaching profession. Nine: Only burst out laughing at something a person in authority says when you are absolutely certain that they are joking. Ten: Having a mentor can be invaluable. Select a caretaker, because they hold the keys. None to be taken too seriously, I hasten to add!

Hi all It does sadden me when folk feel cheated with regards to their education, where they feel the teaching disciplines were inappropriate in whatever way. There were times when I was not always quite so positive, but thankfully for me they were only odd times. I started school at the age of five & finished at sixteen, eleven years (minus the time that I was in Paybody, but I had teaching from the grammar school in there, so it was no cop-out), all of which was a huge period of time if it was all like a horror story. Funny the time spent here discussing our past education, as the gent I was with this morning was a former Coventry teacher. In spite of him being confined to a wheel-chair, he is so positive about life, even without his wife who died four years ago. He needs to be a teacher to work all of the gadgets on his handle-bars. I have missed the steamer going through Cov due in about half an hour, but needs must as my mother used to say.

I think a lot of people do leave school having not got enough out of the system to equip them for later life. In some cases it is their own fault, of course. But this is why I was determined that my own daughter would at least get a fair chance of success at her school and why I became a governor. A questioning and critical governing body is an essential part of any school, yet I doubt that was ever the case at KHVIII. I doubt there were parent governors and suspect they were made up of local worthies, the 'great and the good'. As others have said, it was all about exam results and university places. Nothing else mattered, it was a numbers game. I have to say that, of those contemporaries I have spoken to over many years, very few regarded their experience at the school as positive overall. As I said before, we were not well prepared for adult life at all. Being an all-boys school certainly didn't help, and I was so glad I also socialised with comprehensive kids outside of school who clearly were better prepared, if not in possession of as many exam grades. All things considered, I'd have been better off at Binley Park.

Interestingly MisterD-Di, I wasn't ever given the chance to mix with the local kids. They took the attitude that I was some sort of snob going to KHVIII. Of course, things weren't helped by the school having slightly different holiday dates. All in all, I can't say I have many positive memories of my time there. Maybe I'd have been better off going to the local comprehensive? - At least I might have kept my friends.

Hi, Bohica. I know what you mean, there were certainly some kids that regarded KHVIII kids as posh or snobs. That is probably because a fair proportion lived in areas such as Styvechale. Many didn't of course, and I tended to mix at school with kids from similar backgrounds to mine. I've said before that you had the feeling the kids from wealthy families were discouraged from mixing with those from the 'working class'. The school was very elitist in that sense. I was fortunate in a way. I lived in Ernesford Grange where there were a lot of people of my age as it was a newly built area. In my road there were about eight lads of the same age, four of us going to KHVIII and the rest to Binley Park. We all just carried on as before, irrespective of schools, so had a wide group of friends. If I had been the only one at the school it may have been very different, as you suggest. Of the four of us who went to KHVIII, I suspect the other three will have even less positive memories of it than me.

Even now, all these years later if I meet people from Cov and I say I went to school there and they find out I was at Henry's they always same the same thing. "Oooooh you went to the posh school." Fair enough. Unlike many others on here I had a good time at school and enjoyed it and I'm proud of having gone there. I did relatively little work and skated along and got by with piss taking and mucking about in class, nothing malicious and a few scraps. My brother however moved up into the main school the September after I left, some teachers gathered round him at lunchtime on his first day and asked him if he was my brother. When he said yes they told him that they'd be keeping a close eye on him. My reputation preceded him, as it were.

Bags said: "Even now, all these years later if I meet people from Cov and I say I went to school there and they find out I was at Henry's they always same the same thing. "Oooooh you went to the posh school." " I got exactly the same thing in recent months from a lady, sorry, woman, who had just got married for the first time, despite being in my age group. She lives in Royal Leamington Spa (sounds upmarket doesn't it), but in what a colleague from RLS describes as "the roughest road in Leamington". The subject of which school we attended came up, and when my turn came, I merely stated an all-boys school in Coventry. "Oh, you went to a posh school" she said dismissively, as if it were something to be ashamed of, something bad. I guess on her part it was what they call inverted snobbery. I'm not ashamed of having attended - I have many fond memories of the place, and some not so pleasant ones, but on refection, the good times outweighed the bad.

A mate of mine who was not fast-streamed stayed on a year after I left. One of his teachers (Laird) said to his class "Be careful - you don't want to end up like Slim, do you?", my mate later told me.

Slim. I used to live in Leamington for quite a few years in the late 70s early 80s and wonder what the roughest street there is now? I was surprised when I saw in one of the broadsheets that it is one of the most desirable places in the country to live. Kenilworth, Stratford and Warwick are far nicer. I guess it may have meant just from a shopping point of view.