King Henry VIII Grammar School

I've just thought of another one for the Silly Files. You may remember when we had to write down our choice of schools, prior to us taking the 11 Plus. I think we had to apply a ranking method on a pre-provided piece of paper, from first choice, to last, and you would then be allocated to your favoured school, according to how well you performed in the exam. How come there was no supplementary and helpful information next to the 'King Henry VIII School' option? "Warning: May contain nuts".

Last of the Inkers - perhaps it was because to a degree they all contained nuts!

Thanks L O T I, a bit of sympathy and solidarity never comes amiss. I would like to confirm that I did not find any relief in my circumstances by going to school. The following might raise a smile. I was the first to buy a car in our family (1955) Obviously what better instructor could one have, but a qualified teacher. Unfortunately father had never driven a car, only a motor bike and side car. I did pass my test first time despite his hysteria.

Strangely, despite my total lack of interest at school, I have become a father to 2 teachers, and have been a school governor for the last 12 years. The change in education nowadays, compared to what we experienced is beyond belief. Most of our teachers would be removed from teaching nowadays either for their bullying attitude, or for their lack of ability to move knowledge from their heads into ours. It's a funny old world.

Inkers, I think you have made some important points, and I have alluded to the same thing previously in the thread. Many of the teachers in my era were approaching retirement and, on reflection now, they were just time-servers who had little interest in either the job or the people they taught. The best we could hope for was to be addressed by surname, and even that was beyond many of them who simply resorted to 'You boy!' Lessons were usually just chalk and talk, or even working through some exercise while the teacher caught upon his marking or filled in his pools coupon. These were simply idle and many never made any effort to get to know the names of boys, let alone anything about them and their abilities. The concept of motivation would have been totally alien to them, they clearly thought boys should motivate themselves. Even the likes of Tramp Edwards were only interested in their own advancement through his projected book for publication, while the pupils he experimented on could go to hell. What an appalling legacy the Walker/Shore era created for those who put up with the bullying and dire teaching on their watch. Incidentally, I may be up for the 'Piggy & Beak Awards' in March and have ironed my sixth form tie already. However, what I need to know is will we need to have Piggy-approved haircuts for the event? I ask for myself, but particularly for Beesman, for whom this issue could be the decider!

I am still looking for advice on being the son of a teacher!! Those who know who I am will be amused to hear my doctor has banned me from drinking milk!! I do remember my father's views on Allen Edwards and his "New Mathematics" books; he went along with it despite misgivings. Edwards insisted they were on to a winner. I remember him more for "Christian Aid"

Hello MisterD-Di, With reference to your "Piggy And The Beak Awards" enquiry, I can tell you that prefects will be on the door, performing the necessary checks in respect of appearance. Naturally, as well, tardiness will not be tolerated. This can seem austere, but once you get into the Bible Passage reading and hymn singing to start the event as usual, things lighten up considerably. I've heard that the school leopard is the Master of Ceremonies this year, so I'm looking forward to some good sound bites. Thankfully, the exhibitionistic showboater we hired to play the role of King Henry VIII last year is not being invited back. Since witnessing his performance, I haven't been able to look at a piece of cod without feeling queasy.

Hello LOTI, Is our school leopard the same one that appeared in 'Tompkinson's Schooldays' of 'Ripping Yarns' fame?

Oh, I also forgot to tell you that - for those of us presently struggling with our energy levels and direction in life - we are hoping to employ the services of a motivational speaker at the Awards! Apparently he is very good. He screams, angrily, at the top of his voice: "PULL YOUR RUDDY SOCKS UP!!!"

Whilst it's true that a lot of the teachers didn't engage with you some did and were all the better teachers and liked for it. Fossil Scotford always springs to mind as one who didn't. He was my first form master in 2B. For those who don't know he took History. His idea of teaching was to come in, tell you what pages in your text book to read and then get on with whatever the hell he did at the desk. Marking, reading the paper, who knows? Dickie Dawson on the other hand was a good teacher who genuinely seemed to take an interest in his subject and wanted to pass his knowledge on and being quite mild mannered was well liked. I have noticed that on this forum about Henry's there doesn't really seem to be anyone who was there much later than me, I left in 1975. As I have said before, while my time there may not have been a totally positive experience it certainly wasn't as harsh as the generations before me seemed to have experienced and I came through it unscarred and actually missing it, because I missed my mates.

On another school's thread . . . . . . never see similar comments regarding KHVIII

I doubt you will MR. I hated my years there and couldn't wait to leave. I have no happy memories of the place whatsoever. A couple of teachers made a favourable impression on me (Will Light for one) but most were incapable, inadequate, sadistic, bullies. I will say a good word for Piggy Shore though. I had my bus pass and money stolen from the gym one day. Piggy didn't hesitate in giving me my bus fare home.

I left henrys in the early 70s but I know one thing that henrys was and always will be a great school with lots of memories and ghosts.

Just for you, Midland Red! Putting down my silly hat for a moment, I feel that the school had a culture (presumably shaped and influenced by the Head and others), a modus operandi, that, as pupils, either resonated favourably with you at one end of the scale of perception, or that you utterly despised, at the other. It is not an unreasonable assumption to make, I hope, that those who experienced success, in their and the school's terms, and made some good friends along the way, probably feel that it was a fairly good place to be. As far as schools go - at that time. A number of my friends went to Woodlands School and they were not really singing its praises either. When the passage of the years gives one cause for deeper reflection on the experience, some elements of the culture seems inexplicably 'weird'. That is - not reasonable, sensible or meaningful. But all cultures, customs and norms are vulnerable to this type of critique. We can look at Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas from a dispassionate perspective and they are all, in their own way, weird. The particular challenge of school is that one has no 'opt out' clause in the contract. I'm pretty certain that my parents didn't consider transferring me to another school. I don't have children so I don't know how it works, or worked. I believe the conditions constantly change, as per Government decision making, from the snippets I pick up on in the media. So you are stuck. Trapped. 'Their game. Their rules'. What the teachers might consider to be 'reasonable', those on the receiving end might consider to be 'vicious and cruel' or 'absurd', etc.. Somehow - I am not at all sure how this works - perceptions change over time and 'right' turns to 'wrong'. And those who were ahead of the curve consider themselves vindicated. Those who conducted themselves in accordance with the old ways say something like "the country is going to rack and ruin". And as one gets older, it is difficult not to get sucked into this way of looking at life. I was adversely affected by my school days so - not unreasonably from my point of view - I would argue that it was a dung heap and deserves some parody, which I am pleased to be able to attempt. It is over 40 years ago since I left, so I think that is fair enough! Were many of the teachers physical bullies? Two or three were, I guess. It is the psychological aspect that is trickier. When you feel trapped by circumstance, the 'drip-drip' effect begins to take hold. It is the day-in, day-out dislike of being in a place, with no prospect of changing it, that starts to wear one down. And it doesn't help when you are told to 'knuckle down', 'pull your socks up' and all the other trite remarks that are meant to constitute sound advice. Especially when you are given no opportunity to express your own point of view, such that it might be considered, if only to ultimately be rejected. When I go past the school, I would like to give it the thumbs up and not the other popular finger signal of disapproval, I don't like feeling the way I do about it. I didn't go there with the express intention of disliking it. That evolved. But I do like laughing!

-- not forgetting that freddies may actually, truthfully, really have been great! The lucky so-and-so!