Schools were mad looking back
Sand Pits
Was anyone else banned from the primary school sand pit because there was always dog or cat shit in the sand? This also seemed to be the case with the long jump pit in secondary school. What was it with sand pits and poo? I think I only ever got to play in the sand pit once in the 7 years that I was at primary school.

Temporary Buildings
How was it that temporary buildings were anything but? The 'terrapins' (why were they even called this?) that were erected at my primary school when I was there are still being used there today about 19 years later! I've known permanent buildings that didn't survive that long!

We also had a fort... yes a whole fort... in the field at primary school, proper two storey job with battlements. That got knocked down while I was there due to health and safety despite being in good nick. An irony considering the terrapins.

Fire Drills
Did anyone else have a severe reaction to their first fire drill?

I must have been 6-7 and the whole class was sat around, legs crossed in the communal area for storytime when the alarm went.

For some reason that day we had all bought in some sort or toy or book from home, and I think I had bought in a model trains book or something like that.

On the alarm sounding the teacher proceeded to calmly say to the rest of the class "It's ok, we all need to calmly stand and walk...".

I however had different ideas. I believe I started to make a doppler like sound that started very quietly and increased in volume

"uuuuaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!"

I proceeded to run a couple of circles around the teacher and then ran out into the main classroom and to my drawer (every kid had a drawer where all their work was kept) to retrieve my book and save it from the fire.

"uuuuUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!

By the time I got back to my classmates they had been neatly arranged in a line and were waiting for me to join them. I remember their faces watching me as I joined the end of the line, tears streaming down my face as I clutched my book closer to my chest.

The rest of them were happy of course as they had been told what a fire drill was. I however had missed the lesson where the class had been prepared for fire drills.

Hand-Writing
During most of primary school, we were forced to use fountain pens and nothing else when doing work. I guess this encouraged better hand writing skills, but it meant near euphoria when at the end of primary school and the start of 'big' school we would need biros for our work. Biros!!! Real actual biros!!!

Dirt and Smells
I never remember primary school being particularly dirty, but my abiding memory of secondry school was a constant smell of stale or mouldy sandwich filling. There always seemed to bo someone's liver paste sandwich stuck to a window or a ceiling somewhere.

And of course there were staligtites worth of chewing gum on the underneath of ALL desks in the school. I remember being particularly put out when I accidently hit my knee against the underside of a desk and encountered a freshly laid piece of gum which had now become one with my school trousers. I had to go to a science teacher, who told me I would need to change into my PE shorts so they could freeze my trousers and chip off the gum. It was a very weird thing to sit through a normal lesson in my PE shorts.

End of Term
End of term at primary school always seemed to involve a day where we bought in toys so everyone could share (of course there were inevitable moments of jealousy at witnessing some of the more spoilt kids toys) or we would sit in the school hall and watch a film on tape, disney or similar, like the Little Mermaid, or Land before Time (which of course made everyone cry) or at christmas; Santa Clause: The Movie which according to IMDb was utter dross but we loved it at the time.

End of Term at secondry school was usually un-eventful except for the few times where we would have the only PE lesson that I have ever enjoyed: mass dodgeball. There would be something like 250 kids packed into the sports-hall. The teachers would throw maybe 8 balls into the middle of the hall, retreat to the edge of the hall and blow a whistle. What would then be set in motion was something more akin to 300 than a high school PE lesson. The game was a last man standing arrangement so there would a mad rush for the balls, then a mass retreat by all those who couldn't get a ball away from those who did. Initially there would be small groups against others. Boys against girls, then bullies against geeks etc etc. My one clear memory was the moment of realisation when it turned out the boys had managed to capture all the balls and the girls fled screaming, like a flock of herded ducks into the corner of the hall. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Eventually you would end up with 248 kids sat around the edge of the sportshall watching two guys battling it out for the final glory. After a while one would fall and the game would end. It was a great thing to do at school as it got everyone involved and everyone enjoyed it. It was such chaos that it was the only time a weedy guy might get to finally beat his bully at something. I'd make them compulsory at schools if I could. It would solve the obesity epidemic instantly.
(stubbledchin, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 17:38, 3 replies)

I can't stand using biros
they always seem to make my handwriting look scruffy. Fountain and gel pens on the other hand give a much neater result. No idea why this is.
(Uncle Comrade, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 19:03, closed)

Some of that sounds very familiar...
www.b3ta.com/questions/treasuredpossessions/post157288
(HaHa!Snakes! was last seen on, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 19:26, closed)

Wow
A common occurrence!
(stubbledchin, Tue 3 Feb 2009, 22:13, closed)