Today's blog is about my first school
My
first school was when I attended at the age of 4 and one of several my brother Robin had
become a pupil at, was Heaton Moor College, a private school in Stockport. Robin had been to many schools where he hadn’t
fitted in for having "difficulties with
his hands” as my Mum used to describe it. The school was a slightly crumbling dilapidated building that had seen better days. It was unusual compared to
state schools because the teachers lived on the premises. The school managed to
maintain some image of authority in the form of Mr Forman the terrifyingly
strict headmaster, who wore a gown and mortarboard. The reality was that Heaton Moor
College
was in decline and some of the teachers were not qualified to teach. They did
not have a clue how to deal with either infant school children or ones with
dyspraxia in an inclusive way. Robin did
not manage the work that he was given and I have a vivid memory of a teacher
making him wear a dunces hat and stand in the corner of the room. I was
encouraged to mock him, as a that age I did not know any better. Robin also remembered his teacher hitting him on the hand and sometimes the head with a
ruler because he could not write cleanly in a strait line.
The Fat Giggler
During
this era My mum called me a fat giggler
because of my fondness for sweet things. I was quite podgy and when I was not
crying I was very cheeky, giddy and giggled a lot. Although
my brown checked gingham dress brown blazer and ribboned hat did not
suit my skin tone I looked very cheeky in it. I have memories of crying and
screaming as frustrated 4 year old's do The teacher couldn’t cope with my
tantrums. I was screaming so loud that Mr
Foreman came in one day to see what the noise was because he could hear my howling from his
study. Although there was a 31/2 year gap between us I was in the same class as
Robin. I was the baby of the class and there were no infant classes. They gave
me work which was more suitable for a 6 year old and I was expected to add up
tens and units when I hadn’t even been taught the properties of numbers or how
to do addition. This would have been hard for any child let alone a neurodivrgent
one.
in
the 1960s. ethnocentrism, I sheer ignorance and possibly Antisemitism was a
way of life and there was no such thing as equality and diversity. In spite of there being other Jewish pupils in
the past when Robin and I refused to eat pork or luncheon meat for school
dinners but the school prefects used to force us eat it all up.
One day
my mother was summoned to see Mr Foreman who recited a list of both our misdemeanour's and we ere both expelled
from the school. My mother was really angry because we were referred to as ‘that
pair’ and not as individuals. In reality we were just as disruptive as both
individuals and as partners in crime. I was glad I was not coming back because
the only girl,Laura who was near my age wasn’t friendly because she had emotional problems, but at the time I just thought she didn’t like me. So that
was my first experience of school. It was definitely a character building and
somewhat traumatic for both Robin and I and probably increased Laura's issues.
Coming up soon what happened at my next school.
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