Figure 1.--Here I am at my grammar school. We had a special visitor and our photograph appeared in the local newspaper. |
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My school life began at a boys-only (private-sector) prep (sc. preparatory) school. Such schools are different to American prep schools in that they are for younger children. This school was fairly typical of smaller British prep schools in that we were all day pupils, aged from 5 to 13. Pre-preps today often have different uniforms or varied uniforms from the prep schools to which they are attached. At our school as there no separate pre-prep section, the uniform was the same for all the children. Our uniform was a plain grey suit (winter) or grey trousers with purple blazer (summer term only). Having passed the 11-plus exam, in September 1962 I moved to the local (public-sector) grammar school. This was a fairly recent school - opened in 1954 - and coeducational. At my new grammar school we wore dark grey trousers, dark green blazers with a coat of arms on the breast pocket, and grey shirts with a plain maroon tie. As before, in cold weather I wore a pullover - green to match the blazer - under it. Grey socks and black lace-up shoes (worn indoors and out) completed the uniform. At that stage, navy-blue gabardine raincoats were generally worn but later other dark blue to black coats became more common.
My school life began at a boys-only (private-sector) prep (sc. preparatory) school. Such schools are different to American prep schools in that they are for younger children. This school was fairly typical of smaller British prep schools in that we were all day pupils, aged from 5 to 13. Pre-preps today often have different uniforms or varied uniforms from the prep schools to which they are attached. At our school as there no separate pre-prep section, the uniform was the same for all the children. Our uniform was a plain grey suit (winter) or grey trousers with purple blazer (summer term only). Shorts were the norm, reaching to a little above the knee - one or two of the boys in the top form (13 years old) wore long trousers. For PT (as it was known there) indoors we changed into white plimsolls and removed our blazers and ties. In the summer we would normally be outside, for which we changed into white shirts (either button-up or t-shirts) and shorts, and wore plimsolls without socks. While in principle a prep school prepares pupils for the Common Entrance examination at age 13, which would permit entry to Public Schools (i.e. private-sector senior schools), in practice about a third of the pupils took the Eleven-Plus exam and then went, as I did, to one of the local Grammar Schools (i.e. academically selective public-sector secondary schools). The reason my parents chose to send me to the prep school was the much smaller classes – typically 20 rather than the 30 - 40 in public-sector primary schools. The class size at the Grammar School was 25 – 30, which, with older children, was not seen as a problem.
Having passed the 11-plus exam, in September 1962 I moved to the local (public-sector) grammar school. This was a fairly recent school - opened in 1954 - and coeducational. At my new grammar school we wore dark grey trousers, dark green blazers with a coat of arms on the breast pocket, and grey shirts with a plain maroon tie. As before, in cold weather I wore a pullover - green to match the blazer - under it. Grey socks and black lace-up shoes (worn indoors and out) completed the uniform. At that stage, navy-blue gabardine raincoats were generally worn but later other dark blue to black coats became more common. For the first few years I was there, caps were worn (sometimes) to and from school. In hot weather, we would ask permission to take off our blazers in class and roll up our sleeves - permission was definitely required, but most teachers were reasonable about granting it. In the sixth form, we wore white shirts rather than grey, and in the upper sixth, dark blue blazers rather than dark green, with a more elaborate version of the coat of arms on the breast pocket. When it was cold, I wore a blue pullover under the blazer. For a few classes we needed protective clothing of some kind. For PE and games, boys and girls were distinctive outfits. Our PE and Games kit consisted of white cotton PE shorts, navy blue games shorts, two rugby shirts (one green, the other white), white plimsolls, white ankle socks, coloured rugby socks, rugby boots and a white sweater. We also needed a towel. There were rules about what we were to wear and when. Inevitably the theory and practice of PE kit differed. I never wore the white ankle socks (twenty years later I gave them to my wife!): in fact, I very rarely wore any socks at all with plimsolls - I found them more comfortable without, and in the winter I put comfort before warmth.
