Figure 1.--This is class 1B in the prep department during 1971. The boys uniform was just the same as in the senior school, exceot the prep boys wore short trousers. In the senior school, shorts were required only in the first year. |
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I too had done well on my 11+ exam and had been accepted at a grammar school, but a different one to my brother. We had moved in the Summer of 1970 to another
district of London and I was due to start at my secondary school. This was what was known as a "Direct Grant Grammar School" - most of the boys paid fees to
attend it, but under a government scheme they took a proportion of boys who had passed their own internal enterance exam - and the fees were then paid by the local authority. This was considered to be a much "better" school than the run-of- the-mill grammar schools (like the one my brother was attending) and were really day-boy versions of the public schools. They expected all of their students to go on to Oxford or Cambridge Universities and had "rolls of honour" all around the main hall with the names of past students who had done just that. The school also had a "preparatory department" which took in boys from the age of 9-11 who then went on to the main school as well as boys joining from various state primary schools from all over London. I was the only boy from my primary school who went to this school--similar to other boys who I met there who had won a "free place" from inner-city London boroughs. Most of the boys who's parents paid to send their sons there lived in "posher" areas of the capital--in effect the suburbs). My mother had been pleased that my elder brother had got into his grammar school a year earlier, but was not so sure that I should be entered for this school--thinking it was "out of our league". She had finally been persauded to do so by my primary school teacher who no doubt saw it as reflecting well on her school.
I too had done well on my 11+ exam and had been accepted at a grammar school. An English grammar school is different than an American grammar school. In America, a grammar school means an elementary or primary school. In England a grammar school is an secondary school with an acadenically oriented program, A test was given to 11 year ols in primary school. Only those who did well were able to attend a grammar school. The others went to secondary moderns. At the time, educational authorities were just beginning to introduce comprehensive schools.
My brother and i had gone to the same primary school. Our secindary schools were different. We had moved in the Summer of 1970 to another district of London and I was due to start at my secondary school.
Our school was what was known as a "Direct Grant Grammar School" - most of the boys paid fees to attend it, but under a government scheme they took a proportion of boys who had passed their own internal enterance exam - and the fees were then paid by the local authority. This was considered to be a much "better" school than the run-of- the-mill grammar schools (like the one my brother was attending) and were really day-boy versions of the public schools. They expected all of their students to go on to Oxford or Cambridge Universities and had "rolls of honour" all around the main hall with the names of past students who had done just that.
The school also had a "preparatory department" which took in boys from the age of 9-11 who then went on to the main school as well as boys joining from various state primary schools from all over London. Prep referred to preparatory school which in England meant a primary-level school preparing boys for entering the secondary-level public schools. HBC has quite a bit of information on preparatory schools. Most grammar schools did not have prep departments. Ours was different. Being a direct grant school, this meant that it was essentially a private school. Several private schools at the time did have prep departments or prep schools that they were closely assiciated with. The prep department at our school had the same uniform as the senior school. The different was that the prep boys wore short trousers. In the senior school only the first year boys were required to wear shorts, at least at the time that I entered the school. It was almost like a public school for day boys - very different to the grammar school my older brother went to. Mine had a prep department - where the boys paid to go to and then entered the main school. I not only had to pass the 11-plus to get into my school, I also had to sit their own entrance exam too. It is why I was so out of place there.
Parents were always proud of their children who did well on the 11+ and go accepted to a grammar school. The grammar school unifrm was thus a kind of family badge og honor. Everyone knew what the different uniforns were. Thus it was easy to tell who webnt to a grammar school and who went to a secondary modern. My mother had been pleased that my elder brother had got into his grammar school a year earlier, but was not so sure that I should be entered for this school--thinking it was "out of our league". She had finally been persauded to do so by my primary school teacher who no doubt saw it as reflecting well on her school.
My Mum got the uniform list for my new school - and as with most things she took charge. I haven't told you of going for my new uniform yet have I? I meant to - it was in the middle of that strange period when I was moving house and school at the same time. We had to go to the school shop (which was on the school premises not a "recommended" shop that did schoolwear for many schools like my brother went to for his uniform). I was quite in awe. The worst is that my Grandmother nearly came too as she had ventured into London to "help" with the move (and also to try to persaude my Mum yet again to return to Leeds and stop us boys picking up any more "London ways"! With two of us in good schools my Mum was having none of it). Anyway I escaped that as she went off back to Leeds before our appointment at the shop. I will try to fill you in on that as it was quite interesting looking back.
A reader writes, "I was in school at about the same time as Bill and attended a grammar school. His page is a wonderful account of school life at the time. He very accurately depicts what was on our minds as children at the time." Another reader writes, "Bill's account fits in with the brilliant film "Wondrous Oblivian".
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