© gbswales 2015
About Me - Education
My first years in school were at St Hilda’s Primary school in Carshalton which was about a ten minute walk from where we lived - location was important in those days because for most of my childhood my parents did not own a car. It was, a traditional mixed small infant/primary school that catered for children to the age of 11 or thereabouts. I don’t remember a great deal about the school which was in a large private house with the back garden converted to playground. Run by a kindly headmistress, Miss Godfrey, it focussed on basic english, artithmetic and I remember music. It had a school band but I dont think I progressed beyond the triangle, the instrument given to children who showed no musical inclination or sense of timing. In the sense that I have no bad memories this was a happy if unremarkable period. My haemophilia frequently interrupted my education and I wasn’t able to sit the 11+ exam which decided whether you went to Grammar School or the Secondary Modern. Concerned that I would not thrive in Secondary school my parents chose to send me to a small private grammar school in Wallington. A decision that I now know caused them a good deal of financial hardship and my Father to take on additional work in the evenings and weekends.on to “big” school
In truth Wallington Independent Grammar School was only big in comparison to my first school at peak capacity it had no more than 300 pupils and even with this low number seemed at times overcrowded. The teachers there had to have a degree but not necessarily any formal teacher training, something that showed itself in the mixed standards of teaching. Corporal punishment was the norm as was rigourus Physical Education, and participation in sports. Thankfully my haemophillia “protected” me from the worst excesses at the same time however dulling any competitive spirit I might have developed. I think the advice given by the headmaster prior to our GCE exams just about sums it up. It consisted of making sure that we got the name of the school right and that we correctly spelt the words “independent” and “grammar” correctly. In all a fairly superficial education that did not leave us well prepared for life afterwards. I honestly felt that their aim was to get a reasonable percentage into Oxbridge with the rest of us providing the fees to keep it running. It closed in 1973 to make way for a residential home. If you want to find out more about my old school then I host a site full of memorabelia, photos etc at http://www.wigtonian.org.uk I left school at 17 with only 4 O Levels (though including English and Maths) I remember being one of the minority that understood, and almost liked, algebra. Indeed I attribute my maths O level to my use of algebra in solving many of the questions. I took many occupational courses during my working life but did not return to academia until my mid 50s when I started a part-time degree course in business computing at the then Swansea Institute of Higher Education (now Swansea Metroplitan University) This was an outcome that none of my Grammar School teachers envisaged.
Wallington Independent
Grammar School
© gbswales 2015
About Me -
Education
My first years in school were at St Hilda’s Primary school in Carshalton which was about a ten minute walk from where we lived - location was important in those days because for most of my childhood my parents did not own a car. It was, a traditional mixed small infant/primary school that catered for children to the age of 11 or thereabouts. I don’t remember a great deal about the school which was in a large private house with the back garden converted to playground. Run by a kindly headmistress, Miss Godfrey, it focussed on basic english, artithmetic and I remember music. It had a school band but I dont think I progressed beyond the triangle, the instrument given to children who showed no musical inclination or sense of timing. In the sense that I have no bad memories this was a happy if unremarkable period. My haemophilia frequently interrupted my education and I wasn’t able to sit the 11+ exam which decided whether you went to Grammar School or the Secondary Modern. Concerned that I would not thrive in Secondary school my parents chose to send me to a small private grammar school in Wallington. A decision that I now know caused them a good deal of financial hardship and my Father to take on additional work in the evenings and weekends.on to “big” school
In truth Wallington Independent Grammar School was only big in comparison to my first school at peak capacity it had no more than 300 pupils and even with this low number seemed at times overcrowded. The teachers there had to have a degree but not necessarily any formal teacher training, something that showed itself in the mixed standards of teaching. Corporal punishment was the norm as was rigourus Physical Education, and participation in sports. Thankfully my haemophillia “protected” me from the worst excesses at the same time however dulling any competitive spirit I might have developed. I think the advice given by the headmaster prior to our GCE exams just about sums it up. It consisted of making sure that we got the name of the school right and that we correctly spelt the words “independent” and “grammar” correctly. In all a fairly superficial education that did not leave us well prepared for life afterwards. I honestly felt that their aim was to get a reasonable percentage into Oxbridge with the rest of us providing the fees to keep it running. It closed in 1973 to make way for a residential home. If you want to find out more about my old school then I host a site full of memorabelia, photos etc at http://www.wigtonian.org.uk I left school at 17 with only 4 O Levels (though including English and Maths) I remember being one of the minority that understood, and almost liked, algebra. Indeed I attribute my maths O level to my use of algebra in solving many of the questions. I took many occupational courses during my working life but did not return to academia until my mid 50s when I started a part-time degree course in business computing at the then Swansea Institute of Higher Education (now Swansea Metroplitan University) This was an outcome that none of my Grammar School teachers envisaged.
