A typical day at Hildenborough School in the late 1940’s by Joy Dolling (née Burgess)
I was at Hildenborough Church of England Primary School from the age of 4 years 2 months until I was 11 years and 5 months. There were three classes, when I started, the infants taught by Miss Swallow, middle juniors taught by Mrs. Gwyther and top juniors taught by the headmaster Mr.L.R.A. Fitz. By the time I was 5 ½, another class had been added and when I left there were five classes, with teachers Miss Connie Mills and Mrs. Shelagh Griffiths.
My first classroom was in the main building facing Riding Lane. It had a big cast iron boiler, which ran on coke. We started school at 8.50 with exercises in the playground followed by assembly at 9.00 a.m. In winter it was always cold in the mornings and our free 1/3rd pint bottles of milk used to freeze. Sometimes the silver foil tops would come off. However, by 3 p.m. the boiler would be red hot and those sitting nearest to it would swelter. The boiler was never lit regardless of weather until October 1st and turned off by the 1st April.
We all sat in rows on wooden chairs at little tables even at the age of four and learnt most things from the blackboard. Chalk dust was everywhere. If we finished our “sums” before morning break we could get out a puzzle, which was a real treat. We were expected to work in silence. When I was 5 we were taught how to write, eventually joining up our letters at 6 years old. On a Friday we often wrote the school motto, “Manners maketh Man” in our writing books.
Lunch time was an hour and a half as some children went home to have a meal. Everybody who stayed had to queue up in the front playground, where we were taken across Riding Lane by a teacher (no dinner ladies in those days) to the Drill Hall (where the village hall is now). Here we had a main meal and pudding, which were freshly cooked on the premises. Bertha (?) was the head cook with Mrs Gibb as her helper. The teachers all sat on the stage for their meal with only one walking around the long tables. Grace was always said at the start of the meal and sometimes at the end too.
Hildenborough Church of England Primary School was a happy place where learning was fun. By the time we left we were fluent readers. In the top junior class we wrote with wooden pens with steel nibs, which could be replaced when they wore out or broke, and ink from the ink wells in our desks. The ink was made in a small outbuilding by mixing a blue powder with water. A boy was always chosen as ink monitor. Joe Moore, a gentle giant, was ink monitor when I joined the top class. He always got covered in blue ink as it was a messy job. He then had to fill all the little ink wells in the desks. Our desks were in twos and had lids and chair seats all attached to a single frame. We kept our books, pencils and pens in these. Amazingly, nothing ever seemed to go missing. I loved school except for the tests on Friday mornings, particularly the mental arithmetic test. If you got less than half right you had to stand on your chair. I only had to do this once but I was mortified. Boys who misbehaved got the cane, administered by the headmaster. Another thing I remember were the outside toilets. They were frozen up for a lot of the winter and were always rather smelly. We called them “the dubs”. I have no idea why. Can anyone shed any light on this?
In the afternoon we had drawing, painting, writing, singing, knitting and PT (Physical Training) for all, sewing for the girls, football for the boys and a story. At 3.40 we sang either “Thank you for the world so sweet” or “Now the day is over”. We left the classroom, when the bell rang at 3.45 p.m.
The high point of the year was Empire Day (or Commonwealth Day as it became known) in May. There were no lessons on this day. Each year a new May Queen was chosen by the teachers. She was dressed in a long white dress and on her head she wore a crown through which flowers and leaves were intertwined. It was a great honour to be chosen as Queen. All the reception girl infants were maids of honour and wore long flower-patterned white cotton dresses, which were stored in the school loft in huge cardboard boxes and wrapped in tissue paper.
The older girl infants were maids of honour to the old May Queen, who had been crowned the year before, and who would be leaving the school in the summer to go on to secondary education. These children all wore long pink cotton dresses with little flowers all over them. There was also a bouquet fairy, who presented the new May Queen with flowers. She was dressed in a glittery costume, which had also been wrapped in tissue in a wicker basket and stored in the loft. I was so lucky to be chosen to be the fairy and presented the flowers to that year’s Queen, Mary Wells. I remember being very thrilled about this and my mother “blancoed” my Clarke’s sandals to make them white to match my dress.
The front playground was set up with a dais for the Queens and little chairs for the maids of honour. Parents and friends were invited and they all sat or stood in front of the old air raid shelters (where some of the coke for the boilers was stored.) The headmaster made a speech, and then the parade began with the Queens leading the way walking all round the playground.
Every class performed a song, sketch, poem or dance and there was a fancy dress parade for the juniors. There was also country dancing, a Maypole dance and a P.T. display, all of which had been practiced endlessly during the preceding weeks. At the end we all stood and sang the National Anthem and saluted the Union Flag.
Joy Dolling (nee Burgess)
My first classroom was in the main building facing Riding Lane. It had a big cast iron boiler, which ran on coke. We started school at 8.50 with exercises in the playground followed by assembly at 9.00 a.m. In winter it was always cold in the mornings and our free 1/3rd pint bottles of milk used to freeze. Sometimes the silver foil tops would come off. However, by 3 p.m. the boiler would be red hot and those sitting nearest to it would swelter. The boiler was never lit regardless of weather until October 1st and turned off by the 1st April.
We all sat in rows on wooden chairs at little tables even at the age of four and learnt most things from the blackboard. Chalk dust was everywhere. If we finished our “sums” before morning break we could get out a puzzle, which was a real treat. We were expected to work in silence. When I was 5 we were taught how to write, eventually joining up our letters at 6 years old. On a Friday we often wrote the school motto, “Manners maketh Man” in our writing books.
Lunch time was an hour and a half as some children went home to have a meal. Everybody who stayed had to queue up in the front playground, where we were taken across Riding Lane by a teacher (no dinner ladies in those days) to the Drill Hall (where the village hall is now). Here we had a main meal and pudding, which were freshly cooked on the premises. Bertha (?) was the head cook with Mrs Gibb as her helper. The teachers all sat on the stage for their meal with only one walking around the long tables. Grace was always said at the start of the meal and sometimes at the end too.
Hildenborough Church of England Primary School was a happy place where learning was fun. By the time we left we were fluent readers. In the top junior class we wrote with wooden pens with steel nibs, which could be replaced when they wore out or broke, and ink from the ink wells in our desks. The ink was made in a small outbuilding by mixing a blue powder with water. A boy was always chosen as ink monitor. Joe Moore, a gentle giant, was ink monitor when I joined the top class. He always got covered in blue ink as it was a messy job. He then had to fill all the little ink wells in the desks. Our desks were in twos and had lids and chair seats all attached to a single frame. We kept our books, pencils and pens in these. Amazingly, nothing ever seemed to go missing. I loved school except for the tests on Friday mornings, particularly the mental arithmetic test. If you got less than half right you had to stand on your chair. I only had to do this once but I was mortified. Boys who misbehaved got the cane, administered by the headmaster. Another thing I remember were the outside toilets. They were frozen up for a lot of the winter and were always rather smelly. We called them “the dubs”. I have no idea why. Can anyone shed any light on this?
In the afternoon we had drawing, painting, writing, singing, knitting and PT (Physical Training) for all, sewing for the girls, football for the boys and a story. At 3.40 we sang either “Thank you for the world so sweet” or “Now the day is over”. We left the classroom, when the bell rang at 3.45 p.m.
The high point of the year was Empire Day (or Commonwealth Day as it became known) in May. There were no lessons on this day. Each year a new May Queen was chosen by the teachers. She was dressed in a long white dress and on her head she wore a crown through which flowers and leaves were intertwined. It was a great honour to be chosen as Queen. All the reception girl infants were maids of honour and wore long flower-patterned white cotton dresses, which were stored in the school loft in huge cardboard boxes and wrapped in tissue paper.
The older girl infants were maids of honour to the old May Queen, who had been crowned the year before, and who would be leaving the school in the summer to go on to secondary education. These children all wore long pink cotton dresses with little flowers all over them. There was also a bouquet fairy, who presented the new May Queen with flowers. She was dressed in a glittery costume, which had also been wrapped in tissue in a wicker basket and stored in the loft. I was so lucky to be chosen to be the fairy and presented the flowers to that year’s Queen, Mary Wells. I remember being very thrilled about this and my mother “blancoed” my Clarke’s sandals to make them white to match my dress.
The front playground was set up with a dais for the Queens and little chairs for the maids of honour. Parents and friends were invited and they all sat or stood in front of the old air raid shelters (where some of the coke for the boilers was stored.) The headmaster made a speech, and then the parade began with the Queens leading the way walking all round the playground.
Every class performed a song, sketch, poem or dance and there was a fancy dress parade for the juniors. There was also country dancing, a Maypole dance and a P.T. display, all of which had been practiced endlessly during the preceding weeks. At the end we all stood and sang the National Anthem and saluted the Union Flag.
Joy Dolling (nee Burgess)