Portland Junior School - Glaisdale Drive


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I looked through the list of schools and could not find Portland Junior School Bilborough so I am adding this to the list.

Looking at some old school photos from the late 50s I counted the number of pupils in the class. In Miss Martinson's class there were 40. Amazing by today's standards!

I remember the day of the 11+ exam. We arrived at school to see desks set out in the hall. They never told us the exam was that day! In a way it was probably a good thing as we just went in and did it!

I only joined nottstalgia last week so I hope I have gone about setting up the new topic correctly. I will press the button and hope for the best!

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I also had a bit of a thing for Ilya but couldn't abide his sidekick, Solo.   Scott Tracey was the most fetching of the puppets and quite lifelike too since I later learned at The Manning th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BknhUMWEdgM     Interesting video on the history of the Bilborough Estate: Good old propaganda!

I looked through the list of schools and could not find Portland Junior School Bilborough so I am adding this to the list. Looking at some old school photos from the late 50s I counted the number

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My cousins Trevor, Wilfred and Rika all attended Portland School in the 1950s. They all have the surname Hill and Wilfred and Rika are twins.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I “Googled” Portland Primary School to see if it has a website with some up to date photos of the school. I was amazed when the first site listed (http://portlandprimary.weebly.com/) said this under the heading Portland Primary School:

AAre you battling to control pests? Do you worry they'll take over your house? Do you need expert help yet have no idea where to look or what to do?

It seems that the school is sponsored by a local pest control business. This may be good from a finance point of view but the initial impact of the site is very off putting! There is nothing about the school, only pages of detail about how to get rid of house pests ranging from ants to rats. As a former pupil (from a long time ago) I feel very disappointed by this presentation of the school on the internet. Looking at the 2013 Ofsted report for the school it is judged as “requires improvement” with low level disruption in lessons but surely they do not have to go to a pest control company for help!

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  • 6 months later...

I joined Portland from Crane Junior after we moved house and had a happy experience over all.

I also remember not being told the exam we were doing was the 11+. A thing I have resented ever since.

I thought the best thing was the after school dances.

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#7 Welcome to Nottstalgia Snowy. It is good to hear from another member who went to Portland School. I look forward to reading your posts.

Do you remember Mr Bourne the head? He always seemed OK. In my last year there our class teacher was Mrs Pearson who seemed obsessed with poetry and we had to do a kind of coral speaking, saying poems all together as a class. It did not do me a lot of good as I failed O level English Literature!

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  • 1 year later...

Yesterday I did a 78 mile round trip to attend a very good meeting.  The M6 was OK, the M42 was fine with traffic flowing well and then I turned off and the worst bit of the journey was driving through Lickey.  Parents were collecting children from the primary school, parked both sides of the road.  Doors opened into the road.  People getting in and out.  This was the most dangerous bit of my journey!   It made me think about when I went to primary school.  Portland Infants was about a 15 minute walk from home.  Everyone walked.  I remember when I started school mum walked with me and the first day we were all escorted into the school. After that parents left us at the gate.  When parents stopped taking you to school you felt more grown up.  I remember when I was at Portland Junior School they used to have open days when parents could visit and some of us took flowers to put on the tables.  On my own I used to carry a glass vase with roses in from our garden.  I walked all the way to school with this.  When the event was over I would carry the empty vase home.  I still have my mum's vase.  Today children would never be allowed to do this.  There is a lack of independence.  Independence produces confidence.

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Does anyone remember these teachers who were at Portland Infants and Juniors?

Miss Moseley: the reception teacher in the Infants.  She had lovely brown wavy hair and she was very nice..

Miss Burlinson: the headmistress (as they were called then!) who seemed very old to me!

Miss Henshaw: she had the second class in the infants.  She always wore a bright green dress. She lost my maths book then found it at the end of term.

Mrs Bowker: she had dark hair done in a bun.  I seem to remember someone said her husband was a mountaineer.

Miss Maxfield: she was the first teacher in the Junior School.  She was good but shouted a lot.  

Miss Martinson: there were 42 of us in her class.  I have a photo and I counted!

Miss Whitworth: she went on the school trip to Newfield Hall in Yorkshire.  She was nice.

Mrs Pearson: she liked to teach us country dancing and we had to recite poems as a class.  Choral speaking I think it was.

Mr Gregory: I was never in his class but he ran a competition that involved us collecting a bunch of wild flowers.  Another activity that would never be done now.

Mr Bourne was the Headmaster.  

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10 hours ago, BilboroughShirley said:

 Parents were collecting children from the primary school, parked both sides of the road.  Doors opened into the road.  People getting in and out.  This was the most dangerous bit of my journey!   It made me think about when I went to primary school.  Portland Infants was about a 15 minute walk from home.  Everyone walked.  I remember when I started school mum walked with me and the first day we were all escorted into the school. 

 

Likewise, when I was at infants and junior schools, I don't remember any pupils arriving by car. Everybody walked because they all lived only a short distance from the school. (and not that many had cars anyway). But also in those days, everyone just went to the school which was nearest;  none of the present obsession with choosing 'the best' school for the  child which may be 10 miles away. 

 

Driving kids to school is also a major contributor to road congestion. Drive anywhere in Nottingham around 8.45am when the schools are working and you'll get stuck in traffic; drive in the same places when the schools are on holiday and the traffic hold-ups have all disappeared.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Give them time to wake up, Someone must have done ! 

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19 hours ago, lizzy dripping said:

Hi anybody lived on Glaisdale drive in1960 oñwards and attended portland junior school . 

Hi Lizzy, I lived at 60 Cockington Road, and went to Portland Junior school probably 8 or 10 years before you.m_m_27472288.jpeg

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Hi  tompa did you  know the mathews they lived on cockington rd.The unwins i think owned the chippy when i was at school.

My best friend lived on stotfied rd so spent a lot of time around that area,spent many hours on the park there . Good photo they are lovely to look back on which one is you?.Was there a  lady teacher there when you was there she wouldn't allow youto go at the back of her desk,

and if anybody swore she made them lick soap.On the day we left school we where allowed behind the desk.She had dark hair in a bun but can't remember her name.

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Hi,I remember the chippy but never knew the name of the owners.  A foster sister of mine and her husband  Phyliss and Harold Musson and 2 kids lived a 77 Stotfield Rd

 

I am seventh from the left top row got my arms folded.  Also knew  twin bothers I think their surname was Saunders, one of them was named Gerald, they are 4th and 5th bottom row.

 

The only female teacher I can remember the name of was a Miss Boswell but can't  be sure for certain.

I played Cowboys and Indians on the waste ground opposite the shops on Cockington Rd before they built houses on it. I left that area when I was 11 years old to live at Union cottages  Union Rd St Anns.

 

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Hi the musson name ring's  a bell i may have known them how old would they have been i would have been 7 in 1960.my friend was ellen bowler and a lad named Nicolas  who also  lived on Stotfield. But cant remember his surname.i bet it changed since you lived there,my mum still lives on Glaisdale its a very busy road now to when we where kid.

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I went to Portland school.  The only teacher I remember with dark hair in a bun was Mrs Bowker.  I was never in her class.  Tompa, I have looked at your photo of Mr Gregory's class. (I was never in his class but I remember he ran a wild flower competition.) Is the girl on the front row, third from the left Jennifer Fisher?  Next but one to her looks a bit like Kathleen Oats.  At the right hand end is it Janina Robach?  There were 2 classes in each year group.

I started a thread about Portland school and I have listed the teachers I remember there.

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  • 9 months later...

Both hubby and I went to Portland junior school from 1961-66. We both have lovely memories of our time there.

Headmaster: Mr Woodward, a truly lovely gentleman.

Teachers:

Mrs Bowker.

Mr Denman.

Mr Phelps.

Mrs Bailey.

Mr Pavey.

Mr Saunders

Some children we remember:

 

Linda Newbold

John Leivers

Raymond Soar

Adrian Woodward

John Upton

Anthony Turton

Patrick Funnel

Jane Bonser

Paul Keeley

Paul Eustace

Robert Fell

Trevor Jones

Steven Rogers

Jane Dunn

Julie Mckinley

Michelle Dodwell

Christina Collinson

Henry Johnson

Barbara Fisher

Steven Lees

Neville Clifford

Lorna Shaw

Celia Hunter

Victoria Irving

Richard Garton

David Bramley

Wendy Bowers

Michael Sheppard

Linda Smith

Julie Smith 

Margaret Harris

Elaine Harrison

Carole Stainright

Michael Alsebrook

Peter Bradbury

Alan Fewkes

Judith Middleton 

Phew! Not bad to say it was 50 years ago........

 

 

 

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I left Portland in 1961. Mr Bourne was the head teacher then. Also a decent teacher. I remember Mrs Bowker but I was never in her class.

In your list of pupils, Neville Clifford was the younger brother of Marion. They lived on Tremayne Road. I think Steven Lees was the younger brother of Susan Lees who also lived on Tremayne Road. Patrick Funnel was the younger brother of Robert Funnel. They lived on Bramhall Road. Lovely memories. Thanks.

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Did you ever come across Pete Carroll? He lived on Birchover Rd. He attended the sixth form at Bilborough Grammar. He became a writer and poet and changed his name to Henry Normal.  Look him up on the internet.

He co wrote the first series of the Royle Family and was the executive producer of the acclaimed movie Philomena with Steve Cougan and Judy Dench. He wrote a lot of material for Mrs Merton.

It is exciting to see someone from Bilborough rising to success from humble beginnings. David Hawley who attended Bilborough Grammar became communications director at the International Monetary Fund HQ in Washington. Joseph Morley was musical director of Mama Mia in London. I love to think that children educated in Bilborough have been so successful!  smile2

I lived on Tremayne Road and my hubby lived on Canver Close, off Westwick road.

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