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You sound about like I felt at Chandos school, Fly.  They had high moral standards and I guess some of that rubbed off on me, but their ways of enforcing it were  like something out of a Dickens book.

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I heard part of Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols on the radio the other day and it took me straight back to the festering season at the dreaded Manning.   Manning held a service of Less

Re maths teaching, earlier post; The only use for higher mathematics is to be able to teach somebody else higher mathematics.  (Bertrand Russell).

I don't know Jill well enough to be able to recognise her by any leg features.

I don't know what happens in secondary school today but, at Manning, if another member of staff, sixth former or any adult entered the classroom, we were expected to stand up until told to be seated again. In certain cases, heaven help you if you were the last one off your chair! Under the Dome for the next week!

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Yes loppy, I too have retained high standards especially regarding manners of all types, loyalty, resolute, and being a gentleman, charming and chivalrous.

So all was not lost on me !

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Think my days at a Sec.modern ie Padstow,,must have been exceptional,,had great respect for all the teachers,,and they all seemed to care for us,,even the ones that dished out the CP,,

Still see a few old school mates,,and we often speak fondly of our days there,,

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  • 2 months later...

I was talking to a friend recently about the deprivation of school days and it made me think about winter time at Manning.

 

All the classrooms had French doors which opened onto the terrace. This could be useful if one arrived late and the form mistress wasn't yet in the classroom, as a friend would open the doors and let you in which avoided having to go through the Admin Block and face the deputy head who would write your name in the late book.

 

The disadvantage was that the wood had shrunk since the place was built and the wind whistled through crevices and gaps in those doors, not to mention underneath, where the rain also seeped in during heavy downpours!  Manning faced the Forest, so there was nothing to impede gales until they hit us.

 

Classrooms...and everywhere else....had no carpets, just solid floors. Two central heating pipes ran along the back wall of each classroom and these were rarely hot. Internally, each classroom opened onto a corridor which bounded the quad. No heating at all in the corridors unless the sun was shining through the glass roof and windows.

 

It was routine to see your breath condensing in the air both in class and out of it. I also recall sitting in class wearing coat, scarf and gloves because it was so cold.  We were never sent home because of low temperatures. Being sent home occurred on only one occasion when thick fog threatened to stop buses running and those who merited a bus pass (not me) were in danger of not being able to get home.

 

None of this would happen nowadays. Times were tough then!

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I recently discovered I had these, without realising it.

 

The dining room at Manning, probably a bit before Jill's time.

iEnEln3.jpg

 

An example of the outdoor effect.

vFtdbOB.jpg

 

The source of the photos also includes this text, which backs up the comments about the idea that freezing the kids to death was good for them.

 

…all the doors of the classrooms led to walkways around quadrangles but the whole front of each opened onto a verandah for open air and ventilation. All of the 17 schools opened between 1924 and 1933 were built so that pupils were taught practically in the open air all year round with “movable shutters to prevent undue access of wind and rain”.  At Manning the quadrangles were not glassed over until the 1970s.

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You've just ruined my day, CT!! Only joking.

 

I've seen the dining room photo before and I think it dates from around 1931 when the establishment opened. Much the same in my day, without the wall decorations.

 

The second photo I hadn't seen before. I can say that the quads were glassed in before the 70s. I arrived in 69 and they had been enclosed for a while then. Not that it made any difference, it was still Bl*ddy freezing!  :mellow:

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55292-1-280-99999-unpad.jpg

 

I'm not sure whether this is The Manning but it looks very like it, even down to the wall torches!  It shows the main entrance and, in particular, the Dome under which miscreants were shamed. The double doors access the hall.

 

Our motto...Omnia Probate, Optima Tenete, translates as That'll Teach You To Pass Your 11 plus, clever Dick! Was emblazoned round the base of the dome but I can't see it here.

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19 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

An example of the outdoor effect.

 vFtdbOB.jpgt

This is taken in the upper quad, looking down towards the dining room and science labs which ran along the facing side. In my day, the quad housed two wooden huts...home to the sixth form. The photographer was standing outside room 11. On his right were a cloakroom, toilets, washroom, room 13, music room and music practise room.

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P-20190118-124649-1.jpg

 

1957. Taken on the terrace outside the games and gym changing rooms and looking towards the rear entrance to Manning.

 

The single storey building whose gable end can be seen behind the girls had been replaced with a two storey sixth form science block by the time I arrived.

 

Names of the girls were: Ann Atkinson, Christine Wood, Eileen Blezard, Judith Atkins, Ann Clay and Daphne Bowler.

 

I'm acquainted with several people who were at Manning at this time but none is on this photo.

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Austen Avenue, CT.

 

Spoke to a friend who was at Manning from 1954 to 58. She confirms that both quads were open to the elements during her time. My guess is that they were glassed in during the mid 60s. During the mid to late 70s, due to absorption of Brincliffe Girls and comprehensive status, the quads were filled in completely to provide additional classroom space.

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  • 1 month later...

Five years before my time, you lot, but shows the quad corridors had been covered over by glass. Looks like a mixture of sixth formers and probably fifth formers wearing summer uniforms.

 

As to our Ben, Pickleface would have made mincemeat of the likes of him!  I can safely say that she was one woman he would not have been able to charm! If he had any sense, he wouldn't have tried!

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