Catholic schools

[philmayfield 6,187]

Catholic schools used perform regular beatings. It’s to assuage their soles apparently. I had a friend who went to Ratcliffe College in Leics. and he said the monks could be real bastards!

[Jill Sparrow 10,314]

1 hour ago, philmayfield said:

It’s to assuage their soles apparently

You mean they caned the soles of their feet?  I thought it was only the pesky Japanese who did that to POWs in WW2.

 

Many years ago, I worked with a girl who was educated at Our Lady's Convent somewhere within striking distance of West Bridgford... I think it may have been Loughborough?  She said anyone who slammed a door or who didn't close it quietly would be punished by the nuns because Our Lady always closed doors silently. It's news to me that most people had doors to close during Our Lady's time 

[philmayfield 6,187]

Sorry, ‘spell check’ wouldn’t have spotted that! I was looking on the Ratcliffe College website and, although it’s essentially a Roman Catholic establishment, the monks seem to have disappeared from the teaching staff. Even at non Catholic schools there were some sadists amongst the staff in the 50’s/60’s. Maybe they thought they were still in the armed forces.

[MRS B 533]

Jill, my daughter went to Our Ladies Convent in Loughborough. I think during her time there they had mellowed a bit. Personally I don’t think she would have coped in a bigger establishment as she was at a very small primary school before and did have anxiety even about going there for the first year although some of her friends were already there. As a caring environment it was ideal and she still sees long lasting friends from those years, even her recorder teacher still keeps in touch. The fees crippled me as a one parent family at that point but it was worth it. It’s difficult to gauge how she would have coped in a state school as I don’t have the comparison to evaluate but I don’t have a bad word to say about OLC.

 

HOWS THE KITTIES BTW? 

[Jill Sparrow 10,314]

@MRS B  my former colleague was slightly older than myself and so would have been at OLC around 1968 to 1973ish. Perhaps, like many of those Roman Catholic establishments, in later years the nuns were replaced by teachers who weren't in the religious life.  As a result, perhaps the discipline imposed by the sisters was eased.  I've known a number of people who were educated by Roman Catholic sisters and brothers. None had anything very positive to say about it. One, with whom I worked in the late 70s, was so terrified by the sight of a nun that he would cross the road to avoid her. This stemmed from his primary school education at St Joseph's Prep School in Nottingham. His parents were not Roman Catholics but they paid for him to be educated there because they believed he would receive a good start in life. I wonder if they were aware of the damage it caused him.  Though I asked him why he was so frightened of anyone in a habit, he said he just couldn't talk about it.

 

Another friend was educated in his primary years by Roman Catholic brothers in Ireland. He was clearly subjected to abuse of a kind he didn't want to talk about and he was forever afterwards rabidly anti-Catholic.

 

Re the moggies: Jessie has been spayed and is now a very nice, affectionate young lady who is still an excellent mother to her kittens. The kittens are 21 weeks old. Pushkin has been neutered and, given the shine the nurses took to him at the vet, I was lucky to get him back. He's a real charmer.  Chivers is still not heavy enough to be spayed and must wait a few more weeks.  Kittens are lovely but very hard work. Wouldn't part with them, though.

[MRS B 533]

Jill, my daughter was there from 1997 onwards so yes the teacher v nun teaching ratio was very different to the 60’s. It is now a part of the Loughborough Endowed Schools and consequently has more varied subject opportunities. My daughter was very lucky to have some amazing teachers who encouraged her love of art and history which she subsequently took a degree in at Nottingham. Now I have my own tour guide whenever we go on holidays anywhere.

 

Good news about the cats.

[Jill Sparrow 10,314]

I think, in the days when the nuns were teaching, they possibly tended to expect from the girls the same type of behaviour the Mother Superior expected from them during the days when they first entered religious life. That was certainly the impression my former colleague gained from her time there. Sadly, many of the girls went off the rails for a time as a reaction to it.  It's good that things have changed in more recent times.

[siddha 825]

An education in a RC school during the 50s and 60s was most interesting and certainly damaged some people in a variety of ways. The curriculum was slightly skewed by the dogma and the decor included religious iconography and the passage of the school day would observe some ritualistic behaviours. The teaching fraternity ,both religious and lay, could include inspirational educators, zealots and nutters much like any other school. It was a decent preparation for life particularly if your further education included borstal or young offenders or perhaps a seminary.

[mary1947 2,086]

When we lived in South Africa 70s a friend of mine told me to get my son into the convent school, as at the time there was an  apartheid  the other choice was what was called an African's medium school, but every morning the students would have to stand up and salute the SA flag. Now the convent was just like a British private school, so we applied and with my friends references he attended the Convent.   One morning Sister Jordan ask  me to come inside her office so she could ask me something.  Can you please tell me said sister Jordan what do these words mean that you son his saying,   well we come from Nottingham don't we !!!! what doe's he mean when he says buuuus and basssssion try and explain to a nun that in Nottingham we do try and put more that one u in words that have u's in them.

[MRS B 533]

You’ve lost me Mary, not only with the uuuu’s but also the several ssssss’s

[mary1947 2,086]

7 hours ago, MRS B said:

You’ve lost me Mary, not only with the uuuu’s but also the several ssssss’s

Sorry Mrs B its an age thing what I was trying to say was that Sister Jordan was confused with the Nottingham dialect. .

 

mary1947 xx