Were you at Berridge?


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Through this door...and it's the original, although painted black in my day...I walked with my mum one cold morning early in 1962. I was just 4 years old. The door led to Miss Smith's office and my mu

How many Berridge children have secreted themselves inside this niche situated in the playground which fronts the old infant building, hoping to be left behind when the bell rang at playtime's close?

Sitting on this exact spot, facing the stationery cupboard in Mr Parr's classroom, in spring 1969, I sat my 11+ exam.

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Thanks CT.

 

Of interest to @PeverilPerilthese are the wooden huts that served as the woodwork shop and science lab for Berridge Senior Boys. In my day, they were looking a bit the worse for wear as some later photos will demonstrate, with chipped and peeling green paint.

 

By the late 70s or very early 80s, they had undergone a transformation! Paint burnt off and what looks like wood preserver applied. The doors and windows are either double glazed replacements or have been white gloss painted.

 

This renovation must have cost a bit in time and money yet, by 1984, the wooden huts were gone!

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The wooden structure in the photograph served as our classroom in September 1967, for a couple of terms, whilst alterations were carried out in the main school buildings. I think we may have spent the autumn and spring terms in the hut. I don't recall there being any heating!

 

The hut nearest Berridge Road served as a base for the builders working on the school. The section right at the end of our hut served as a darkroom as our teacher was a keen photographer and taught those of us who were interested the basics of developing black and white film.  He didn't take the photograph!

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On 8/8/2022 at 9:48 AM, Cliff Ton said:

Another which has been borrowed from a FB Group. This is described as 'Late 50s'.

 

HqGwzeR.jpg

This has been posted previously. Page 28, August 28th 2020.

Teacher, Miss Winstanley.

 

Back row:  John Woolley, Johnny Kirk, Robert Lee, Michael Hamilton, unknown first name Henshaw, Tony Ward, unknown, unknown, Dennis Turner, unknown, unknown.

 

Middle row: unknown, Linda Whysall, Adrian Ball, Barbara Scott, Carolyn Dunkley, Maureen Fox, unknown, unknown first name Palmer, Susan Staples, Maureen Pye, Maureen Pilkington, Pat Munday, unknown, Sandra surname unknown, Carole Hawksley.

 

Front row: Ena Matthews, unknown, Linda Thompson, unknown, Valerie Pullen, Andrew Hopcroft, unknown, Geoffrey Warren, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown, Wendy Bridgett, Ashley Gardener and June Newstead.

 

Originally posted by Carolyn Dunkley.

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15 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

Another photo supplied by Jill S.  She'll be along soon to explain it all.

 

inWmJ8d.jpg

This photo is after my time there. I only remember there being one set of steps up to the science lab and there was no lean-to at the end.

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On 7/6/2022 at 8:02 PM, Cliff Ton said:

 

This photo has come via Jill S, borrowed from a Facebook Group for Radford. It's Radford Boulevard School, Mrs Brown's class, in 1952....who appear to be all girls.

 

ALvMSUm.jpg

No offence but this is a thread on Berridge School. Why is this here when it has no relevance to Berridge at all. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

During our Berridge visit in June, we met John Preston who was at Berridge from 1956 to 1962. He has kindly provided copies of his school photos.  This is the earliest, 1956/7.

 

Back row:. Susan Blatherwick, John Preston, unknown, unknown, unknown, Sharon King

 

Middle Row: Michael Irwin, Jimmy Sinclair, unknown, unknown, Alan Dunn, Susan Meakin*

 

Front Row: Stephen Attenborough*, Linda Thompson, John Rowson*, Marjorie Wright, unknown.

 

Teacher, Miss Peet*

 

*Indicates there is some uncertainty about the identity.

 

John Preston lived on Radford Road where his father ran a butcher's shop. John was one of several children in his year who obtained a scholarship to the Nottingham Boys' High School.

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  • 1 month later...

Yes, CT. It is being organized by someone who was in the year above me. I've already been this year, with a group of former pupils. I know we're being invited back next year as part of the school's annual history topic. We're an historical resource!!

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@Jill Sparrow At least your school is still there.

 

My secondary was built in the late 1950s and demolished in the early 2000s, less than half the lifespan of Berridge.

It means I can't be an historical resource - at least not on the ground. I have to resort to the internet - where I've been in contact with many people who I've not seen for 50-ish years.

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Berridge has been reroofed in recent years and looks likely to continue as a school for the foreseeable future. I don't see why not. Although there are those who think educational standards cannot be met unless children are being educated in a recently constructed breeze block box which won't last five minutes, the building is really of little importance. It's the quality of teaching and, even more vital, the parental inspiration to enquire into knowledge that really matters...in my humble opinion as a former teacher.

 

I'm quite proud to be an historical resource, even if that cheeky sod, Mayfield, terms me a relic. Of course, I'm not as superannuated as he and when I am, I'll be a holy relic! ;)

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As a former teacher, what the children learned or, to be more accurate, the topics they studied and the specific learning aims and outcomes, was determined by the National Curriculum, not by the teaching staff. How they learned was, or should have been, tailored to their individual optimum mode of learning. It is a teacher's job to discover what that is and differentiate accordingly.  Teaching is not an easy task, although it is the easiest thing in the world to tell those whose profession it is, glibly, how it should be undertaken!

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Jill you are right it remains one of the most difficult jobs to do effectively. I taught and encouraged learning for many years. Your use of the magic word differentiation has bought many memories of turbulent staff meetings when colleagues wrestled with the requirement to differentiate. Grouping achieved some but to differentiate for individuals in classes of 30+ that was demanding and in the minds of some impossible.

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At teacher training college, there was one particular lecturer (as big as a pennorth of coppers would describe her perfectly) with an outsize ego. Her mantra was, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand," which is actually a quote from Confucius.  We were told to keep this in mind at all times.

 

It may be true of some people but by no means all, myself included. Hence the need for differentiation.

 

Of the lecturer concerned, it may be said that there was more of confusion than Confucius about her lectures. As that other sage (my father) was often heard to say, "Those who can, do. Those who can't....teach!"  

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8 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

At teacher training college, there was one particular lecturer (as big as a pennorth of coppers would describe her perfectly) with an outsize ego. Her mantra was, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand," which is actually a quote from Confucius.  We were told to keep this in mind at all times.

Cripes I remember little from Training College Days the mantra you cite is  good and it resonates with the work done by Sugata Mitra in New Dehli in the 90s they did extensive research in self-directed learning, in many places and through many cultures. Each time, the children were able to develop deep learning by teaching themselves. It was called Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) or the Hole in the Wall. 

I think the lecturer was right the best learning is through doing but our classrooms provide limited opportunities for doing many things.

I look back on teaching and children learning with pleasure but am pleased not to be doing it now.

 

 

 

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There can be no gainsaying that the most effective learning is that which we do for ourselves. This cannot take place unless we discover the optimum means of achieving it, the motivation to achieve it and the opportunity to achieve it. Vital, as part of this process, is learning how to think, as opposed to what to think (indoctrination).  Sadly, not every child on this planet has these means available.

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  • 7 months later...

I found this picture of Berridge Road infants in 1960. I hope that you can see it as I found it very difficult to load as the maximum size for a file on this website is only 50kb which is really small. (Sorry to gripe!). Anyway, I was 5 years old at the time of this picture. I lived on Middlothian Terrace which was behind Gregory Boulevard. The street is long gone. I was only at Berridge Road for a few months as Mam and Dad managed to get a brand new council house at Bestwood. It was quite an upheaval moving as all the rest of the family lived in and around Hyson Green. Grandma and Grandad lived on Pleasant Row and I remember they had a well in the back garden. Grandad had a garden (they weren't called allotments) on Wilkinson Street to which I absolutely loved going, to help Grandad out. We didn't stay at Bestwood long as Mam and Dad didn't like it there so they managed to get an exchange to Aspley. Me and my brother didn't want to move as we liked playing on the building site where all the new council houses were going up!

I have some pictures of William Crane school but I will see if this message gets through Ok before I post them.

Thanks for letting me join the website.

 

"C:\Users\user\Pictures\Berridge Road Infants 1960.jpg"

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Welcome to the forum. I was at Berridge and would have been there the same time as you but probably not the same year. You cannot post an image directly on this forum as the file limit makes it impractical. It’s down to cost and paying for facility to host images here.  What you need to do is use one of the image hosting sites to upload your image and then post the link to your picture on here. I use postimage.org which is free and easy to use. If you can’t or don’t want to do that message me and I’ll post it for you. 

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Welcome to the Twilight zone Marrowman. Hope you are able to share some memories and pick up a few from others. Alas, couldn't  see your picture but there different apps that you can use. I use 'Postimage which I have found more than satisfactory and I would be more than happy to talk you through it. Regards, Beekay.

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