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Do you remember covering your school books with wallpaper or other daft paper, why was this?i did this at bosworth jnr school then at highbank school. When i asked my teacher why he said just do it,when i went to comprehensive school it lasted about one year then stopped no more wrapping books up no more sticky fingers but lots of pain in hands and bottom because of the cane and strap over the years, oh also the ruler across the fingers.

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I suppose it was designed to wear us all down so that we confirmed to school rules as in the armed forces, eventually you just did as you were told without question, I too had to cover books when at Highbank junior and later at Fairham,some of the wall paper that some kids covered the books with,,,what an embarassment, enough to leave you scarred for life

Rog

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Oh yes them as well, remember one teacher use to say 'part.'Kids in the first few rows moved side ways then the blackboard eraser came past and hit a kid at the back for talking or messing about

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I'd forgotten about the wallpaper thing, but now you've mentioned it I remember it from the junior school days. If it wasn't wallpaper it was Fablon with some hideous colour/pattern.

It didn't happen when I was at Fairham, because by then exercise books were decorated with the names of groups and singers. So books (and school bags) were covered with Deep Purple, Who, Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Led Zep, Dylan, etc etc

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At the back of my memory somewhere I am recalling plastic covers that you just slipped on to the front an back pages, can't remember when though except that they must have been cheap. Might have been my trainspotting combine rarther than school books,

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It was the same at Long Eaton (Brooklands Junior, and the Grammar). Plain brown paper was an acceptable alternative, and I seem to remember wallpaper was often used "back to front" - i.e. embarrassing flowery pattern on the inside. Guess it was to protect the cover and hopefully extend the life of the book. (There were "owner" labels in the front with half a dozen lines for successive years' owners, and some of the books had two or three of these labels one on top of the other.)

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Remember some of the novels we had to read and study in English lit. three that come to mind are "The Kontiki expedition", "A kid for two Farthings" and "Treasure Island" they covered three terms, wonder if they get an airing nowadays.

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remember the plastic coversearly sixties cost about 6d each from woolworths lots of different colours i used a different colour for all my subjectsevenhad a coulor code in my joter along side my time table so i only took the books i needed for that day sachel not so heavy .various covers also helped the teacher to identififi pupils books.

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covering your books also a method of teaching you to use a ruler and sisors and you had to make sure you mesured it properly or they would not fitbut also made the cover last longer

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It was the same at morning assembly if you remember Braddy, the whole school which was all boys in my day would stand while all the teachers filed in and took their place on the stage. it was a rarely old fashioned style of education, Effective though!!

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mgread1200 you are right about morning assembly, its a pity schools are not like fairham anymore, strict but fair even with the strap and cane which i got from headmaster Mr Thom. I left school in summer of 1964

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Ah yes the black gowns, does anyone remember the housemaster who's gown always looked like the dog had it? morning assembly as you said all the boy's stood up when the teachers filed through,sometimes if you weren't paying attention a master would point to you and say " You boy,see me in my class at breaktime" made you worry like hell for the next two hours. I was there 65-68

Who said the good old day's?

Rog

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I was at Fairham 66-73, and the gown thing changed totally during my time there. In 66 I'd guess about half the teachers were still wearing gowns; some always wore them, some wore them occasionally, and some never wore them at all.

By the time I left, virtually none were wearing gowns. A lot of the "old school" teachers had left by then, and their younger replacements obviously didn't go in for dressing up.

And even though some wore gowns, I never saw any of them wearing a mortar board. Did any teachers anywhere in Nottingham use them?

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Back in 1959, Arnold County High School first opened and all the teachers, including the females, wore black gowns and mortarboards; particularly at morning assembly. The Headmaster, Dr. J. Higginson, was from the old school and it reflected in his staff. I was at Bramcote Grammar for a year before Arnold and the teaching staff there did not dress in gowns or mortarboards as much, if at all.

All the posts mentioning covering books (brown paper), lines, standing up when the teacher came into class etc brought back memories. There was one teacher who had knotted a corner of his gown and when that came across the back of your head, I can vouch that it woke you up quick smart. The blackboard eraser flying through the air was common, as were the pieces of chalk. I even copped a clout across the side of the head from a teacher when I was caught smoking on the coach during an excursion - now that hurt!

Things hadn't changed that much when I left in 62.

But, when all's said and done, I am grateful for my education being back in those days and not what is served up these days.

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