Following the initial disappointment, I still enjoyed the long summer
holiday that came between Junior School and my entry into the Senior
Secondary Modern School, to which I would now be allocated. It came as
some conciliation that not a single pupil in my junior class had passed
either, so I was going to continue my education with familiar companions.
Indeed, I looked forward to commencing Senior School, which
I imagined would be a much more grown up world and, more suitable for a
mature young man like me.
A letter from the school, a week or so before start of term, delighted
my parents. It appeared that I had narrowly failed for Grammar School
and, although I was going to Secondary Modern, I was being allocated to a
new "M-Form", the pupils of which would be taking the General Certificate
of Education, just like the Grammar School boys. Along with my parents I
was invited to a pre-term meeting at school, to meet some of my new
teachers and learn what would be expected of me as a pupil in the new
M scheme. My father, a strong advocate of both education and
discipline, was delighted at all he heard and, so was I, until I was told
the uniform requirements.
Modern school uniform was very basic; a black blazer with school
badge, a school tie in black and grey stripes and, long grey trousers
optional to shorts. Except M-Form boys, who would be sharing
some school facilities with the local Grammar School and, therefore, would
be required to conform to their uniform requirements. Grammar school
boys under 15 were required to wear short trousers! Impossible, was
my first thought. No problem, announced my father, still delighted
by my higher educational prospects.
It was unthinkable to me, to go back into juvenile short pants, after
wearing longs, even in the Junior School. My parents were immovable and I
would conform to the schools requirements. Worse, my father insisted,
that I would also wear shorts out of school, as they could ill afford two
different set of trousers just to satisfy my vanity. But it was not just
vanity; my manhood was at stake here!
My new, exciting world of senior school, had burst, making the
remainder of my holiday a misery. Discreetly I inquired from my old
friends what was happening to them. Not one was joining me in the
M-Form and, naturally, everyone of them had adopted the long trousers
option available to the other forms. Indeed, they found the idea of
remaining in shorts at senior school laughable, they not having
been made aware of the M class rule. My situation was becoming worse by
the day.
As juniors I had been one of the first into longs and, also, as one of
the tallest in our group, came to be regarded as the "leader of the
gang". Even though I was barely 12 years old, I wanted to be
considered as a grown up, which is how I felt. But now I was being
treated very much as a juvenile little boy again.
None of the
other forms at my school took languages. An interesting aside here was the
structure of the forms at the Modern school. My form, M, was considered the
highest form academically and the only one to take the higher G.C.E
examinations. Next was A, then B and, finally the C forms. 'A' and perhaps
'B' forms sat Northern Counties Certificate of Education, (a lower grade
school finishing exam) but 'C' forms, shamefully, regarded as the dimmer
boys, took no examinations at all. A large part of their curriculum was
woodwork and metalwork, plus gardening. Part of their school day was
maintaining the school gardens! They were condemned to this training for
manual work by the selection process of 11+ It makes me wonder how many
boys, who perhaps developed later in life, missed opportunities because of
this.
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