Figure 1.--Here is my primary school portrait. You can see the uniform we wore. I think I was about 9 years old here. This is the one I liked and spent most of my primary years attending. |
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I went to a fairly standard English primary school for most of my primary school years. It was at a state primary with both an Infants and Juniors division. The school had a basic uniform. I was briefly at another primary school, but then went back to the one I began at. Theres a story to tell there. I did well on my 11+ and gained enttry to a grammar school for my secondary studies. I was there only 1 year, however, before we moved to Belgium.
Except for a few months, I spent all my primary years in one school. I was there for both Infants and Juniors. It was the same primary my brothers all attended. For a few years we were all there together. The school had a basic uniform. We wore burgandy sweaters, burgndy and grey striped ties, white or grey shirts, grey shorts, and gey kneesocks. Footwear was optional, but we couldn't wear trainers. Some of us had caps. We wore dark grey duffle coats duing the Winter. My school was fairly relaxed about the uniform, but mum usually dressed us up smartly. I liked the school and was very happy there. This is more than I can say for the primary to which mum moved me. I was really glad when she moved me back.
Grammar Schools in England were academically selective schools. I did well on my 11+ exam and this gained entry to the local grammar. I was only here for 1 year before we moved to Belgium. Here's an interesting photograph. The school had a strict uniform policy. This is my grammar school about 17 years before I went there. It's a first for class (now called year 7). This is the same uniform I wore there, except for the shorts you can just about see boys at the end of the back row wearing. What make it interesting is that the boy fourth from the end of the back row is GREG DYKE, who went on to become Director General of the BBC and resigned during the row with the government over the Iraq war.
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