The First Days of School

My earliest memories of school involve a sensation of not fitting in, being overwhelmed by the fast pace and lost in a sea of children. This is perhaps why my parents first choice of school only lasted a few weeks and was soon replaced by a smaller and more traditional establishment. There were thirty six pupils in total, around six to a class and I loved it like that. Although its popularity meant the numbers quickly grew, there was never the sense of chaos and bewilderment I had felt before.

First thing in the morning the teacher would blow the whistle and we would rush to line up, row upon row of caps and bonnets, bulky satchels and knobbly knees. The cloakroom was outside and unheated, the walls grey and the floor concrete, it always smelt of disinfectant and unflushed toilets. In winter, it was so cold the bowls froze over. We would hang up our coats and run to class. The classrooms had large sashed windows and a friendly atmosphere, we played games, practised handwriting and learnt times tables. Mid Morning we would stop for milk from a bottle with a straw and savour the giant box of raisins. Playtime was the best time, we lived through great adventures and survived noble quests. Some days I was the hero, sometimes the villain. I was very happy there.

History was my favourite lesson, the people on the pages came to life in our class. Most of my reports said "Gemma spends too much time looking out of the window and not enough time asking questions." The thing I disliked most were school dinners, we had fresh baked rolls tied in knots and a variety of meals, which I think included Spam, most of which were edible but you did have to try everything on your plate, including peas, and I hated peas. I still do. The children thought there was a ghost in the attic and would dare each other to go up and find it. One day we all hid up there from the headmaster and we spent the whole lesson playing.

My new best friend was Samantha Long, she had a barn full of rabbits and slept in a four poster bed. My teachers were mostly kind and lessons interesting. The work was not hard and sometimes, if the weather was good, we could take the lessons outside to the lawn. Next to the lawn was the pool, no matter what the weather it was freezing. We wore yellow swim hats and got chlorine in our eyes but somehow learned to swim anyway. We often gave drama performances outside too, St. George and the Dragon, Alice in Wonderland and Hiawatha. School fetes and Prize Day were always on the lawn. Sometimes we played croquet.

It was a quirky school, we learned how to respectfully greet the Queen, with appropriate address and curtsy, we also learned the correct way to lay a table for a dinner party with three sets of knives and forks and four glasses. I am still waiting to put both skills into practise. We did visit the Tower of London one year and I went to Westminster Abbey for a Commonwealth meeting where I saw Her Majesty's hat in the distance. Every Christmas, at the end of term we had a bus trip to the glass houses of Kew Gardens, followed by ice skating in Richmond whilst all the Mummy's went shopping in Oxford Street. And in the summer we spent a week at Kentwell Hall working in the school room.

When I was little I had confidence and thought I could do anything. It was a very safe and exciting time which filled me with curiosity and a desire to learn. I think my early school years were some of the happiest of my life so far.