Varied Curriculum in a 1950s Inner London Primary School

I was at primary school late sixties to early seventies and also remember Music & Movement. I can also recall learning with ‘Colour Factor’ blocks for Maths and ‘Word Perfect’ workbooks for English.
Just before decimalisation came in we had lessons using plastic ‘new money’ coins.
I have a lot of wonderful memories of my schooldays. It’s amazing how some things stick in your mind from all those years ago.

I loved primary school and was always a keen and able pupil. Somehow Secondary school seemed to change me completely and I felt stupid, unpopular and hated most of my time there. It is sad that I only have bad memories of my secondary school and it is only, by chance, that I managed to make a good life for myself, despite not learning anything or taking any exams.

I can’t Say I have any happy memories of my school days, we didn’t have anything like dancing or nature tables but I have a vivid memory of a teacher screaming in my face and writing a word in chalk on my desk that I spelled wrong and this was to a 9 year old in the late 60s

Sewing and knitting wasn't particularly good at either but did enjoy the class. Having a radio speaker brought into the class for some kind of lesson, may have been music. Loved everything at primary, learning to do real joined up writing,geography all about the world. English, the wonderful stories we were read and the books for taking home. Dancing in gym, history of our country, even arithmetic wasn't shunned. There didn't seem to be emphasis on projects that there is today. My GC are forever having to make something for whatever they may be studying. Basically it's the parents who do them all.

Primary school in 1950, bottle of milk everyday, in winter the teachers would put the bottles in boiler room to take the chill off the milk, it was awful. Doing PT in our vests and knickers!!!

On Friday afternoons we did "composition" i.e. we wrote a little essay or story, followed by painting. One Friday in winter, during "composition", there was a loud CRACK when the earthenware jug, which held the water for painting, broke apart because the water had frozen.
And in fact, feeling cold all the time in winter is my most vivid memory of primary school. There was a coal stove in the middle of the room with a fence around it, but it didn't really heat the room. The toilet was outside, also frozen sometimes. And our clothes didn't help: the tweed skirt that rubbed your legs, knee socks, scratchy vest and thick jumpers - I still can't wear wool next to the skin.

As a change from chalk and talk lessons we looked forward to the schools broadcasts on the wireless (radio) - like 'Singing Together', we all enjoyed singing the old folk songs like Linden Lea and Scarborough Fair - I can still sing them today! And programmes like 'How Things Began', made history interesting for us.

I went to a small private school at three as a favour to my Mom who was nursing my terminally ill Grandma (she can sit and play plastacine while the 5 year olds learn), but I loved it and learnt. I would hang onto the railings at hometime as I wanted to stay. Grandma died, and at five we moved to another town where I started in reception at the local Primary School. I was bullied unmercifully by the other children as I could already read, write and do sums, but I still loved learning. My saving grace was the local library next door to the school, where I spent most of my friendless out of school hours. We did the Maypole thing too, on the vicarage lawn, and even got a mention in the local paper, "what a gay group they were". A real compliment at the time, but sadly couldn't be said nowadays. In my 70s, I still love learning and keep taking online courses, just for the fun of doing them and expanding my knowledge.

At the end of J3, our Headmaster came into the classroom.

"I am looking for something" he said, dramatically.

We stiffened up and were transfixed.
"Clean faces" he boomed.
Surreptitious face wiping.

"Because clean faces mean clean hands" he whispered.

This was our invitation to use the school library, a J4 privilege.
And what horizons that opened up to us from that day onwards!

Probably flogged the thread a bit but thought I'd add a little something, I grew up in what was then a village suburb of a West Yorkshire weaving town, started school aged 5, an old fashioned purpose built establishment, separate buildings for infants and juniors, and at one time a separate building across the road
, for the seniors.
To my certain knowledge the same buildings are still in use today, my youngest sibling aged 50 this year was also a pupil in turn, I have mixed memories of the time there, didn't know it at the time, but it's position was in close proximity to home, some of the teachers were very kind and excellent at their job, don't really remember a great deal though.

I remember my very first fountain pen when I was at primary school, it was an Osmiroid. I loved to write. Secondary school was ballroom dancing, it was on the curriculum.

Oh yes fountain pens, and was it something like Marion Richardson handwriting cards we had to copy?

I hated school . Even in infants (1958 to 1960) I was very quiet and shy with absolutely no confidence. The only person I really spoke to was my best friend who lived opposite me . I was no different in the juniors even though I was in the top few in our class of 45 girls . I was never given any encouragement by my family , in fact when I passed the eleven plus with a very high score , I was called a big head by my brother even though he had passed it only the year before. T
Things went downhill in grammar school cos I felt so inferior to all those girls from middle class families while I was from a council estate with a dad who was a bus driver . I never believed that I was capable of greater things .
I did eventually train as a nurse and have had a great life with my late husband and my three adult children

Minibookworm, we had Word Perfect too. I was at primary school from September 1969-1976. I loved it. It was a new building but because the birth rate was so high the reception classes (two classes per year) was in a separate building at the other end of the village. This was a lovely, gentle start to school with only the youngest children there. We started reading with Peter and Jane and went on to the Wide Range Readers afterwards, which l really enjoyed. Country dancing was great fun and we had music and movement as well. We had a junior school choir that always did well in the local festival and when l was in the top infants' class (my favourite of all) we formed a choir in our class, which gained a second class certificate. A huge achievement for what must have been the youngest choir there. Our teacher bought each of us an ice cream - a huge treat. On the whole our school was excellent with high standards expected and firm but fair teachers. My year was also the first that did not have to learn the old money system as we went decimal in my second year of school. A small piece of living history.

My most lasting memeory of the 50s was the history programmes on the radio, especially the ones about prehistoric life. And the Nature Table - whatever happened to nature tables? Even in town there were interesting odds and ends to bring in for it.

Fountain pens, oh brought back a bad memory of chewing the end and classmates laughing cos my lips and teeth were all blue where it had leaked.

No - I was bullied all through secondary school due to being a bit shy and way too clever. My schooldays were literally the worst days of my life and totally put me off going to college, despite being offered two places. I detested school and it has given me a lifelong hatred of bullies - although I dare anyone to try and bully me now

Sorry misread slightly and missed the bit about primary school - not as bad as secondary but still not a cakewalk for a shy clever little girl . Primary was good for a while but I didn't find it challenging enough on an academic level. I did love PE though - rounders was a favourite of mine! I think I was milk monitor in my final year as well - yay extra milk lol!

My primary school was a nightmare. Teachers , after the war , were often ex -service people who only trained for a year before being let loose on primary aged children. Some of them employed the teaching method “Do this or I’ll hit you. “ I have few happy memories of primary school but there was one teacher who was very inspirational and taught us more than the mandatory ‘3 Rs’. We did nature studies, science, history, art and listened to adventure stories. He wasn’t with us long but I remember knowing the difference between good and bad teaching because of him. I went on to have a 40 year teaching career and often referred to him in lessons. It’s amazing what a difference one person can make to the lives of others.

It’s amazing what a difference one person can make to the lives of others.
That's true tictacnana. I used to flip that round as a teacher by saying, "if I only make one child happier each day, I will have done my job well."

I went to a small inner London primary school, with two infant classes and 3 junior classes. The building was over 100 years old and two of the junior classrooms had the original wood and iron desks. In the juniors classes were vertically grouped, so there were mixed ages, according to ability. You could end up staying in the top class for 3 years, just moving groups across the room. Everyone in that class passed their 11+
The teachers were strict, but very kind. The playground was small and the older pupils had to go to a nearby park for football, netball and rounders.
I loved going to that school, it gave me a love of life long learning.

I was at primary school in the 1950s in inner London. Huge classes and you sat in desks seating 2 in rows . They had constant tests and the ones who did the best sat at the front with the ones who were worst at the back. Ridiculous when you think of it. When we finished our work we had to go and help others and mark others which I guess wasn’t such a bad idea. We had to recite vast tracts from the bible off by heart ( this in a state school) and if we got it wrong we were shouted at and humiliated. Mind you, of that class nearly all of us went on to grammar school because we were too scared not to !My final primary school year was lovely, we had a lovely male teacher who was kind and sensible and a bit of a contrast to the old bat before. He loved science and nature study and also poetry and I have loved poetry ever since then.

ILEA School, South London, mid 50s, I remember it well. It's been great to read all these experiences - just goes to show it's the early years which make a difference. I was quite shy, so teachers used to find me jobs to do at playtime as I found it hard to join in with games. In infants I was Milk Monitor with a knitting needle to make a hole in the bottle top to put in a paper straw. I also had to give out Malt capsules - anyone remember those and why we had them? And only recently, thinking about the war, I realised that those grumpy unmarried women teachers had probably lost their "sweethearts" in the war so turned to teaching instead.

Bean bags! Nature table! School milk!

Homefarm, it sounds as though you were very lucky with your school, I certainly never had any of those things. There is nothing wrong with knowing about the history of other countries per se but there is no need to memorise it these days when it is so easy to go online and find it out.
I don't remember my first infants' school at all (I had two accidents and was mainly home schooled), my second one I remember reciting tables, many of which are totally redundant now, for example 12d=1s, 20d=1s8d, 24d=2s etc.
I learned to write in the old-fashioned loopy style with a nibbed pen and ink, then changed schools and had to relearn to write in the Marion Richardson style with a biro. I love my 2 years at the 3rd primary school, I remember country dancing every Friday afternoon. We were allowed to pick a boy but the one I liked I wasn't allowed to have because he was short and I was tall! My 2 best friends and I 'took turns' to be top of the class in the weekly tests; whoever came top was 'allowed' to wash up the teachers' cups in the staff room with a friend so between us 3 we had a bit of a rota going. We also did the 'potching a hole for the straw in the milk bottle tops with a knitting needle' job.
I still have a 'Singing Together' book in the folder with my recorder music, I can't remember why!