We’re are you popular at school?

Like Shinamae I was always picked last for netball, yes I wasn’t much good but it was still a horrible feeling being kept standing there at the end. Wasn’t in the in crowd but made good friends who are still friends over 60 years later.
I was a border line 11+ and interviewed with 4 others. None of us got a place and we all ended up at the local all girls sec mod, not offered a 13+ opportunity.

Not really, maybe when I was naughty showing off..
Nor was I ever a bridesmaid to anyone. Although I have been godmother a few times.

I was never a bridesmaid either dogsmother. Too late now

At junior school, I was in the middle (20th in a class of 40). The same in popularity. I had a little group of friends. The clever, popular girls ignored us.
In secondary school, I don't remember there being any distinction. I went to the sec mod, all the popular girls passed their 11 plus and went to the grammar school.

I was not popular, being one of only two mixed race pupils in an otherwise all white girls' grammar school, when I joined. It may have been down to my skin colour, or possibly the fact that I was quiet by nature. My sister was more popular than I was, and played hockey in the school team. Sport wasn't my thing at all.

I did have a group of friends, though. There were six of us but I've lost touch with all of them now.

I was pretty shy, particularly in my early teens so wouldnt say that I was popular.

I did have a small group of friends who seemed to like me very much though.

I'm still in regular contact with one of them now.

One thing do remember from secondary school in the 1970s is that it could be very brutal indeed, particularly for kids who were 'different' in any way.

I wouldn’t have won any popularity contests with the girls at Secondary school, but was always happy to be on the edge of groups rather than centre stage.
I seemed to do better with the boys and they liked me more. Maybe it was because I had 5 brothers and was at ease with the boys.

Blimey you get better and better lillie ?
I was somewhere in the middle, reasonable popular within my own friend circle but never had any bullying or nastiness outside of it I was never amongst the first to be picked but neither was I the last I was only average at sport so the sporty ones were always clamoured for first, I think it’s a horrible cliquey idea anyway, why didn’t the teacher pick sides
I was a fairly good kid didn’t get into trouble or do naughty things I think I was little miss average (I did rise to a prefect though) and still meet up with 14/15 school friends monthly so I couldn’t have been too bad

I loved going to school

I was very popular at school, especially with the more mature boys. I know that sounds great {and big headed!} BUT it was because I was the ugly friend to girls they wanted to date. I was frequently told how easy I was to talk to....well "I can't speak to girls, but I can speak to you" was usually how it was put. lol Basically they considered me one of the boys. This, plus always being picked last for sports and being bullied {fat and ginger}led to a massive insecurity complex. Even just typing this brings back the sadness.

Reasonably I think, I was a bit ‘wayward’, didn’t respond well to uniform and quite familiar with detentions, I have a physical scar from when a dare went wrong. I got picked for netball as I’m tall, goal defence, but I yearned to be a shooter. I also lived quite far away, two buses (all girls grammar school).

Loved junior school but hated grammar school. I don’t remember feeling left out at any time. I had a group of friends and a few I didn’t particularly like, expect the feeling was mutual.
Same in adulthood at work and various clubs.

nah bluebelle it's not all good
ive still got a scar on my hand where one girl stabbed me with a biro

artaylars last sentence about school in the 70s being brutal got me thinking
surely it is worse now in 21st century with social media and so called friends liking comments and pictures
i bet it is far nastier and more sinister

Popular? Ha ha. I was bullied, laughed at and left out of everything.

Popular at Primary School and loved my time there. Things changed at my very academic secondary school where I realised very quickly that being "clever" in Primary didn't equate to the sort of brains I was competing with there. I was also very small and immature and I shrank into myself. Wasn't happy there. Things changed for the better at college where I was mature enough to make good friends with people I liked rather than trying to be in the "in" crowd ! I was also considered to be witty which did wonders for my ego. I still keep in touch with some of my college friends today.

Oh Kate, that’s horrible. Why are some children so cruel ?

Definitely not popular! I was small, shy and had a stammer and was very much the shrinking violet. I was no good at sport, so put extra effort into my schoolwork, so probably seen as a swot. Had one or two friends, but not really close to anyone.

DS, on the other hand, had no problems and was voted house captain at school in Australia. Both DC made friends easily, unlike me, which I was thankful for.

It's OK silver thank you. I survived it! I had a nice little group of friends fortunately.

I was never a popular choice to be in any sports team until those choosing realised that, as a left-hander, I was a good option in terms of increasing their score in rounders and cricket, by default, through the number of no-balls! Plus, I whacked the ball in a completely different direction from the right-handers and the fielders often got caught out!

I was quite shy and didn't like to be noticed, but I did have quite a tight group of friends of both sexes and my teachers liked me well enough. I envied - and was terrified of - a particular girl who was part of the really cool gang, and always took care to keep out of her way.

Amazingly, at a school reunion 20 years ago we discovered we really liked each other and she's now one of my closest friends!

hang on a mo
maybe some of you might have been more popular than you think
you all sound pretty nice just maybe sensitive about certain things

It never bothered me being considered the odd one out. I never wanted to be part of the crowd, as it meant pretending to be what I wasn't, liking things I didn't like or understand and I would have been terminally bored.

I was quite happy to go my own way, usually with my head in a book. I was badly bullied at one school because of a medical condition I had until I was about 13. This wasn't particularly pleasant but I soon learnt how to avoid going places that put me at risk.

I was quite outspoken and always ready to defend others and challenge teachers if I though they acted unfairly. But as I said, there was another like me, not in my year, but close in age, and we shared our taste in music - classical, not pop. and were/are still omniverous readers.

I rubbed along quite happily with everyone else, but I was seen as being 'other'

I was awful at all sports, and was never picked for any team. However, I was quite popular. I refused to get pulled in to any faction, indulge in any gossip but for the mildest chat, and would say that anyone who behaved in a bullying / catty way must be quite unhappy.
I did a few things with the 'golden circle' of the most popular girls, but my best friends were outside of that.
The best friend of my adult life I met as a young adult. When we had school age children, I found some of her behaviour around some of the mums quite annoying. I then realised that she had always been outside 'the golden circle' at her schools, and was anxious for her children to be part of what she thought were that set at their school. I told her that it was all smoke and mirrors!
Interestingly, one of her daughters has grown up to be part of a rather smart set. She's pleasant and kind, but IMHO rather shallow. The other daughter has always been very independent minded & has a range of rather eccentric friends (including me!)

I had a stammer and wore glasses. I was hopeless at sport and was never chosen for a team. I did have a good group of friends at Primary School though. Sadly, I was borderline 11-plus and had to go to the local Secondary School. All my friends went to the Grammar School. There wasn’t a 13-plus so I was stuck. I wrote an article about my failure once and a friend said it made her cry.

I was popular enough among my own type - arty, interested and involved in music and drama. I always had a small group of close friends rather than a large number. Games meant nothing to me, except as something to avoid, so I suppose the gamesy ones didn’t think much of me - as I didn’t of them.

It was an all-girls, academically selective independent school, so I didn’t have to worry about whether I was popular with boys.. I just can’t imagine having boys at school. .

Never enjoyed infants or Junior school ,for two of the years I was put in the class above my age and was classed as a baby. I went to a small village school that was conscious of getting people to the Grammar school. I was also bullied by a group of boys until my dad taught me to punch.
At Grammar school I was hopeless at sport but had good friends, we had 11+, resits 13+ 14+ and people joined the sixth-form.
I never ran with the" in-crowd kept my head down as I was in a notorious class of mischievous boys who were really good fun and enjoyed my years at school.
At college, I made good friends again definitely not the in-crowd and in my last year had a boyfriend who was at uni in a different city so spent a lot of time with him.
I would never have made Head girl material and was never a prefect. I think two of the teachers probably liked me one positively hated me and showed me up whenever she could.
I still have friends from Grammar school and college.