Do you remember your teachers?

I was taught mainly by nuns and I am afraid to say, I was terrified of them all.

However, Mr Smith the Latin teacher (a male in an all girls school ? ) was an absolute gent and Borrheid and I share fond memories of him. I met him decades later and he still remembered me, lovely as ever.

He had a very heavy growth and was always rubbing his chin, we had a little verse:
Salve Francus Smithius,
Sitting rubbing your chinius.

We thought we were so amusing!

From secondary school, I remember the names of my best teachers : Mr Tunmore, Mr Richards, Mr Hinchcliffe and Mr Thomson, but I remember very few names of the mediocre or poor ones, except for Mr Amos, who was a nice man but an absolutely hopeless teacher (biology). Then there was my form master throughout the whole of my time at that school, Mr Rudkin.
I'm not sure why, but I can remember the names of very few of the female teachers.

I can still remember the names of all my teachers in Primary school. I seem to remember them all being nice, though I sensed that one, Miss Stevenson, didn't like me.

I loved my English teacher Mrs Rook and another one called Miss Welbourne. Our PE teacher was Miss Gibson who set going to see the new film 'West Side Story' as homework for 4 weeks running.

Miss Elkin taught Domestic Science and told me that I should never get married and have children as, with my cooking ability, they would all starve to death.

My favourite was Mr Corteel at junior school and Miss Dodge who was also my Brown Owl at Brownies.
At senior school I like Mr Burns who was an English teacher but couldn’t stand Mrs Stammers , a maths teacher. She picked on me because my best friend was a boy!

My primary teachers were all lovely,bar one - Mrs Marshall. Primary six and seven we had a charming man who everyone loved. Mr Jack. I remember some at secondary school. The Latin teacher, Harry Hourston, who was very eccentric and the maths teacher called Wee Mac who was a holy terror. I was rubbish at maths but he liked me. He had taught my father who was the school dux and often compared us. He was the master of sarcasm. The ex Jesuit priest who taught me in fifth year and whose name I can't recall but he was a good teacher.

I was taught by a mixture of nuns and lay teachers. The nuns were bloody awful in the main, bar a couple of the French ones. Horrible mean spirited people, I remember getting the ruler aged about 7 or 8, because apparently I was wearing an insolent face, I've never forgotten that, as far as I was concerned I was sitting quietly at my desk facing the front of the class with normal expression, but unbeknown to me, even at that tender age, it seemed I'd developed "resting bitch face" the only known cure, a thwack over the palms by a deranged sadist

Great male teacher in year 6, or top juniors as it was known back then. I do remember him as a truly inspirational teacher, often his lessons went right off piste, back in the days before the national curriculum, loads of trips out to exciting places to tie in with whatever he felt like teaching us. I particularly remember visiting Nelson's ship HMS Victory down in Portsmouth, The Planetarium, The Queens Building at Heathrow, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey. I loved his lessons they were always interesting, I think that was a year I took a massive leap forward, I felt it happening, and I remember getting the Class Prize at Prize Giving. A great year to end my junior school days...........and then off to my senior convent school, more nuns and more of their mind numbing ideology!

I too was taught by nuns although I m not a Catholic there were lay teachers too, most of the nuns were really lovely we must have been very lucky reading others experiences.
My favourite was a short fat nun who taught me History She rarely used a text book had all the knowledge in her head
If we behaved well every Friday afternoon she would tell us a history story again all made up, she was a great storyteller and she would make it end on something exciting or nail biting so we couldn t wait till the next Friday and behaved ourselves all week in anticipation You could hear a pin drop Very clever teacher
I meet up with more than a dozen school friends every month for lunch and everyone remembers her and her history stories

Miss Elkin taught Domestic Science and told me that I should never get married and have children as, with my cooking ability, they would all starve to death.
I have not heard the surname Elkin since I was at school, kittylester. Another pupil had the surname Elkin.

Yes, some of them were terrifying but most were ok although I didn't appreciate them at the time. Most were unmarried but the married ones were more friendly.

The (unmarried) French teacher was lovely, rather posh and so chic and had studied at The Sorbonne although she was English. How I longed to be like her (I was not and will never be chic).

We only had one male teacher, poor man, teaching all those teenage girls.

At junior school I remember the teacher, who was very strict, jumping on a desk, absolutely terrified, when we saw a mouse in the classroom ? ?

Ps kittylester did your children enjoy your dreadful cooking? ?

Yes, I think I was probably a sad disappointment to many of them!

I remember lovely nuns and boring nuns , but none really nasty
My favourite was our lovely English teacher nun , she gave us a love of literature
Our geography teacher taught us far more than she knew , she taught us biology and the love of nature

I was taught, mostly by Nuns. I remember my Standard 1 teacher was Sr Paula ... a dear, sweet nun. We went up to Standard 9, which was run by a tall. strong, fierce nun, Sr Boniface. The language teachers for some reason were lay people. This has brought back memories, most of which are fond x

Foxglove I too had a board rubber thrower, Miss Farquhar, maths. Mrs Green was our lovely English teacher and Mr Guy, the hapless with teenage girls, RE teacher. It was an all girls grammar school.
Miss Mattick was the head of our primary school, she was firm but fair, a phrase attributed to me in my career, I’m happy with that.

We had a board rubber thrower too.

She once threw an ink pot at my friend!

I too was taught by a mix of nuns and lay teachers.
From age 5-9 I spent my life in a constant state of fear and anxiety,
I prayed that one teacher would die as I was so terrified of her, she did live to a ripe age but went blind, I was convinced Iras responsible.
Anothe nasty teacher once held my painting up to the whole class and announced that it was dreadful and made me walk to the front of the class to collect it.
With the exception of two teachers at my primary they were all cruel, vindictive a s hypocritical.

In primary school my teacher was Mrs Mathias who was lovely. Her son wasn't old enough to be at school but she brought him to school every day anyway and I was always the one chosen to play with him at breaktime. She liked my Gran who would bring me to school.

In juniors I had Mr Matthews for 2 years and he was lovely. But for needlework we had Mrs Wheaton who was a dragon and put the fear of god into us.

Miss McDonald was next, an awful short, ginger haired woman with a foul temper. She hit one of the girls and knocked her glasses off. The girls mother arrived in the classroom the next day to confront her and that was an interesting day! If anyone was caned they were sent to Miss Mc Donald, she liked inflicting the punishment.

Next, for 2 years, was Mr Byrne the absolute best teacher ever. He was fun, learning was exciting and interesting. He'd take us out for games in the park and we all loved him. He gave me a life long interest in Impressionist art and calligraphy. He got all 39 [!] of us bar 1...to pass our 11+ exam. The only one who didn't [a story behind that] went on to be a teacher in a secondary school. Happy days.

I remember all teachers in the Grammar school, they were mostly odd, bitter single women and not worth writing about, and best forgotten. I respected just 2 of them...at a push.

Infants, Mrs Oxley, then Miss/Mrs Haigh, then Mrs Wilkinson. Nobody liked her, we all said we`d leave before we got to her class! She once battle boarded me for snipping a teeny bit out of my gymslip in a sewing lesson. I thought it was unjust, it was MY gymslip, not hers.
I can only remember 2 in the juniors, Mrs March and Mrs Taylor, she was horrible, headmaster was Mr. Winks, strict, but OK really.
At grammar school, Miss Harrison taught art, Miss Guest, liked her, taught history, Miss Jessie Wilson, English, Miss Wall and Miss Cunningham PE, Miss Wall hated me. Miss Frost music, Miss Lowe science, Miss Johnstone, maths, she was a tartar and a board rubber chucker. Mrs Savin geography. Miss Millward French. Headmistress Miss Keating, known as Bugs, followed by Miss Ripley.
I can`t remember the name of the domestic science teacher, but she wouldn`t let me do domestic science after Lower 5th, because I was useless at sewing and too slow in cookery, had to keep interrupting the next class to take my offering out of the oven!

We all adored our headmaster Mr Edlington, and I hated the domestic science teacher, Miss Howard. She and I got off on more wrong feet than a centipede has! Mrs Lidelle taught PE and art, but my favourite teacher was Jack Simpkins who taught us English (and stocks and shares when he was fed up of teaching us English. He brought in copies of the financial times and taught us how to follow the stock market instead). He fostered in me such an intense love of the language that I have been grateful to him all my life. And Mr Cartwright, maths, who never gave up on me even though I had no grasp of numbers whatsoever. Always bottom of his class, but he loved a trier. I did “get it” eventually and it was due to his patience and perseverance.

Mrs Clark who taught Latin came to school on an old bike, wore ankle socks and had a moustache - I kid you not. The other Latin teacher which I had terrified me, Mrs Bachierelli, with a pronounced chezkolovakian accent. It was reported she would not speak to the German teacher because of wartime atrocities to her family. We also had a PE teacher nicknamed Daisy who was reported to be lesbian as she leered at us naked girls forced to take a shower after PE. I only had her for one year. It was reported she lived with the headmistress with all that connoted. The deputy head Miss Raybould taught RE and you had to sit stock still in hurt lesson, no taking notes, then go and write it up for homework - I hated her. All our other teachers were young and had a good rapport with us.

In High School. Miss Overy, Miss Goldsmith, Miss Burgin got married in hols became Mrs Greenfield likewise Miss Boswell became Mrs Hyam, Mrs Wrankmore, Mrs Delaney. The Misses Taylor, Miss Lawrence and Miss Donaldson. There were the dragons, better not to mention on this post.

My infants school started in Everton bad memories is all I have. Children being put in front of the class with a hat on their head like a cone with a D on it. I didn't understand it but knew it was bad. The first teacher I remember was in junior school Mrs Wakeman. I really liked her she was kind and patient.
My worst teacher was Miss Woods she wasn't pleasant at all and had her favourites. She seemed to look down her nose at children from large families.
I attended the local Secondary modern school. The writer Alan Bleasdale was a teacher at my school not mine but my younger siblings. He was a good down to earth teacher so I was told.
My History teacher Miss Gore was horrid she sent me to the head master on a few occasions for wearing mascara.
I hated the French teacher Mr Johnson who made you stand and read a sentence out loud. I always blushed when put in that situation.
I was quite bright but knew I couldn't stay on at school. The senior school was better than junior school. The teachers apart from these few exceptions I mention were friendly.

lilypollen

In High School. Miss Overy, Miss Goldsmith, Miss Burgin got married in hols became Mrs Greenfield likewise Miss Boswell became Mrs Hyam, Mrs Wrankmore, Mrs Delaney. The Misses Taylor, Miss Lawrence and Miss Donaldson. There were the dragons, better not to mention on this post.

How on earth did a teacher survive being called Mrs Wrankmore? I would not have taken my husbands name in her case - unless it was even worse!

I think I can remember all theirs names. All my teachers were female - I wasn’t taught by a man until university. There was only one really unpleasant one, who taught geography. She was a nasty piece of work, and could be mentally cruel if she disliked you. Luckily I was never a target.

Most of my teachers, though, were very nice and civilised. There was no physical punishment of any kind, and I’m horrified by some of the stories of violence I read on here. Our German teacher came from Vienna and I think was in reduced circumstances because of the war. Her childhood, from what she told us, had been spent in luxury. I never found out the full story.

We had one teacher, a Miss Lloyd, of outstanding brilliance. She taught English, and everyone agreed about her, even those who weren’t very good at English. She taught us a lot about life in general, and was a great influence on all her pupils. She was a genius in her way.

I disliked a teacher at primary called Mrs Griffin. She taught us some kind of history geography thing called Building the Empire?..can you believe it.
Anyway I got into awful trouble for writing a note and passing it to my friend Sally. It said “Mrs Griffin is a reptile”. I think I’d just learnt that word and I have always been a bit phobic about reptiles so I considered it a great insult.

On the other hand Mrs Herring was Swiss and taught us French at a very early age, I loved it.