"Bunking off" school as a child.

Callistemon21

Yes, you could get an order mark if you were seen eating in the street in school uniform, even just an apple!

Can you imagine picking up the phone to report someone for eating an apple? That thought process just doesn't make contact with my brain . It's like something an alien might do. What do people get out of it?

Yes, you could get an order mark if you were seen eating in the street in school uniform, even just an apple!

Marydoll

When I was in sixth year we went into town on a free period.
Someone had seen us and phoned the school, not because we weren't in school, but because we weren't wearing our hats!

What possesses people to do that? How can it possibly matter to them whether you were wearing a hat or not?

I can't for the life of me understand the mentality of people who have so little in their own lives that they have to make a negative impact on other people's.

Yammy. My father didn't have respect for the School Board man or anyone else. He was violent and abusive and felt that I'd humiliated him.

No! I never bunked off. I was far to scared of any repercussions if I did.

Shel69

Yes, there was a radio show called The Joe Loss show ,a lunch time radio show that broadcast from the theatre round the corfrom where Ilived, they always had the latest groups play their hit song,
My friend and myself got tickets regularly so we bunked off to see the latest groups playing, Who,Small faces,Manfield Mann and loads more, we had autographs and pics taken now all lost, we were 13 but looked much older, bit of a wild child I'm afraid, also in the band singing was Ross mcmanus ,can't remember who got the tickers for us but no regrets enjoyed my youth

I remember Joe Loss and his orchestra - my DB and SIL were dancers and I remember going to Trentham Gardens with them when Joe Loss was there.
But at night-time, not bunking off school 😀

I bunked off school many times from age 12 onwards as I hated it really. Sometimes with a friend and sometimes on my own. All you needed to do was go to registration and then nobody noticed. Only got caught one time.

I’m shocked by the mentions of corporal punishment, both at home and at school. Unknown for girls in my world , brother’s school did cane boys but my brother avoided it, being quite well behaved. My parents would never have hit either of us. I’m 83, by the way, my brother four years older.

Kate1949

Sorry Grannywn. Apparently it was because I showed him up by bringing the school board man to the door.

I think the School Board man was held in high esteem ours was like something out of Dickens and his name didn't help Barker and he did even when walking home he would tell you to get a move on.
As a family, we always felt we had made a lucky escape as he had been my gran's boyfriend before she married my lovely soft hearted grandad.
I'm sorry about your dad's response no excuse for beating a child, but they did have a lot of respect for these people you have to wonder why?
I once nearly got the same when a policeman arrived at the door my mother showed me her hand. He was giving me an unclaimed five-pound note I had found on the street and handed in, so I got off that time.

Four of us decided to bunk off domestic science as it was easy to go home for lunch and not go back. The teacher noticed of course. She reported us to the headmaster and we were sent to him. Caning was the punishment in those days. He asked each one why we weren't in school. I said I'd gone home for lunch and felt sick. The rest all copied me. He said if we brought in a note from our mothers he would believe us! My mum wrote me a note. I dont know what happened to the others. I never did it again.

Yes quite often from around 4th year ( age 14/15 )
Hated school.
Don’t remember ever getting caught, but the thought of it was part of the fun ( I think? )

Never ever at school. My mother’s wrath terrified me. At college quite often as we did not have to sign in. I remember going to the cinema one afternoon with a boyfriend. We went back to college afterwards to pick up our books etc. A tutor saw us and asked where we had been. When we told him he said “ You really shouldn’t have done that.” Nothing more and no consequences .

No. I was just done with school at 16, married the next week. My husband finished school at 16. Worked/saved 2 years until we married.

PS: We used to call it 'playing hooky'

Thank you Blondiescot.

I detested going to school so I bunked off regularly from the age of 11 until I left at 16. I loved learning but unfortunately there were a lot of bullies at my school, so I bunked off to get away from them. In my defense I frequently bunked off so that I could go to the library where I could sit and read in peace.

Oh, Kate1949, I am so sorry. I did say that I never bunked off because I was afraid of incurring my mother's wrath, but her punishments were entirely verbal (which were bad enough at the time). I can't imagine how horrible that must have been for you.

Yes henetha it was mine too. Didn’t have a very happy childhood felt safer at school than I did at home no wonder I went into teaching.

No I never did but I’m a wimp scared of my own shadow. Probably be the one that would get caught!

I loved school too much to ever want to bunk off. School was my refuge. The rules were very strict anyway at my all girls grammar school.

No, Calendargirl
I think this question is rather rude and judgemental:
Did those of you who bunked off carried on doing this in your working life, throwing ‘sickies’ at every touch and turn?

It would never have occurred to me to link the two things!

School, for many is something that is proscribed. Work is a contract between you and your employer. We have some choice in who we work for and the jobs we do. At school, particularly in "study periods" such as in the 6th form I have no problem with students being autonomous in the way they learn. If the students aren't motivated to learn in their own time there should be better supported provision.

So, yes. some of us bunked off to go out of school in "free" periods but not to the detriment of our grades. Some of us studied at weekends, one really didn't need to study ! Some of us used the time "bunking off" to go to a better library than the one in school. One girl I bunked off with twice, once to go to an art exhibition and once to see a matinée of "Uncle Vanya"

I doubt any of my friends who "bunked off" in free periods would go on to miss work without good reason (unlike one very well-behaved person I know who is "sick" all the time).
For us it was not about missing lessons it was about better use of our time.
Missing lessons would definitely have been picked up as you say. It was a pretty strict grammar school.

I threw sickies, bunked off, and skived off PE and games. I forged notes for all of them.
Interestingly I became a teacher as well and had a reputation for never being ill or taking time off.

Yes, there was a radio show called The Joe Loss show ,a lunch time radio show that broadcast from the theatre round the corfrom where Ilived, they always had the latest groups play their hit song,
My friend and myself got tickets regularly so we bunked off to see the latest groups playing, Who,Small faces,Manfield Mann and loads more, we had autographs and pics taken now all lost, we were 13 but looked much older, bit of a wild child I'm afraid, also in the band singing was Ross mcmanus ,can't remember who got the tickers for us but no regrets enjoyed my youth

Never, it didn't cross my mind at all. It just wasn't something we did.

I do remember at college we bunked off to watch Wimbledon and the dressing down we got from the Principal was terrible. We were told if we did not value the place we'd been given we could leave altogether 😲

Looking back I can see that my bunking off school and being sly enough to get off with it gave some indication of how I developed as an adult. I have always had the imagination and spirit to test the boundaries to see what I could get away with.

During the last year when we were supposed to be preparing for GCE out beloved class teacher died. We then had a succession of stand in teachers who, frankly, did not have a clue about the assigned books we were supposed to study. My friend and I ran through the list on our own and spent several nights a week studying in her house. The afternoons we skived off were always the double period with a bubstitute teacher. We never bunked off in the morning and only pm after we had registered.

We both loved school but saw going in to be "taught" by a sub teacher who had no real interest in us as a waste of time. Liverpool is a big city and the likelihood of our bumping into anyone from the school was pretty slim.

In the event we both passed our exams with excellent marks. My friend went on to teacher training college because her father was in business and could afford to support her. I went into the civil service and later into librarianship. So we both did well for ourselves despite "bunking off".

We never did smoke behind the bike sheds, drink or do drugs as they do now. In spite of the skiving off we were real little goody goodies.

I am still on contact with my old chum and sometimes we have a laugh about it.