What do you recall from your first day at school?

Yes - I can remember running into the school playground on my first day and jumping/leaping around because I had heard this is what you should do in the playground. This would have been 1959 in London.

Absolutely nothing. Must be blanking it out. 😬

I started school a few years after my brother. My name could be shortened to Andi and this was what my brother called me.
My mum cut my hair really short just before I started school, and with my brother calling me Andi in the playground all the other children said I must be a boy as I also looked like one. I went home in tears and said I never wanted to go back, my Mum had to go to the school to say I had to be called by my middle name.
As I got older I was always disappointed my name didn’t stay as Andi as my middle name is a bit.boring.
I also remember walking home alone at lunchtime as I didn’t stay for school dinners for many years.
Our classrooms were temporary buildings built after the war and were nearly 20 years old, freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. We found out years afterwards they were made of asbestos as were many buildings and schools in the 50s 60s and 70s.

Blinko what age did you start school!

I was 4 and a bit and my mother took care of information

Maggiemaybe that's hilarious! I don't have a middle name either. wish I'd thought to invent a couple!

I told the staff my name, address and date of birth so they could complete the enrolment form.

You’ve just reminded me, Blinko. I must have given details for my own enrolment form too at the last primary school I went to. I always wanted a middle name so decided to treat myself to two. When we were moving on to secondary schools the teacher checked all the register details, and I had to declare in front of the class that I wasn’t Margaret Susan Christine after all, and had no idea where they’d got that information from. 😇

I remember my first day. I started out from home with my mother and grandmother. I was eager to start school and soon outran them. I reached the school well ahead and joined the queue to enrol. By the time I got to the desk where teachers were completing the forms, they still hadn't caught up.

I told the staff my name, address and date of birth so they could complete the enrolment form. Eventually my Mum and Grandma arrived and I presume they were able to answer any other questions and explain one or two things.

As I was born with a cleft lip and the roof of my mouth (which were repaired over the next few years) I couldn't drink milk with a straw. So the Headmistress made me a cup of cocoa with my milk and I drank it in her office.
That was so kind.

I could read, write and knew numbers...bit of a smarty pants, really.

Spuddy that sounds terrible, I’m not surprised it put you off school. I don’t know where you were, but you are about the same age as one of my sisters and they never met treatment like that.

I went to a small private prep school & can remember lining up in the playground & being desperate for the loo. I didn’t know what to do, where to go or who to ask so the inevitable happened. I was kitted out in a pair of the headmistresses son’s pants. He was at least 12 and they were fixed with a very large safety pin. Oh the shame! I hated ‘sums’ merely due to a horrible teacher, Mrs Thompson. Loved art and games and won loads of ribbons for 3legged race, the egg & spoon and high jump. I still have my 2 best friends from day 1 at school 70 years ago. Sadly one has MS, the other cancer & Ive just had heart surgery so we’re all just about hanging on sadly . I remember my Mum asking , when I said I hated school, what I did like about school . I replied ‘weekends, half term, holidays, lunchtime, drawing and games’. She never let me forget it🤣

My sisters were already in school. They loved it, hated leaving me home alone having fun with mum. I loved the very long school drive in my father's lovely car, just me and my sisters.

School? I found it interesting, fun, somewhat boring, couldn't wait to get home to mum and our baby brother (born when I was 10).

Spuddy - what a horrible experience for you. You are a few years older than my daughter, but loved her school and had nothing but good experiences.
I hope this hasn’t affected your life in the long term. You mention getting married, but didn’t mention children. Whatever your situation, I hope you are happy now.

Spuddy where on earth did you live? You are only a year or two older than my children and my daughter never met behaviour like that.

I was at school in the 1940s/50 and never met behaviour like that at school or at home.

I had my 1st day at nursery when I was 5 in 1970 and because I didn't know the ''routine'' and didn't know anyone I was a bit slow, -didn't know where to sit etc. -and the class teacher shouted at me in front of everyone ''YOU SIT HERE, STOP BEING STUPID''. I was in tears.

Over the years I absolutely hated school, the sexism ... being told I shouldn't be anything other than a subservient housewife/mother, and if I ''insisted'' on working then it should be with kids, secretarial etc. A female bus driver or airline pilot? Gosh, no!

When we were marched off to the library aged 14 I tried to borrow a book about cave people but the hideous old bag on the desk told teacher who shouted at me that it's ''not within the school guidelines for girls''.

I never liked kids and chose never to have any when I was 6 and didn't marry until I was 42, I'm 59 now. Constantly shouted at and condescended and bullied by teachers and other pupils.

The girls were forced to do things like cooking, sewing etc. whether we wanted to or not.

In 1981 aged 16 I was supposed to leave in September with everyone else but my birthday was on 29 April which was a Thursday so I went in the final day before turning 16 and never went back as soon as my 16th birthday came! I never told anyone I was leaving then, didn't bother collecting anything from my locker, just totally vanished!

my aunt worked in education and was a friend of the head mistress.. we lived opposite the school. one morning my mother took me to school and in the corridor talking were miss Turner the headmistress and my aunt. my mother told me to say 'excuse me please' as I passed them but I darted back to her and asked if I could squeeze behind them.....

because of my aunt I was picked to be a maid of honour at May pole day along with a teachers little girl. I have the photo.

we each had a rafia mat to lay down on in the afternoon for a rest..... it was a modern school with three buildings, infants juniors and seniors.

teacher was miss Hancock. pencil skirt long dark hair and red lipstick.....

There is a photo of me and a few classmates on the internet, a historical photo site, we must have been about six.
We weren't wearing uniform, were standing doing some craft work, I think.

We don't look happy or sad, no smiles for the camera.

We all wore school uniform and I recall the headteacher telling off a first year for not having the correct shade of blazer!

Couldn't believe that my mum just left me there! No prep. Sense of being abandoned. Not that I'd hold a grudge or anything!

What I remember about my first day at school was that my class was in a church hall and we had to walk nearly half a mile to the main school for our school dinner, then back for the afternoon, which started with a rest on a camp bed.
My first memory in year one was having to go across the playground to the spooky toilets. There were no lights, so unless you kept the door open you sat in darkness. I wonder if that was why they smelled so bad, because the boys could not see to aim.

All I remember is a girl called Wendy. She was crying. Screaming really. Then she was sick all over her uniform and the floor. Quite a dramatic first day really .

Miss Little our teacher stopped us and pointed to the birds in the trees, they were all sitting in pairs. She told us it was the birds' wedding day. From that day to this February 14th is always the birds' wedding day before St. Valentine's.

How lovely, MiniMoon
I'll try to remember that 🙂 🐦🐦

I have no memory of my first day at school. I was 4 years 9 months old when I started and think that my mother must have prepared me really well.
One memory of infant school that remains with me is of St. Valentines day. We were in the yard doing PE, throwing bean bags etc. Miss Little our teacher stopped us and pointed to the birds in the trees, they were all sitting in pairs. She told us it was the birds' wedding day. From that day to this February 14th is always the birds' wedding day before St. Valentine's.

I remember wetting myself in assembly, because they had a strict time for visiting the toilets. To compound my embarrassment, the headmistress told me off in front of the whole school, then sent me home which involved a lone walk down a busy main road, then crossing a busy junction. My parents, understandably, went ballistic - with the headmistress I hasten to add, not me. I was 4 and a half years old!

I went to twelve different schools and don’t remember my first day at any of them.

I started our small village school at 5 and was rather upbeat about the whole thing On my first day I was seated with a girl called Ann who was crying uncontrollably. I instinctively put my arm around her and tried to comfort her but, much to my utter shock, she spat in my face. I'd never known anyone spit before, least of all in someone's face. As we progressed through school she turned out to be rather a nasty piece of work and I avoided her. I was otherwise undeterred and thoroughly enjoyed school.

I don’t remember my first day of school but I do remember my brothers first day . He started school around his 5th birthday in January 1957 and I cried and cried because I couldn’t start with him .
I started in September 1958 aged 5 years and 4 months . My best friend from over the road from us started at the same time so I wasn’t too worried about starting . There were 45 children in each class . My first teacher was quite young and was called Miss George and was very nice .
We also had a Wendy house in our classroom but I never once played in it as we had to ask permission from teacher and I was too shy to ask so that was that .
I couldn’t read or write when I started but soon picked it up. I found all the work we had to do very easy and passed the 11+ no problem but got a big shock when I started grammar school and actually had to apply my brain