What do you recall from your first day at school?

A young boy[who just happened to be the HeadMaster's son] said to my mum, that he would look after me! Great.

I loved primary school! I have vague recollections of my first day with mum pushing my little brother in his pram. She was wearing a blue and white polkadot dress. My gran came too. My earliest memories were of a boy doing a poo in the playground and the teacher belting a girl because she couldn't pronounce four but could pronounce five. She probably thought she was 'at it.' The girl was a traveller and I'm sure there was a strong prejudice against her. I, too, could read before going to school.
Primary two was where I met my best friend. We had the same surname and I was told to look after her. We were best friends for 59 years until she died. We looked after each other all that time.

Ah yes. taking the register. We had to put up our hands and say "Here Miss!"

I felt abandoned in a room full of strange people. I was encouraged to play on a seesaw with another girl and that was fun. My most vivid memory was of my teacher reaching under her skirt and pulling a handkerchief from her bloomers. I found that very strange but she was a very kind lady.

My teacher was lovely and was a red head, same as my mum. I went straight to the Wendy house and spent many happy hours playing there.

1948. I remember the chalky, plasticine smell and a enormous rocking horse at the end of the classroom.It rained at playtime so we had a box of comics.

Nothing from the first day although I'm told I cried. I had been assured I would see my elder brother at playtime and I didn't because girls and boys had separate playgrounds.

I do remember another day though. I took a wee car with me to school and was brumming it on the desk when the nun teacher said, "Who's making that dreadful noise?" Steep learning curve for me to find out that toy car brumming made a dreadful noise! My mum, who had two kids younger than me, and we had just moved house across country so she was probably just glad she could hear what big bro and I were up to while she dealt with the little ones.

Bewilderment I think. I remember vividly the teacher calling out names, and the children answering ‘present’…..but there were no presents! Had to ask my Mum about that.

The school was actually very nice and so was the teacher -but I thought that it was just for one day !

I cried for my Grandmother , who took me on the bus day and day out .

I clung to the teacher , who was understanding and tolerant .

Eventually , I made friends with the girl , who sat at the next desk and ventured outside at break time .
After a few weeks , I began to travel to school by car with two brothers , who were equally introverted . I liked the older brother , who was in my class and it made all the difference .

We had nuns for teachers too Lucky. A very strict order. Most were horrible. I remember being fascinated to see them in Woolworths. I couldn't imagine why nuns would be in a shop. At my young age I saw them as supreme beings who had no need for worldly goods!

I don't remember visual but l remember the smell of veg cooking, warm milk and feet. Some of the teachers smelt fusty.

On my first day of school at 4 years old I was forced to eat gristly mince for lunch. I can still picture the nightmare I had that night about it, in which I was trying to escape school clutching the cushion I used to sit on at the table at home. This was beige with a design in the weave.
My extreme shyness made all my school days difficult.

I don’t remember my first day probably blanked it out because it was not good. I was four the school was a grim inner city building across quite a few busy main streets. The toilets were outside in a separate block I was scared of going on my own.
My most vivid memory was watching a boy standing in front of the class. He had a cone made out of newspaper with a big D on the front. The vile teacher informed us all he was a dunce and any child who misbehaved would be wearing one.

I don't remember my first day of school, but do remember quite a bit of my nursery school. Mum had me when she was 33, and I think I was a handful, to say the least, and when I was 2/12, mum had to cope with a new baby. The nursery was quite a way away, but I don't remember how we got here, as we had no car. In my mind it was a lovely place, with rice pudding at lunch times 🤗
I loved my infant school and we also had a nap after lunch, on little fold up camp beds with a blanket, listening to the radio. Maybe it was Listen With Mother.

Observation: it seems that most of us could read and count before we started school, without having been to nursery.

Probably many more mothers were full time housewives, but with far fewer domestic appliances, non-iron fabrics or convenience foods etc they were not ladies of leisure.

I conclude that most girls are ready to read by age 4, boys usually 5-6, and that early education should take account of this.

I don't actually recall the very first day but I do remember being in the infants school........like us all having to kneel on the floor to paint......toilets being outside and having to take toilet paper from the classroom.........the 'dinner ladies' who looked after us during lunch play time........smudgy crayons that were. hopeless to colour-in with.......high ceilings and heavy doors that had glass panels so high I couldn't see through .......assembly every morning including hymns and prayers, plus going to the church next door every week.....the play corner with a Wendy house, dolls pram, play kitchen and very little for the boys.........I can even remember the headmasters name.

biglouis

@BigBertha1

That sounds a lot like me. I had the reputation all through school of being a "clever clogs" and therefore a "teachers pert".

I did know basic numbers when I began school but was only ever average at maths. I was always well ahead on reading and writing. I came to hate sport and PE at secondary school although I have no memory of particularly disliking them at a younger age.

I suffered from a hatred of sport, when older, too. I think it was because of having to stand around outdoors, in flimsy clothes, in all weather's. I'm sure sports mistresses had a degree in sadism.

I was brought up at a School House as my father was headteacher there a while so as a little person aged 3 I also toddled into the infant class when the bell rang in the playground. I apparently - and fortunately - was very quiet playing in the wendy house and followed what the other children were doing. I never stayed too long and went home when had enough.
I joined the school properly around 41/2 and enjoyed it. My father became head of a secondary school so we left with very happy memories.
I think though I must have been the bane of the caretaker's life at the primary school as I used to follow him round the classrooms after school and didn't stop talking. He bought me a teddy for my birthday - and I've still got it!

I remember it very vividly - it was heaving with nuns and I was terrified of them - I thought they had no feet and just floated around!

We then went into the chapel which had life sized bas-reliefs of the stations of the cross all round the walls - I finished up next to one and was again terrified.

Hated it all!

My dad had a contract abroad so when we returned I was late starting at school. The first thing the teacher asked me when we were all sat down was did I have a handkerchief. I said that no, I didn’t have a cold. She said that I should always have one with me. I now have an obsession with always having a handkerchief or tissue to hand and can often be seen frantically searching pockets or handbag to check.

I hated it. I was allergic to milk and the teacher forced me to drink it. I threw up all over myself.
She was an absolute witch.

@BigBertha1

That sounds a lot like me. I had the reputation all through school of being a "clever clogs" and therefore a "teachers pert".

I did know basic numbers when I began school but was only ever average at maths. I was always well ahead on reading and writing. I came to hate sport and PE at secondary school although I have no memory of particularly disliking them at a younger age.

There was a nursery attached to the local infants' school and I went there when I was 4, biglouis. My mother worked part-time so it was very convenient.

I do remember having a nose bleed; the nursery teacher put a cold key down my back as supposedly the shock was supposed to stop the nosebleed. She then made me lie on my back but I was choking!
Every day after lunch we had a nap on a little camp bed.

We started in the infants' class at 5+.
I can remember running round the cloakroom (strictly forbidden!) and cutting my head open on a peg and had to go to hospital to have it stitched.

I remember running home from school on my first day too. I hated it. I could already read and write and it just seemed so pointless plus my little sister didn't have to go. For the first half term I ran away every day if I got the chance. After that I settled down and would walk there and back on my own or with the little boy next door.

Social anxiety has plagued me all my life so when I started school in 1961 aged 5, I felt completely at sea and just wanted my mum.

I remember we were shown the ropes by an older student and the girl assigned to me was very kind but I felt on the verge of tears all day. I didn’t ever love school and found it an ordeal until I was finally old enough to leave at 16.

I do still have several friends who were at school with me from the start and we still meet up when I’m in Chester.