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Genealogy/memories

What do your ex schools look like now?

(65 Posts)
soontobe Tue 17-Feb-15 20:10:41

In the mood for something lighthearted.
Apologies if this has already been done.

How much have your primary and secondary schools changed?

Primary - Still a Primary School. And surprisingly very similar. And the road and houses around it too. Quite reassuring really.

Secondary - Has been a Sainsburys for about 10 years!

Eloethan Wed 18-Feb-15 10:21:12

My secondary modern school in Romford looks the same but it is now co-ed (the boys' school used to be next door) and the name has been changed.

My best friend from the girls' school I subsequently attended in Sudbury, Suffolk told me in her Christmas letter that our old school is being demolished. We both feel a bit sad about it.

kittylester Wed 18-Feb-15 10:16:57

The asphalt from the playground keeps turning up in our flowers beds and our house hasn't been a school for 30 odd years. As for ecologically sound materials - our walls are made of granite so very warm and about 9 to 12 inches thick. The roof is a different matter!!

soontobe Wed 18-Feb-15 09:42:04

I am still smiling at vegasmag's ex's boarding school turned into a corset factory.

soontobe Wed 18-Feb-15 09:39:28

I am surprised how many schools are still schools.

J52 Wed 18-Feb-15 09:37:25

The very old building got dry rot, so was replaced in 1936 by a modernist design. It's now listed, but has had to expand with ' tasteful ' extensions! x

Anniebach Wed 18-Feb-15 09:29:34

My Junior school was destroyed by the NCB in October 1966, girls grammer school was demolished just a few years ago

Falconbird Wed 18-Feb-15 09:17:49

Greyduster,

Not too sure about the ecologically sound materials. Also not too sure what ecologically sound means,

There are some wonderful Victorian schools in the area, all red brick and grey stone and solid as a rock. They have outlived a lot of other buildings and will still be standing in another 50 years - hopefully.

feetlebaum Wed 18-Feb-15 08:58:45

Google Earth shows me that the Infants' and Junior schools I attended, at Bounds Green in N London, are still there and still operating. What used to be straightforward asphalt playgrounds now have various bushes growing here and there, and there are extended areas with a soccer pitch and so on. The Junior school used to be on the first floor, above a Secondary Modern - I suppose it has the whole building now.

A memory: there were no air raid shelters, and I have a mental image of us as infants being led, hand-in-hand, to sit on the staircases when the alarm went, as they were the parts of a building most likely to survive a bomb - rather pathetic.

Greyduster Wed 18-Feb-15 08:52:55

My secondary school has not changed - it looked like a cross between a church and a prison and it still looks like a cross between a church and a prison. It is now just a primary school. My primary school has been knocked down and rebuilt using ecologically sound materials - but from a teaching point of view, it was always a poor school, and it is still a poor school.

Lilygran Wed 18-Feb-15 08:30:51

My primary school became a register office and is now a car park!

sherish Wed 18-Feb-15 07:52:26

My secondary school is the same. My lovely little primary school has changed into some kind of community centre but the playground and gates are the same. There is now a Morrisons across the road. I feel very nostalgic just looking at the playground and gates. Lots of happy memories.

Falconbird Wed 18-Feb-15 07:30:47

The state of the art Comprehensive school I went to in 1958 had science blocks, a swimming pool, huge gyms, several assembly halls, a stage for drama, sewing, rooms cookery rooms, tennis courts, extensive playing fields, music rooms and a room with at east 25 typewriters for the aspiring secretaries.

It was completely demolished several years ago and another school built in its place. I think houses were built on the playing fields.

confused

kittylester Wed 18-Feb-15 06:44:02

My first school is now part of the nearby public school and houses the art department. My next school still exists and hasn't changes much at all.

My well respected grammar school became a comprehensive and lost it's way for a long time. It seems to have found its way again recently.

NfkDumpling Wed 18-Feb-15 06:36:50

My Victorian village primary school is now a rather nice house and my secondary school is still going strong - although now twice the size and sound much posher as a high school instead of a sec mod.

loopylou Wed 18-Feb-15 06:36:42

My primary school has been demolished, the junior school was in a Tithe barn so I imagine it must still be standing albeit no longer as a school.
The convent is now a Magistrates Court.

absent Wed 18-Feb-15 05:10:09

Is the school an ex-school –certainly in some cases where there are flats or shops on the old school site – or are we ex-pupils?

I remember a moment of horror when I once described my ex-husband as my daughter's ex-father. I have, of course, never done that again – except in my secret dialogues with myself. grin

Marmight Wed 18-Feb-15 03:25:47

My first school was demolished in 1960 and a block of flats built on the site. My 2nd school is still a school - The Old Palace in Croydon and my last school became Sotheby's and was later sold to developers and converted to luxury apartments with houses built in the grounds. sad

numberplease Wed 18-Feb-15 00:45:49

I left my primary school in 1954, just googled it, but could only find pictures on streetview, it looks the same from outside, but the houses around it look much smarter nowadays. My childrens primary school, which was across the street from our house, has, sadly, been demolished and replaced with new houses.

TwiceAsNice Tue 17-Feb-15 23:00:38

Sorry should be ofsted wise iPad respelt the word automatically

TwiceAsNice Tue 17-Feb-15 22:59:40

I don't know about the primary I went to but the senior school, a secondary modern at the time is now still the same building as a comprehensive with a bit of modernisation but apparently not doing well ousted wise, they had a new head put in to try and turn it around but rumour has it that it will probably be closed. I don't care I hated my time there

feetlebaum Tue 17-Feb-15 22:46:45

The Grammar School I went to (leaving in 1953) is now the Sixth Form of a much larger comprehensive...

rosequartz Tue 17-Feb-15 22:38:17

Boys!! Aliens!
We were separated from age 7.

rosequartz Tue 17-Feb-15 22:36:49

soon it wasn't on the school website, someone had put it on a website about the history of our town.
I suppose I am part of history now at my great age! grin

Leticia Tue 17-Feb-15 22:25:33

My first primary is now a private house, no idea with the second, the third is bigger with the old attached Head's house as part of the school. The first secondary is now luxury apartments and the second and third have had extensive building work and are comprehensives.

annodomini Tue 17-Feb-15 22:24:07

I looked for a photograph on line and it's unrecognisable, but then I left in 1958. The primary department was closed and the building demolished, then the secondary school was completely rebuilt on the same extensive site.