A to Z of Me :: S is for School

School, eh? The best days of our lives as many say....

Reception - age 4

I went to the sweetest primary school in my village as a kid. There I met some of my oldest friends. We played in the wendy houses, staged weddings most break times, begged to 'tell the teachers' at the end of playtime and sit at the special table in the lunch hall (it had a table cloth and plastic flowers - magical). We gave nicknames to all of our teachers, my favourites being 'Miss Pirate' and 'Mrs Bowl of Cherries'.
The stories of primary school still make me smile now.
Want to see a cutesy picture of me at primary school? Oh, OK then... (don't I look like the model pupil?!)

I totally model myself (at work) on my year 3 teacher, Mrs Ennis. She was great; we all loved her, and I never remember messing around in her lessons- they were always too much fun. The perfect teacher in my eyes.

Then at the age of 9, we moved to our Middle School in the town nearest to us. I LOVED middle school. I loved working hard, doing my homework and thought that my teachers were awesome. The school was an old Victorian building (it was once the girl's high school) and it had shiny wooden floors and massive windows. Throughout Middle School, I had the most awful haircuts...

The HORROR

There was a rumour that the girl's toilets were haunted because a girl had hung herself there years before. I'm pretty sure it was fiction made up by the older kids to scare the younger ones!

Highlights from middle school had to include the discos - one teacher, Mr A, banned the DJ from playing 'Horny' and 'Sex on the Beach' which were big hits and the time, and wouldn't let us slow dance with each other too closely. I remember one couple falling backwards out of the fire door whilst having a cheeky snog in the back of the hall (not me, btw). There was also the bomb scare- that was a fun day. A boy bought in an old WW2 grenade that he found on a field. The bomb squad were called in, and our maths class was evacuated. I still say that's the reason I never learnt how to do long division properly!

Age 13. More hideous hair.

Then the awkward years of moving to Upper School. These years were not so much fun. I was a very awkward teenager with short spiky hair who liked The Clash and didn't feel the need to smoke a fag at the bottom of the school field. People took advantage of my good nature and the need to fit in with the popular kids. I wish I could go back to myself at that age, give myself a shake and say 'They are all a bunch of DICKHEADS'; isn't hindsight a great thing?

Age 14, I'm the boy on the left

I stayed there til the age of 18 at 6th Form, where I really loved my lessons. English Literature with Mrs Dawson was FAB, I loved her so much for introducing me to Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Media Studies was always awesome with Mrs Drake, and Tech was, without a doubt, the thing that I just plain loved. The teachers were tough on us. If our work was crap, they would tell us so. Ms L, our Tech teacher was a fiery Australian; one of the cleverest people I've ever met- my God did I look up to her. She was hilarious, tiny and bloody scary if you pissed her off.

Age 15. Eating Chinese food.

Then I moved on to Uni, which is a whole other story....

Now I spend my working week in a lovely school in my home city. It's a small school and the kids are pretty great (most of the time - all kids have their moments, afterall). I teach year 3 and I am the go-to girl for anything creative. I like to think of myself as Jess from New Girl. Quirks and all.
The kids do often say I'm a bit weird.....