To return to the beginning of the infant class when I first arrived at the school. We were collected in the playground and shown where we must form a line side by side, The lines started at the first window next to the door and were in age order across the playground to the other door. The eldest marched in first and took their place at the back of the large hall downstairs. Then followed the others, in descending order down to the infants who were the last to enter. All these manoeuvres were carried out to blasts on a whistle. The original milling throng in the playground were brought to a halt by a loud blast on the whistle, when all movement must cease and everyone stood still or punishment was received. When this was achieved, the second blast was for all the columns to be formed, straight and neatly spaced. The third blast saw the first column march tidily into school and assume their positions. The dispatch of each column was accomplished by a blast on the whistle. While this took Place there was no running, talking or shouting and the whole operation was carried out very smoothly.
Being all assembled in the downstairs hall, assembly took place and prayers were said, followed by a hymn. All classes departed to their classrooms, the hall downstairs being divided into two classrooms by moveable screens. At certain times a variation look place and we were all marched into church along the passage that led from the school to the church, and a proper church service was held. I never discovered why every so often this occurred but it was a diversion from the normal everyday events.
The infants’ classroom was across the stone corridor where the cloakroom was, in a room of medium size heated by a large coal fire surrounded by a large wire fire guard. Mrs. Brown, the teacher, had a large wooden armchair against the far end near the fire. There were rows of desks where our positions were known and behind the rows of desks were small chairs on which we sat when we surrounded Mrs. Brown on her chair against the fire. Friday afternoons, the end of the week, she always told us a story—usually with a moral to it, or fairy stories and this was eagerly looked forward to by all the children as a relaxation from the rigidity of learning. There was not a lot that we did in the first year besides the fact of accepting discipline and doing as you were told, the formation of letters and their names, very simple arithmetic, and a considerable amount of manual dexterity skills including knitting (boys and girls), lacing up and tying shoe laces, making raffia mats, woollen weaving and sequence movements. It was always emphasised what a lot we had to learn, and how in the next class we would be very clever. The higher classes were always held up as a shining example of hard work.
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