I was one that passed the eleven plus. There were approximately six or seven in total (boys and girls) from St. Barnabas who passed, amounting to about 5% of the scholarship year. None of my friends achieved the results and my parents thought of me as being very clever, as my sister passed at near-miss level and went to an intermediate school (Moat Road) with another chance at 13+. She did a lot of the subjects that I took at grammar school and in some ways was as clever or cleverer than I was.
Little did I know that life was to change drastically and that friends and enemies would change from a happy life of little responsibility and permanent enjoyment. I suppose the starting point was the “scholarship examination”, later known as the 11+, the culminating point of infant and junior school life. All children were subject to the examination and arbitrarily divided; those that achieved a high mark were separated from lower-achieving children who, by this method, were deprived of progression to higher education and then, by lack of education, precluded from better-paid positions in industry and commerce.
Those that did pass were given a choice of grammar schools to attend. For the boys these were Wyggeston Boys, Alderman Newton’s Boys, City Boys and Gateway Boys. For the girls it was Wyggeston girls, Collegiate girls, Alderman Newton’s Girls and Newarke Girls. There was another level for children that had a near-miss fail; they were sent to the intermediate schools where theoretically they could progress to grammar school at 13+. The majority of children did not quite achieve the results necessary in the “Scholarship” to progress and were sent on to the Board schools for the area. In the case of St. Barnabas school these were Green Lane Board achool and the new school in Overton Road, Mundella, which was a great improvement on the victorian board schools. A lucky few whose parents were affluent enough to pay, they went to two private schools. Going to grammar school didn’t automatically entitle you to go; there was also a means test and those whose fathers earned enough had to subsidise the tuition fees. My father earned very little. Applying to go to one of the grammar schools did not mean it was automatic entrance to the world of further education. There was a sort of means test as to whether your family income was enough to subsidise the tuition fees, and my scholarship was completely free—there were only about three or four that came into this category. In addition there was a personal interview with your parents. School uniform was compulsory as was wearing a school cap and tie at all times. The grammar schools were supported to some extent by those who attended by becoming full fee-paying pupils.
The discussions that took place were in regard as to whether it could be afforded, as the full course was until the age of sixteen. All “lesser mortals” from board schools left at 14 and had been subsidising the family income for two years before I finished my education. The interview was very searching and my father had to sign an undertaking that I wouldn’t be withdrawn before the age of 16+. The penalty for doing this was a charge of £50. The document being written from dictation by the headmaster to my father; it had to be signed by him and witnesses. Happily we finished by being presented with a uniform list and the necessary sports and gymnastic kit to be bought and mysterious tools such as a geometry kit (I had never heard of geometry, let alone instruments to perform peculiar tasks) which all of this had to be of approved school pattern and purchased from appointed shops (e.g. Midland Educational).
My mother wanted me to go to Wyggeston but I was allowed a choice and I chose City Boys, whose headmaster was a leader in progressive thought in education, Mr. Crammer. Not as that was of interest to me as I was clever and, in my opinion, had arrived on the true academic scene. I was soon to learn that I was no longer the clever one of a class but merely one of a great number of talented children. This was a great shock to my ego and, because of the background education leading up to this point, self assertiveness was not a strong point. Rather the reverse: self denigration.
It was thus I passed from a strict nursery education where all the teaching staff were female, discipline was maintained by fear and teaching done by repetition of facts, to a school where all the staff were male graduates and always wore an academic gown while teaching; and to learning by self motivation for which I had never been trained, so I saw this as having free time. It was the entrance to an unknown world of true education in advanced thought.
The uniform was black pin-striped or grey trousers with a black blazer emblazoned with the school badge, a wyvern, with the motto “in conatu labor” (labour in effort). Uniform was compulsory and worn proudly, as all the boys who passed scholarship were proud of their achievement. From the beginning of the summer holidays to mid-September seemed an awful long time, especially so as my friends and other children went back to school a fortnight before I did. I wore my uniform whenever possible and we attended the school prize-giving which to me and my parents was very impressive. All the masters wore their gowns and also their silks and mortar boards, which impressed me greatly as up to that point this was the stuff of boys’ comics (along with tales of the empire and how we “brought civilisation to Africa and India”) and not the real life that I knew.
Looking back, in social structure I suppose they were imitating the public schools and the way of life of a different strata of education. All this was very exciting, but at the time I did not realise how totally different it was. Self-discipline was essential which was queer, as I had always been told exactly what to do and insubordination was met by the threat of corporal punishment. Most teaching was done by repetition of sets of rules and phrases in all subjects. Any questions were met with “never mind what it means, learn what it says and you will find out later what is meant by such and such a phrase”. Sadly, all of this was coming to an end.
At last, September came and I went off to school. I had to catch the tram at the top of the road and it was a halfpenny return if you caught it before a certain time. I arrived scrubbed and polished early at the gates and we were ushered in by Mr. Ward, the school caretaker. With several other boys who I did not know, we were all shepherded into the great hall where sheets of rules and regulations were given to us. We were then split into three groups 1A, 1B and 1Alpha (1Alpha was an age grouping, there being no 2Alpha). 1A and 1B were ability ratings and the subjects taken varied between the two groups. The three first forms then assembled in their groups and were allocated a form master, which to me seemed to be the stuff dreams were made of. Our 1A form master was Mr. McHardy who was the biology teacher, and our form room was the biology laboratory to which we were conducted across the rear playground. Seats were taken and the register compiled. The room was square with glass-fronted cupboards filled with strange things in bottles and a permanent scent of fomaldehyde. Work surfaces on two walls had various dissections pinned out on boards; A dogfish, rat, frog, rabbit and a lowly earthworm, which I found strange as I did not know that earthworms had internal organs. The piece de resistance was a human embryo in one of the cupboards (before it was called a foetus).
Another great difference to me was that of going to different rooms specialised for the different subjects. Up to this time, I had stayed in the same room and the teacher came to us. In fact all the subjects at infant and junior school were taught by the same teacher, and the level of teacher was graded by the level of class taught. The other strange thing was the strange subjects we had to learn. I remember showing my father my first algebra homework and he spent about two hours trying to find out what was the point of all these letters in sums as numbers were sums and letters were english. He may not have known algebra but he was great help in english.
The introduction plunged us into academic life. At the end of each month were the tests which kept track on progress. These were put together for an overall mark, a percentage. Below 60% was reckoned as failure and parents were informed. At the end of the first term 2 to 5 boys disappeared from each form. Withdrawn from the school because their parents didn’t intend to pay for the education they were receiving (out of the 30 average number in my form, I was the only non-paying pupil). This system carried on through the five years, culminating in the final external examination the School Certificate preferably with matriculation exemption (credits in: Maths, English language, General Science, a Foreign Language, and one or more other approved subjects). All forms took the School Certificate in all subjects taught.
The big thing from my point of view was the accent on sport, the annual school sports were the highlight of the year. PT (Physical Training) was for three periods a week. Football in the winter and cricket in the summer, one full afternoon a week at Grace Road. This is now the county cricket ground for Leicestershire.
During the Summer some of the PT periods were given over to swimmimg at Vestry Street baths; Vestry Street was opposite the school in Humberstone Gate. Field sports were taken altogether the same age year. Swimming was in individual classes as was physical training (gymnastics) and the culmination of all this exercise was the swimming sports, which took place at the Humberstone Lido on Scraptoft Lane. Good performers in any of the sports were singled out and offered extra training in their own time after school. Training was taken very seriously and the extra clases at night were something to aspire to as they were a kind of exclusive club. I was chosen for extra traing both in gymnastics and in swimming and diving. In cricket and football, one aspired to obtain the second or first team colours and this was denoted by being allowed to wear the special quartered school cap instead of the standard cap. Prizes in the sports on sports day were always presentation bronze medals in a leather case. suitably engraved with the name, year and the event and position, 1st, 2nd or third. Part of the prize distribution each year was a gymnastic display by the team.
Not only was the sporting kind of lad catered for but several other extra-curricular activities also took place. There were academic interests: the history club, the debating society, the biology club and others. There were leisure interests: The railway society, the stamp collectors’ club, metalwork and woodwork. Lectures and discussions took place with aurhorities on all subjects and outside visits were arranged to places of interest.
I was rarely home before six every night of the week and, because of my education up to this point, my thirst for knowledge was unquenchable and school to me was the great joy of my life. However the euphoria was not to last and it was not the fault of the school or my parents, but circumstances and life in general were to change due to clouds on the horizon, boding ill for life and career prospects as I knew them.
I mentioned the monthly tests earlier and their importance. Another important aspect of life at the City Boys was discipline. There was no physical punishment as the school believed in self-discipline, and punishment was the deprival of one of the privileges which all pupils enjoyed. Each month, the monthly results were pinned up in the form room with a red line drawn at 60% which, in the opinon of the form master, was the minimum one must achieve. Punishment consisted of detention—being kept at school for another hour and working to remedy whatever misdemeanor had been committed. Three detentions in one month meant the loss of merit holiday. The merit holiday was a half day on the Friday co-incidental with the publication of the monthly results. Thus was behaviour, learning and recreation balanced.
All work in the secondary school was towards one objective: The School Certificate, and prior to that the mock matric which was the test by which you were allowed to sit for the real thing. Both of these took place in the fifth year. All subjects were taken. Maths was one paper covering all aspects and science was one paper covering all science subjects. Passes were at three levels: pass, credit and distinction (roughly 60%, 75% and 90%). To obtain The School Certificate one had to pass Maths, English language, Science, one other language and three other subjects. Passes at credit level gave you matriculation exemption.
(Stray text: the level for entry level at university, 2nd or 3rd.)
The subjects we were taught: English languge, English literature, French (5 years), German (3 years) Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Mathematics (Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry, Mechanics), Geography, History. You were expected to know enough maths by the third year to allow you to progress to trig and mechanics and technical drawing. French instead of Latin and German gave you the basis for understanding English from its Latin and Nordic roots and gave you the basis to progress to other languages (there was a war going on in Spain).
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