New Sheffield book

[Lyn 1]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-10524711/A-voyage-despotic-dad-brilliant-portrait-growing-1960s-Sheffield.html 

 

[Athy]

Looks interesting, thanks for posting it.

I am surprised to see the boy's admission to grammar school described as a "scholarship".

[Lysanderix]

Passing the 11 plus  in 1954 was referred to ,in my case ,by friends ,family and neighbours as “passing the scholarship”.

[Athy]

17 minutes ago, Lysanderix said:

Passing the 11 plus  in 1954 was referred to ,in my case ,by friends ,family and neighbours as “passing the scholarship”.

Never heard the expression used in that context before.

"Scholarship" usually implies that there's a financial advantage involved. My Mum got a scholarship to Chesterfield GGS, that was about 1930 when most pupils had to pay to go there.  Scholarships are still awarded by independent schools, the pupil has to pay reduced fees or no fees at all, but as state education has been free for many years, that consideration doesn't apply. When I passed the eleven-plus to get into King Ted's no one ever called it a scholarship.

[rover1949]

I too 'passed my scholarship' to grammar school in the 60s, I believe this was because the WRCC funded my education in a Sheffield school.

For the same reason they also reimbursed my bus fares to school because I didn't qualify for a Sheffield student's bus pass.

[Lysanderix]

Athy….I do know what is meant by a scholarship….however ,as we probably come from different parts of our City I assure you that in my neck of the woods “ the scholarship” was frequently used as a synonym for the 11 plus…..presumably because there was a sort of financial advantage in so far as the financial grant  from the Corporation toward the cost of the compulsory school uniform, sportswear , aprons for handicraft and lab work." and probably ,more importantly ,our parents had sat what they termed a “scholarship” back in the 1920s…. so used the term most familiar to them. My father passed but was unable to go to Firth Park Secondary school on account of the depression and my Grandfathers unemployment!

In the 1950s the extra year spent in Grammar school education ,for some families ,was still a burden and two of my pals were forced to leave ,aged 15 ,in order to find a job and make a financial contribution to their family.( they were greeted as long lost pals when we had our 50th reunion)🙁

 

 

[Organgrinder]

I too "passed my scholarship" in 1951 and so did one of my pals.

It was a commonly used phrase in Heeley, though it sounds as though the term wasn't used as widely as I thought.

[Lyn 1]

I passed mine in 1957 and yes it was referred too as a scholarship. Great emphasis was used by junior school teachers in preparing us for the exam. The best teacher ever - Mr Coombes at Shiregreen school on the Flower estate. 

[Athy]

I wonder if "scholarship" was an outmoded or archaic term still in use by older people, just as people of my generation these days might refer to "O Levels",, ""the gas board" or "the rates".

 

Lysanderix, it is possible that terminology varied from one part of the city to another. I was from Gleadless,  I can only say that it wasn't used there by my teachers or by my parents - though possible older neighbours, in conversation with my parents, might have said something like "I hear Michael's passed his scholarship",, just as they used to say "book" in the sense of "magazine": "I've bought a book to read on t'train" tended to refer to 'Woman's Own' rather than the latest Agatha Christie.

[Lysanderix]

Probably an outmoded term used by some older people and adopted by some younger people. I still use  words and phrases ….that I grew up using…..much to the amusement of my grandchildren…and also to the horror of some who would censor them.

 

 

 

[Athy]

One still in common use is "M.O.T." How long is it since the Ministry of Transport ceased to exist?

[Lou Scannon]

Many years ago (60+) when I was about 15 my Scout leader asked me. "Have you done your 'School Cert' yet?". I explained that we now did GCSE's. "Ah", said he, "When I was a lad people kept asking me, have you Matriculated yet?" I guess It's called progress.

I can certainly remember older folk saying to me you need to work hard to ensure you pass your scholarship, that would be about 1955.

[rover1949]

The headteacher told me that I had passed the 11+ exam and gave me a large envelope to take home which was very important.  I remember that it was a big application form for the scholarship, listing all the family details including income, so I assume is was means tested.

Mum was quite exasperated by all the information required, including two expectations for my future trade or profession.  (She put down 'Chancellor of the Exchequer' and 'Dustman').

[Athy]

2 hours ago, rover1949 said:

 

Mum was quite exasperated by all the information required, including two expectations for my future trade or profession.  (She put down 'Chancellor of the Exchequer' and 'Dustman').

Did your parents get the grant? If so, their application must have been read by an Education Committee employee with a sense of humour.

[rover1949]

Well, I got to grammar school.  We didn't receive the money directly but somehow the finances must have moved between councils and school (don't ask me how, I never made it to Chancellor).

I have heard that some pupils were fee-paying because they didn't qualify for a scholarship, - does anyone know if this was the case?

[Lysanderix]

My understanding is that free places to Grammar schools were increasing from a around a third to a half between 1913  and 1939 But the whole ,very unfair secondary education system ,was changed with the 1944 Education Act ( often known as the Butler Act) which aimed at providing free secondary education to all pupils by means of the 11 plus examination and the creation of the tripartite system .This offered ,what was considered the most suitable education ,as determined by an individuals 11 plus results. These were …grammar , secondary modern and technical schools…..although this system disadvantaged many pupils who would have benefited from a much more comprehensive education than the Secondary Moderns ,in general ,offered.

 However ,a report ( the Fleming report) recommended the creation/ retention of Direct Grammar schools which would be selective and mainly fee paying.This report was adopted as a modification to the Act and some 179 were allowed…these offered 25% free places , 25% subsidised by LEAs and the rest fee paying.

From 1965 a series of measures created a system of entitlement / comprehensive education rather than selective …although 163 state funded  Grammar schools continue.

[Athy]

I'd forgotten about Direct Grant schools until you mentioned them. I don't know much about them but I gathe rthat they were state schools at which fees were payable by at least some pupils. I remember my Dad saying that Manchester Grammar was a direct grant school; but were there any in Sheffield? I think that the Girls' Grammar School across the road from King Ted's was possibly one.

[Lysanderix]

In 1945 Sheffield had three…Girls High School, Notre Dame and De la Salle.

[Bikeman]

I passed the 11+ and went to De La Salle College in 1966 and you are right, it was a Direct Grant Grammar School for boys at Pitsmoor, run by the Catholic De La Salle teaching order. There weren't any fees to go there, as far as I am aware, although I remember one lad of Italian descent, who had paid to attend, so there could have been others. It also came as a shock to find when I started, that I was no longer top of the class and that there were boys far cleverer than me!

[MartinR]

"Direct Grant" meant that the Government funded some places and others were paid for by the local authority.  It was a way of getting the brightest boys into what would otherwise be private education.  The scheme was abolished by Labour in 1976 and schools had to choose between becoming part of the state system as comprehensives or else revert to private, independent schools only.  Most did the latter in order to maintain the academic, selective nature of grammar schools.  The move is known colloquially as "pulling up the ladder" since many of the politicians forcing it through were themselves beneficiaries of the system.  One particularly nasty aspect was that kids on a direct grant lost their places with only a few month's notice and had to move school irrespective of where in their exam courses they were.

[Lysanderix]

Indeed, many Labour politicians had also benefited from being educated in LEA grammar schools….which they were determined to abolish and fully engage in the Comprehensieve system.

As an aside ,my son who would likely have failed the 11 plus…benefited greatly from the Comp….ending up with a good degree ….My daughter ,however, was never academically challenged(at the same Comp) and whilst she attained a degree could possibly have been an Oxbridge candidate. That said, she is now a teacher and fully embraces Comprehensive education.