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Norfolk School, Arbourthorne


DaveH

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NORFOLK NURSERY - INFANT SCHOOL, Cradock Road, Sheffield. 1958 to 1963

Headmaster Mrs Ward Mrs Ward was the wife of Pop Ward in the secondary school

Form 2, Mrs Ward

Form 1, Mrs Barlow

Reception Form, ??

Nursery, ??

I cannot remember the name of any nursery staff. Most were quite young and probably had child care qualifications rather than teaching qualifications.

Neither can I now remember the name of my first proper teacher in the infant school.

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Guest davekowl

NORFOLK SCHOOL, February 1972

FORM 4A, tutor, Man Rosenberg

English Man Wright

French Man Chapman

Mathematics Man Rosenberg

Geography Man Gill

Civics Man Whitham

Science :

Chemistry Moggy Matthews

Physics Man Riley

By the time we had finished our CSE / O-Level exams in July 1972 the record at the top of the charts was Alice Coopers "School's Out", and for most of our year group, including Stuart0742, it was!

Just seen your list of teachers at Norfolk in 1972, Dave, and on the list the teachers who were there in my time were Man Rosenberg,Wright, Gill,Whitham, and Matthews.

I stayed on for an extra year to take my R.S.A. exams and was the only one to get a credit in geography. Man Gill was beside himself with joy. He expected us all to fail and thought I had been cribbing.

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Just seen your list of teachers at Norfolk in 1972, Dave, and on the list the teachers who were there in my time were Man Rosenberg,Wright, Gill,Whitham, and Matthews.

I stayed on for an extra year to take my R.S.A. exams and was the only one to get a credit in geography. Man Gill was beside himself with joy. He expected us all to fail and thought I had been cribbing.

Sounds about right Dave as the ones you remember having were there well before I started in 1967, and the ones you didn't have from this particular list (Man Riley and Man Chapman) both started in 1969 when we went Comprehensive, they both came from Wybourn School, along with a load of its students when it was close down that year. Extra staff were needed as the school roll went up from around 650 to over 900, - almost 1000 students. It also meant that all classrooms were in use all the time and some utility were converted to classrooms. 4 years later with ROSLA the school roll went up again as all students had to stay on until they had completed a fifth year and this resulted in all the remaining cloakrooms and washrooms being converted to classrooms, some of which were very small and oddly shaped. Coat hooks were put in the corridors outside classrooms instead. My younger brother tells me that when Norfolk briefly had a sixth form things got even worse. The staffroom became the sixth form centre and he can't remember where the staff went then.

Suprised about an RSA in Geography. Me and Stuart both did CSE / O-level in it. RSA were Commercial exams in our time like typewriting, shorthand, book keeping, accountancy, that sort of thing and not your usual subjects like Geography. In fact before ROSLA there were only 2 forms in the final year called 5A and 5C (no 5B!) because these stood for 5 Academic (CSE / O-level) and 5 Commercial (RSA / C&G)

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Guest davekowl

Sounds about right Dave as the ones you remember having were there well before I started in 1967, and the ones you didn't have from this particular list (Man Riley and Man Chapman) both started in 1969 when we went Comprehensive, they both came from Wybourn School, along with a load of its students when it was close down that year. Extra staff were needed as the school roll went up from around 650 to over 900, - almost 1000 students. It also meant that all classrooms were in use all the time and some utility were converted to classrooms. 4 years later with ROSLA the school roll went up again as all students had to stay on until they had completed a fifth year and this resulted in all the remaining cloakrooms and washrooms being converted to classrooms, some of which were very small and oddly shaped. Coat hooks were put in the corridors outside classrooms instead. My younger brother tells me that when Norfolk briefly had a sixth form things got even worse. The staffroom became the sixth form centre and he can't remember where the staff went then.

Suprised about an RSA in Geography. Me and Stuart both did CSE / O-level in it. RSA were Commercial exams in our time like typewriting, shorthand, book keeping, accountancy, that sort of thing and not your usual subjects like Geography. In fact before ROSLA there were only 2 forms in the final year called 5A and 5C (no 5B!) because these stood for 5 Academic (CSE / O-level) and 5 Commercial (RSA / C&G)

Must have changed focus for the R.S.A.s after I left. In my time in the 5th year we were split into 2 groups, one to do the G.C.E. exams and the other the R.S.A.s. Being not as bright as the G.C.E. crowd I took the R.S.A. exams which in those days covered the normal subjects such as maths , english , science , geography etc. I did quite well and got 8 subject passes but it never did me much good as I've always had to get my hands dirty for a living.

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Must have changed focus for the R.S.A.s after I left. In my time in the 5th year we were split into 2 groups, one to do the G.C.E. exams and the other the R.S.A.s. Being not as bright as the G.C.E. crowd I took the R.S.A. exams which in those days covered the normal subjects such as maths , english , science , geography etc. I did quite well and got 8 subject passes but it never did me much good as I've always had to get my hands dirty for a living.

Never realised that Dave.

So you could do an RSA in just about any subject that you could do a CSE in.

Now "getting your hands dirty for a living" was the real nature of C&G exams (City & Guilds)

You could take these in things like plumbing, bricklaying, carpentry, engineering, painting and decorating and a whole range of other very practical subjects.

You couldn't do them at school though. You had to take a college entrance exam (the FEEE - Further Education Entrance Exam) at 15, in the fourth year and then get on the C&G course you wanted after leaving school at the end of the fourth year. As students doing this had effectively left school most would get a job and do their C&G as part of their apprenticeship training in a "day release" scheme.

As I work in secondary education and having just guided my Y9 form through their options choices it looks like Diplomas, City & Guilds, College courses on day release from school and Modern Apprenticeships are all in their way back into favour, especially as it is now Government Educational policy for every young person to be in "some type of education" until the age of 18.

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MAN McDERMOTT

Man McDermott was the Boys PE / games teacher.

This never appeared on Friends Reunited and is taken from a slide in an earlier post, on the boating lake in Peasholme Park, Scarborough in April 1970. Part of a camping holiday which our form won as first prize for raising the most money in a sponsored walk to buy the camping equipment.

Man McDermott took us for PE / Games every year, except that in the last 2 years we dropped it in favour of something more academic. The fact that we didn't do it any more didn't stop him from writing us a report which said Effort, E, Shows little interest.

I think Stuart0742 will agree that we were hopeless at PE / sports and that Man McDermott, being a nice guy, tollerated our efforts quite well.

It was a sad day on a Monday morning in February 1972 when we found out that he had died over the weekend, aged 33. He had been playing football in his local Sunday League team and [after playing a header] had collapsed on the pitch and died shortly afterwards. We were officially told he had suffered a brain haemorrage, but Lass Moore told us at our meeting last November that he had "been suffering from severe headaches for several weeks before". Regardless of the cause, the outcome was the same, a sad and tragic loss.

Almost 4 years previously in the summer of 1968 we had him for a cricket lesson and were doing bowling practice. For this we had to be in pairs (so it was me and Stuart, - what a team!!) with one stump each. We had to put our stumps in the field about 20 yards apart and then bowl repeatedly at each others wicket. I was hopeless at this and I was bowling my ball wide every time. Man McDermott came up to me and gave me a couple of minutes of personal tuition showing me how to bring my arm over, how to release the ball and so on. After a few attempts I was much better and not far off target on Stuarts wicket. "that's a lot better, keep bowling like that" he said, and walked away to another group. Without his guidance I took my first over towards Stuart. It went way too high and miles wide, in fact it was going in the direction that Man McDermott was walking. Stuart saw what was happening and shouted out to him "Look out Sir!, Duck!" He covered his head and ducked down just as the wayward cricket ball fell missing him by inches. He turned and looked back at me, "Sorry Sir" I said, and got the reply "Be careful, you could have killed me!" An amusing little incident which we both laughed off, it became a lot less amusing but more unforgetable on that Monday morning 4 years later when we got the news of his death and my thoughts were "killed by heading a ball, - I nearly killed him like that 4 years ago".

TONY McDERMOTT 1939 - 1972

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ITS FRIDAY,

ITS THE LAST LESSON OF THE WEEK

AND ITS.....

CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

This was the lesson when the students could choose (from a given range of options depending on what the teachers had to offer) what they wanted to do.

Admittedly the sports were by far the most popular with most, - and not just the ones done in normal lesson times, for example golf was very popular at one bit with Man Bridson, and so was Chess with either Man whitham or Man Chapman.

Given its name, "creative" the arts and crafts were also popular choices.

You could even choose to do normal academic subjects if you wanted, but with a difference. As it was not constrained by an exam syllabus you could do more interesting things. Me and Stuart0742 chose science on a couple of occasions and did some chemistry experiments that have long since been declared totally unsafe and banned.

Then there were the introduced "different" subjects. Some of them not very popular but which I chose and which added to my education enormously, - photography with Moggy Matthews, Cinematography with E-type Smith and model making with Man Longland to mention just 3.

I know of no other school which offered this unique, inspiring and useful addition to the curriculum, so...

A}

Is this lesson unique to Norfolk School or did any other schools offer it (if so which ones)?

B}

Are there any other ex Norfolk graduates who remember these lessons? What did YOU do in them?

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ITS FRIDAY,

ITS THE LAST LESSON OF THE WEEK

AND ITS.....

CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

This was the lesson when the students could choose (from a given range of options depending on what the teachers had to offer) what they wanted to do.

Admittedly the sports were by far the most popular with most, - and not just the ones done in normal lesson times, for example golf was very popular at one bit with Man Bridson, and so was Chess with either Man whitham or Man Chapman.

Given its name, "creative" the arts and crafts were also popular choices.

You could even choose to do normal academic subjects if you wanted, but with a difference. As it was not constrained by an exam syllabus you could do more interesting things. Me and Stuart0742 chose science on a couple of occasions and did some chemistry experiments that have long since been declared totally unsafe and banned.

Then there were the introduced "different" subjects. Some of them not very popular but which I chose and which added to my education enormously, - photography with Moggy Matthews, Cinematography with E-type Smith and model making with Man Longland to mention just 3.

I know of no other school which offered this unique, inspiring and useful addition to the curriculum, so...

A}

Is this lesson unique to Norfolk School or did any other schools offer it (if so which ones)?

B}

Are there any other ex Norfolk graduates who remember these lessons? What did YOU do in them?

I still struggle with all this Pupil/Student & School Leavers/ Graduates thing.

Surely the majority of people that left Norfolk were school leavers or ex pupils lol

I think there has been some brain washing going on somewhere lol

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I still struggle with all this Pupil/Student & School Leavers/ Graduates thing.

Surely the majority of people that left Norfolk were school leavers or ex pupils lol

I think there has been some brain washing going on somewhere lol

Sure I have explained my own personal use of language on this to you before Stuart, but just to recap, -

PUPIL, a part of the eye, the black bit in the middle that lets light in, nothing to do with schools.

STUDENT, a person on a course of study which leads to an approved and recognised qualification (eg, CSE, O-Level, GCSE etc)

SCHOOL LEAVERS, students STILL AT SCHOOL but in their last term or so making plans to leave, we were school leavers in 1972 when we gave that careers bloke Mr. Heathcote the run about.

GRADUATES, students that have now left an educational establishment having achieved qualifications, we left Norfolk 37 years ago with a load of CSE / O-level certificates so we are graduates of our school.

EX Pupils (Should be EX STUDENTS), students that have now left an educational establishment but left either because they moved elsewhere, were kicked out (expelled) or just simply left gaining no qualifications at all. In either case they left with nothing positive, qualification wise, to show for it.

If I was to describe our mutual friend Frithy as an ex student you should get the idea of what the difference is between an ex student and a graduate.

Most of the members of SH who were students at Norfolk must have now left as the school no longer exists and probably left there with some sort of qualification even if it was only a school leaving certificate at age 15, so most of us are graduates.

Before you ask the answer is NO

Just because I have described you as a graduate does not mean you get to have an affair with Mres. Robinson lol

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Sure I have explained my own personal use of language on this to you before Stuart, but just to recap, -

PUPIL, a part of the eye, the black bit in the middle that lets light in, nothing to do with schools.

STUDENT, a person on a course of study which leads to an approved and recognised qualification (eg, CSE, O-Level, GCSE etc)

SCHOOL LEAVERS, students STILL AT SCHOOL but in their last term or so making plans to leave, we were school leavers in 1972 when we gave that careers bloke Mr. Heathcote the run about.

GRADUATES, students that have now left an educational establishment having achieved qualifications, we left Norfolk 37 years ago with a load of CSE / O-level certificates so we are graduates of our school.

EX Pupils (Should be EX STUDENTS), students that have now left an educational establishment but left either because they moved elsewhere, were kicked out (expelled) or just simply left gaining no qualifications at all. In either case they left with nothing positive, qualification wise, to show for it.

If I was to describe our mutual friend Frithy as an ex student you should get the idea of what the difference is between an ex student and a graduate.

Most of the members of SH who were students at Norfolk must have now left as the school no longer exists and probably left there with some sort of qualification even if it was only a school leaving certificate at age 15, so most of us are graduates.

Before you ask the answer is NO

Just because I have described you as a graduate does not mean you get to have an affair with Mrs. Robinson lol

I still reckon all this is modern speak, you will tell me next there a 100 pence in a pound and you buy petrol in litres lol

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I still reckon all this is modern speak, you will tell me next there a 100 pence in a pound and you buy petrol in litres lol

Worse than that, a LITRE of petrol currently costs just over 100 PENCE, or ONE POUND :o

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Worse than that, a LITRE of petrol currently costs just over 100 PENCE, or ONE POUND :o

Thats just over £4.50 a gallon, well when I was a lad etc etc

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Thats just over £4.50 a gallon, well when I was a lad etc etc

£4.50 :o

I think you mean £4/10/- lol

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ITS FRIDAY,

ITS THE LAST LESSON OF THE WEEK

AND ITS.....

CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

As a teacher now the closest our school gets to having "Creative Activities" is something called "Enrichment Days"

These are like full days of educational but not neccesarily curriculum activities done just before breaking up for the summer holiday.

We have offered in the science department a forensic "who done it" activity and a chemistry "make your own cosmetics".

However, and this is how both times and the affluence of parents in what is supposed to be a recession have changed, - the most popular activities have been trips out to London, Normandy, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Norway.

However, its still the "Creative Activities" approach. There are more and better ways to learn than sitting behind a desk in a classroom.

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A "Then and Now" of the old school yard under the bridge.

Then is 1973, Now is 2009

What a pity.

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With a bit of inspiration from Wayneybabes pictures of the old junior school (now a referral unit) here is the top end of the junior school today

And here is how it was being used circa 1963 - 67

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With a bit of inspiration from Wayneybabes pictures of the old junior school (now a referral unit) here is the top end of the junior school today

And here is how it was being used circa 1963 - 67

Here is the Brimmersfield Road side of the junior school today

And here is how it was being used circa 1963 - 67

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Here is the lower end of the Brimmersfield Road side of the junior school today

And here is how it was being used circa 1963 - 67

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Guest wayneybabes

finally found the picture from the front page of the star, 5th August 2004!!

A sad, sad day :(

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.......and the accompanying story

Thanks for that wayneybabes. I remember reading that particular edition of The Star very well.

I like the quote about the school "the kids are there every night they just can't leave it alone"

When the school was actually open for business in many cases the kids just didn't want to go near it.

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LESLIE WILKINSON

Man Wilkinson was the SCHOOL CARETAKER.

I don't have any pictures of him but he was well known around the school and was an excellent caretaker.

In the early 1990's when the Queens honours started to be given to ordinary people who's work was worthy of merit and not just celebrities he was awarded an honour (I think a CBE).

He had a daughter who was in our year at school. She was also called Lesley (Sorry, unlike French I don't understand how spelling affects the gender of a cross gender name, - Leslie / Lesley, male / female, - I think I've got them the right way round, appologies if not).

They lived in the Caretakers house at the bottom of Craddock Road near the main driveway up to the secondary school car park.

The house is still there and occupied today, even though there is no (or very little) school to take care of.

Stuart0742 will note that the house is close to where Frithy used to live and that the picture also includes that BT telegraph pole which Frithy had a nasty accident with while coming down Craddock Road on a push bike with no brakes on when he swerved to avoid a car coming up the road and hit the pole.

Again it was Leslie Wilkinson that heard the commotion, came out of his house and found Frithy knocked out and injured in the street so got him an ambulance and medical treatment, - as well as nipping across the road to let his mother know. It was service like this that got him that Queens award.

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THE JANITOR

I can't actually remember the name of Leslie Wilkinsons mate, the school Janitor.

His job was to repair all the school fixtures and fittings which in a rough school like Norfolk was quite a full time job.

In this picture he has a smile on his face because of what had just happened.

Having accidentally broken a window the school technician Peter Harrison and myself decided that we would fix it ourselves so we went to the Janitor and told him and he gave us a daimond tipped glasscutter, a lump of putty and pointed to a pile of spare glass of assorted sizes, none of which matched the size of our window.

We carefully measured a glass pane, marked it with the glasscutter, placed it on an edge and tapped it to crack along the glasscutter line. But it didn't, it just broke anywhere ruining the sheet of glass. Undeterred by this we tried again, first Pete and then me, and then again, with the same results until we had written off about 8 sheets of glass.

The janitor stood laughing at us throughout and eventually said "Come here, I'll show thee". Taking a sheet of glass from a different pile he marked it and cut it perfectly at the first attempt which astounded us. Our first reaction was to give him the putty back and say "If you can do it that well you'd better go and fit it for us"

Afterwards he admitted that old glass never cuts well due to stresses set up in storage and that the pile he had taken his sheet from was new glass which is much easier to cut. The whole incident left him with a smug smile on his face which is why I took the photograph.

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THE JANITOR

I can't actually remember the name of Leslie Wilkinsons mate, the school Janitor.

His job was to repair all the school fixtures and fittings which in a rough school like Norfolk was quite a full time job.

In this picture he has a smile on his face because of what had just happened.

Having accidentally broken a window the school technician Peter Harrison and myself decided that we would fix it ourselves so we went to the Janitor and told him and he gave us a daimond tipped glasscutter, a lump of putty and pointed to a pile of spare glass of assorted sizes, none of which matched the size of our window.

We carefully measured a glass pane, marked it with the glasscutter, placed it on an edge and tapped it to crack along the glasscutter line. But it didn't, it just broke anywhere ruining the sheet of glass. Undeterred by this we tried again, first Pete and then me, and then again, with the same results until we had written off about 8 sheets of glass.

The janitor stood laughing at us throughout and eventually said "Come here, I'll show thee". Taking a sheet of glass from a different pile he marked it and cut it perfectly at the first attempt which astounded us. Our first reaction was to give him the putty back and say "If you can do it that well you'd better go and fit it for us"

Afterwards he admitted that old glass never cuts well due to stresses set up in storage and that the pile he had taken his sheet from was new glass which is much easier to cut. The whole incident left him with a smug smile on his face which is why I took the photograph.

Don't remember him Dave was he there after I left, don't remember a janitor at all <_<

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Don't remember him Dave was he there after I left, don't remember a janitor at all <_<

The glass cutting incident I referred to took place in January 1973 when I went back to help Pete out with a few jobs so it was after you had left.

However, the school always had a janitor (this guy0 all the time we were there. He was pretty invisible as he did repairs out of lesson time to avoid disruption. He seemed to have a little office / workshop near the boys changing rooms for football which was actually in (under) the nursery school on Craddock Road and this is where we cut the glass. He usually went around the school with Man Wilkinson and you were most likely to see them either early in the morning or very late in the afternnon with a big bunch of keys either locking or unlocking the entire school.

The only time I ever saw him come into lessons was in woodwork as he would visit Man Smith and Man Cooke to borrow bits of wood and metal and to use the occasional few tools in order to carry out some of his repairs.

Now when I famously pulled the corridor roof down he didn't have to repair that, I did, but I still needed Man Smiths tools.

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