Norfolk School, Arbourthorne

[Guest wayneybabes]

also, an embroidered badge from the middle school

apologies for the image size

[Guest wayneybabes]

and finally some pics of the demolition of the school & old bridge!!!!!!!!

apologies for the image sizes

[Guest wapntake]

I found this site by accident, I left Norfolk in 1977, spent all my school life there infants, juniors and seniors, reading all these posts took me a walk down memory lane, brought back good memories and bad, I remember all the old teachers and enjoyed all the old photos.

[SteveHB]

Just been lent the official opening booklet from the school to scan in and put on here

enjoy peeps!!!

Thank you wayneybabes,

and also thanks from SheffieldHistory to the person who loaned out the booklet.

[Guest wayneybabes]

I found this site by accident, I left Norfolk in 1977, spent all my school life there infants, juniors and seniors, reading all these posts took me a walk down memory lane, brought back good memories and bad, I remember all the old teachers and enjoyed all the old photos.

Welcome wapntake, glad you like the thread

must say you have great taste in schools and great taste in drinking establishments

glad to hear from another 'nursery to leaving' pupil

[Guest wapntake]

Welcome wapntake, glad you like the thread

must say you have great taste in schools and great taste in drinking establishments

glad to hear from another 'nursery to leaving' pupil

f you're referring to my ID wapntake i use it as an ID on various sites as a tribute to the place where i had great nights out over a number of years and was sad to see it go. It was that or Yorkshireman which was the other great place i used to frequent often. It was a toss up between them. did you frequent either of these great pubs.

[DaveH]

Thank you wayneybabes,

and also thanks from SheffieldHistory to the person who loaned out the booklet.

Brilliant work Wayneybabes.

That booklet from the official school opening is a priceless gem in the school's history, - and only available on here!

The other pictures though, from the end of the schools life, are quite sad but still an important piece of the schools history.

Keep up the good work.

[DaveH]

I found this site by accident, I left Norfolk in 1977, spent all my school life there infants, juniors and seniors, reading all these posts took me a walk down memory lane, brought back good memories and bad, I remember all the old teachers and enjoyed all the old photos.

Welcome to Sheffield History Wapentake and thank you for posting

I think you are about the 12th member on here who is an old Norfolk ex student.

I think we are the most highly represented school on the site and certainly we have the most extensive recorded history of any school on the site.

Enjoy the posts and please post any Norfolk school based info you have.

DaveH

[Guest wapntake]

Welcome to Sheffield History Wapentake and thank you for posting

I think you are about the 12th member on here who is an old Norfolk ex student.

I think we are the most highly represented school on the site and certainly we have the most extensive recorded history of any school on the site.

Enjoy the posta and please post any Norfolk school based info you have.

DaveH

I was sad to see the demise of this school as i thought it was generally a good school, i think i got a decent education there along with other pupils as well. I thought the teachers there were hard but fair and usually you didn't get punished if you behaved. I only had the cane once throughout my whole school life and made sure it never happened again ( and yes i think it was a deterrent). The teacher for me who stands out in my memory was i think Mr (Man) Dickson writing down reams if dictation then having to write it up again neat for homework, also PE i remember long cross country runs around Norfolk Park (sometimes in the snow) which was very difficult for me as i wasn't the fittest kid in the school. i remember the teacher hanging around the centre of the park and looking for kids cutting accross the park as a short cut then getting punished for it later. the games teacher's name escapes me i think it was smith or ward not too sure.

The only bad memories i have was i got picked on quite a lot as i wore glasses, the old tortoise shell coloured ones as well, there were only three types to have on the NHS at that time the Joe 90 ones, the round Harry potter glasses and the ones i wore, not very fashionable at todays standards and my god the rickety old school bus (the video in a previous post) it wouldn't be allowed to ferry pupils about these days.. does anyone remeber the morning assembly, i don't think they have it now do they. I think todays kids lack some of the education i had, they get away with way too much. Sorry to go on but reading these posts has stirred a lot of memories the last few days.

[Guest wayneybabes]

I was sad to see the demise of this school as i thought it was generally a good school, i think i got a decent education there along with other pupils as well. I thought the teachers there were hard but fair and usually you didn't get punished if you behaved. I only had the cane once throughout my whole school life and made sure it never happened again ( and yes i think it was a deterrent). The teacher for me who stands out in my memory was i think Mr (Man) Dickson writing down reams if dictation then having to write it up again neat for homework, also PE i remember long cross country runs around Norfolk Park (sometimes in the snow) which was very difficult for me as i wasn't the fittest kid in the school. i remember the teacher hanging around the centre of the park and looking for kids cutting accross the park as a short cut then getting punished for it later. the games teacher's name escapes me i think it was smith or ward not too sure.

The only bad memories i have was i got picked on quite a lot as i wore glasses, the old tortoise shell coloured ones as well, there were only three types to have on the NHS at that time the Joe 90 ones, the round Harry potter glasses and the ones i wore, not very fashionable at todays standards and my god the rickety old school bus (the video in a previous post) it wouldn't be allowed to ferry pupils about these days.. does anyone remeber the morning assembly, i don't think they have it now do they. I think todays kids lack some of the education i had, they get away with way too much. Sorry to go on but reading these posts has stirred a lot of memories the last few days.

dont worry about waffling on, we are but the same

dont know about senior schools, but my kids still have assembly. when i was at norfolk the pe teacher was man pack (works at SUFC now) and he used to take us on long runs and also used to watch for lads 'cheating' (i only got caught once).

[Guest wayneybabes]

f you're referring to my ID wapntake i use it as an ID on various sites as a tribute to the place where i had great nights out over a number of years and was sad to see it go. It was that or Yorkshireman which was the other great place i used to frequent often. It was a toss up between them. did you frequent either of these great pubs.

I went in both pubs just a couple of times. wasnt expecting to go in the wap one night and went in wearing a multicoloured sweater which got some funny looks.

also had an experience with a female in the wap which i have tried to flush out of my mind

[DaveH]

also, an embroidered badge from the middle school

apologies for the image size

A fairly modern badge this by my standards and not the one I wore in the 1960's. It became a middle school sometime between 1969 and 1972.

[DaveH]

I was sad to see the demise of this school as i thought it was generally a good school, i think i got a decent education there along with other pupils as well. I thought the teachers there were hard but fair and usually you didn't get punished if you behaved. I only had the cane once throughout my whole school life and made sure it never happened again ( and yes i think it was a deterrent). The teacher for me who stands out in my memory was i think Mr (Man) Dickson writing down reams if dictation then having to write it up again neat for homework, also PE i remember long cross country runs around Norfolk Park (sometimes in the snow) which was very difficult for me as i wasn't the fittest kid in the school. i remember the teacher hanging around the centre of the park and looking for kids cutting accross the park as a short cut then getting punished for it later. the games teacher's name escapes me i think it was smith or ward not too sure.

The only bad memories i have was i got picked on quite a lot as i wore glasses, the old tortoise shell coloured ones as well, there were only three types to have on the NHS at that time the Joe 90 ones, the round Harry potter glasses and the ones i wore, not very fashionable at todays standards and my god the rickety old school bus (the video in a previous post) it wouldn't be allowed to ferry pupils about these days.. does anyone remeber the morning assembly, i don't think they have it now do they. I think todays kids lack some of the education i had, they get away with way too much. Sorry to go on but reading these posts has stirred a lot of memories the last few days.

Well Wapentake I think you have summed up the school in exactly the same way as I have, - especially your memory of Man Dixons novel, but somewhat boring, method of teaching history.

[DaveH]

dont worry about waffling on, we are but the same

dont know about senior schools, but my kids still have assembly. when i was at norfolk the pe teacher was man pack (works at SUFC now) and he used to take us on long runs and also used to watch for lads 'cheating' (i only got caught once).

Yes we like people waffling on, especially when it is about our old school.

I work in a secondary school and we still have "assemblies" but they are not as frequent and are not of a Christian religious nature as a rule. They are usually about notices, events school rules, behaviour, progress, achievement and prizegiving. Of course these days we also have to teach lessons called PSD/PSE, Citizenship, Careers which are intended to guide our students along the straight and narrow when they grow up into adult life.

[Guest wapntake]

Yes we like people waffling on, especially when it is about our old school.

I work in a secondary school and we still have "assemblies" but they are not as frequent and are not of a Christian religious nature as a rule. They are usually about notices, events school rules, behaviour, progress, achievement and prizegiving. Of course these days we also have to teach lessons called PSD/PSE, Citizenship, Careers which are intended to guide our students along the straight and narrow when they grow up into adult life.

Another of my more vivid memories was of the middle school (i went to Norfolk all my school life), i remember in the last year before i moved up to the senior school there were lots of rumours about life in the " Big School" as we called it then. Talk about how strict the teachers were and worst of all what the big lads did to the newcomers, i think the worst one was we were told to stay clear of the boys toilets as if we were caught by the big lads the initiation was to shove your head down the toilet and pull the flush, not a nice thought for a young lad to contemplate, i think i stayed clear of the toilets for half the school year until i found out it wasn't true, the things kids say, and i believed it all as well. Then there was the day we all dreaded, Parents evening, did i used to hate that day. i remember the one in the first year my Mum was talking to my English teacher I think it was Mr Everatt (good fair teacher i thought) he was saying how strange it was that most of my work was fine but parts where i had to copy off the blackboard were not so good, my mum replied "did he have his glasses on" the reply was "what glasses" from Mr Everatt, I always hated wearing then due to the stick i got from the other kids, from that day he made me wear them every lesson, I still wonder to this day how a teacher could stand with his back to class and when someone was talking manage to hit the correct person dead on with the chalk, i've seen the blackboard rubber follow as well at times. I have lots of vivid memories of my time there some good some not so good, it's the first time i've shared any of this with anyone.

[DaveH]

Another of my more vivid memories was of the middle school (i went to Norfolk all my school life), i remember in the last year before i moved up to the senior school there were lots of rumours about life in the " Big School" as we called it then. Talk about how strict the teachers were and worst of all what the big lads did to the newcomers, i think the worst one was we were told to stay clear of the boys toilets as if we were caught by the big lads the initiation was to shove your head down the toilet and pull the flush, not a nice thought for a young lad to contemplate, i think i stayed clear of the toilets for half the school year until i found out it wasn't true, the things kids say, and i believed it all as well. Then there was the day we all dreaded, Parents evening, did i used to hate that day. i remember the one in the first year my Mum was talking to my English teacher I think it was Mr Everatt (good fair teacher i thought) he was saying how strange it was that most of my work was fine but parts where i had to copy off the blackboard were not so good, my mum replied "did he have his glasses on" the reply was "what glasses" from Mr Everatt, I always hated wearing then due to the stick i got from the other kids, from that day he made me wear them every lesson, I still wonder to this day how a teacher could stand with his back to class and when someone was talking manage to hit the correct person dead on with the chalk, i've seen the blackboard rubber follow as well at times. I have lots of vivid memories of my time there some good some not so good, it's the first time i've shared any of this with anyone.

Exactly the same in my day as far as moving from Junior school to secondary in terms of threats about what the big boys will do.

Now, Man Everatt was the best shot in the school with a stick of chalk and a board rubber until September 1969 when Man Headley a.k.a. "Deadly Headley" turned up from the old Whybourn school and he was an even better shot, - hence his "deadly Headley" tag.

Carry on waffling on Wapentake, you may be a bit younger than me and a bit older than Wayneybabes but we all share a common experience at Norfolk school.

[Guest wayneybabes]

Yes, we had the fear of god put into us about avoiding the toilets too!.

My eldest son is going up into newfield in september, apparently, the toilet rumours are called 'swirlies' nowadays!!

[Guest wapntake]

Yes, we had the fear of god put into us about avoiding the toilets too!.

My eldest son is going up into newfield in september, apparently, the toilet rumours are called 'swirlies' nowadays!!

I can't believe that this still exists these days, thought it disappeared years ago, Norfolk was a family affair with us, my sister went there (7 years older) and my younger brother (2 years younger) too, My sister was the clever one of the family and ended up well qualified, she ended up at High Storrs school for girls which was at that time a posh school compared with ours, I had some hard shoes to follow in when i went up to the senior school as a lot of the teachers knew my sister, i never got as many qualifications as her. I once went to see Mr Rackham (good and fair headmaster) for some reason which escapes me, (don't think i'd done anything wrong) and he mentioned my sister and how good she was and that he hoped i would follow in her footsteps, i was sorry to disappoint him. i got 3 'O' Levels, Maths, English and Tech Drawing and 5 CSE Grades. My favorite was Tech Drawing thought Mr piercy was a great teacher, i remember one lesson, we had a rather small kid in our class and he was messing about when Mr piercy popped out for 5 minutes ( i think it was a *** break as he often did that) and 3 of the other kids got hold of him and dangled him feet first out of the large middle window they had a look out at the door and when the sound "teachers Coming" was heard they dropped him outside, luckily it was only about four or five feet to the ground and he didn't get hurt, but when he came back into the class he was given detention for leaving without permission. I was always the quiet kid sat at the back and didn't get involved in any of the antics. My least favorite was German, i hated languages. didn't like Mr Chapman at all ( i think you all remember his likeness to a certain German dictator) it was also my most miserable exam result, grade 5 CSE, don't think it went any lower, We once went on a school trip to a place called Hesley Wood (i think that was it;s name) for a couple of days it was the first time i had been away from home without my parents (think i was about 14), i discovered a lot during that stay as there was goings on between some of the older boys and girls and a bit of bragging going on as well. i think most of it was just talk though. i always tried to avoid contact with girls, my only interest then was making model aircraft. it was also like an adventure weekend as the place had something like assault courses etc which we were forced to partake in, i hated this bit as i have a fear of heights, One lad decided to climb one he shouldn't have and fell off about maybe 10 or 12 feet to the ground, i think he broke his ankle and dislocated his shoulder (can't remember exactly) but i do remember the teacher saying "serves you right you idiot, you shouldn't have been up there" as he was carted away, my god nowadays it would be a lawsuit and a sacking. I can't believe i am still calling the teachers Mr, think i still have respect for them.

[DaveH]

I can't believe that this still exists these days, thought it disappeared years ago, Norfolk was a family affair with us, my sister went there (7 years older) and my younger brother (2 years younger) too, My sister was the clever one of the family and ended up well qualified, she ended up at High Storrs school for girls which was at that time a posh school compared with ours, I had some hard shoes to follow in when i went up to the senior school as a lot of the teachers knew my sister, i never got as many qualifications as her. I once went to see Mr Rackham (good and fair headmaster) for some reason which escapes me, (don't think i'd done anything wrong) and he mentioned my sister and how good she was and that he hoped i would follow in her footsteps, i was sorry to disappoint him.

Me and my younger brother both went through the entire Norfolk system, my brother is 6 years younger than me so he would have left in 1977, - same year as you. He started doing A-levels as Norfolk briefly had a sixth form around this time (It didn't have one in 1972 when I left, so I had to go to Ashleigh for my A levels) but left to get a job before the end of the 2 year course.

Mr. Rackham was a good headmaster and I have mentioned him several times in this topic when discussing Junior school days.

I did 4 years at Junior school but my brother did 5 and started secondary school in what was for some kids the second year. This was the difference between a Junior school (for me) and a Middle school (for my brother) I think this change happened in September 1969, some Junior schools becoming middle schools at the same time that all secondary schools became comprehensive. After all, there was no 11+ any more.

[DaveH]

My favorite was Tech Drawing thought Mr piercy was a great teacher, i remember one lesson, we had a rather small kid in our class and he was messing about when Mr piercy popped out for 5 minutes ( i think it was a fag break as he often did that) and 3 of the other kids got hold of him and dangled him feet first out of the large middle window they had a look out at the door and when the sound "teachers Coming" was heard they dropped him outside, luckily it was only about four or five feet to the ground and he didn't get hurt, but when he came back into the class he was given detention for leaving without permission. I was always the quiet kid sat at the back and didn't get involved in any of the antics. My least favorite was German, i hated languages. didn't like Mr Chapman at all ( i think you all remember his likeness to a certain German dictator) it was also my most miserable exam result, grade 5 CSE, don't think it went any lower,

Man Piercy and Man Chapman (to us "Man" was the usual form of address rather than "Mr.") were both brilliant teachers, I have mentioned both of them early in this topic and have posted my photographs of both of them.

Man Piercy wouldn't let me do tech. drawing because I was doing an extra science (chemistry) instead of woodwork or metalwork. I thought this was unfair at the time, but he was very fair with me when he dealt with the incident in which I pulled down a section of the corridor ceiling.

Man Chapman took me for French not German and it was my worst subject, a low CSE grade (they did actually go down to 6 so 5 is not exactly the lowest, however, grade 6 CSE was widely regarded as a fail as there was no grade U (unclassified) below this). He was also my form tutor in the 5th form. I was a good guy and I always got on with him well even though foreign languages was not my strong point. He was brilliant at chess, if you were in his chess club it was a treat just to watch him play, sometimes taking on the entire club by playing up to a dozen simultaneous matches and winning them all.

[DaveH]

We once went on a school trip to a place called Hesley Wood (i think that was it;s name) for a couple of days it was the first time i had been away from home without my parents (think i was about 14),

Hesley Wood is a scout camp just to the north of Sheffield.

Many schools use it as a camp for "outdoor pursuits", they even used to use it in my day, although I never went..

When the school first went comprehensive in 1969 it's population increased due to the bussing of kids from the closure of Wybourn school.

We had a couple of sponsored walks to raise money for a school bus and some camping tackle.

There was a prize for the form that raised most money, and as our form, 3A (Man Gill's) had 42 kids in it due to the Wybourn closure we were sure fire winners.

Our prize was to be the first to use the new equipment and go on the first school camp at Cayton Bay, Scarborough for a week during spring bank holiday 1970.

The school bus was a converted, ex army 1946 military ambulance. If you think the old school bus in the Man Smith film that you used was an unreliable wreck and a bit of a deathtrap this one was even worse. During a toilet break at Pickering on the way there I noticed that the rear light cluster was hanging off and was only held on by its own wiring. When I told Man McDermott about it he was concerned about the legalities of us being on the road with such an unroadworthy vehicle. Also, therecwere not enough seats in the bus for all of us so some of us were just piled in the back.

The photo I have posted of Man McDermott are of him in a boat on Peasholme Park lake on this holiday. I have mentioned previously that he died tragically, aged 33, during a Sunday league football match. I have though got more pictures of this holiday which I have not posted yet so I will try to find them out.

[DaveH]

i always tried to avoid contact with girls, my only interest then was making model aircraft.

Now when I was 14 I always enjoyed making contact with girls and preferred to work with them rather than some of the lads, mainly because a lot of the lads just messed about and did very little while most of the girls were calmer and just wanted to learn and get some qualifications out of it just like me.

However, as it happens, at this age I also used to make model aircraft.

Most of mine were engine powered control line models and I would frequently go and fly them on Arbourthorne Playing Fields until either it attracted to big a crowd or somebody complained about the engine noise on a Sunday afternoon.

KeilKraft Champ with Davis-Charlton Sabre 1.5cc engine (a training plane)

KeilKraft Phantom Mite (general purpose flying)

KeilKraft Marquis (stunt plane with tricycle undercarriage good for easy take off / landing)

[DaveH]

it was also like an adventure weekend as the place had something like assault courses etc which we were forced to partake in, i hated this bit as i have a fear of heights, One lad decided to climb one he shouldn't have and fell off about maybe 10 or 12 feet to the ground, i think he broke his ankle and dislocated his shoulder (can't remember exactly) but i do remember the teacher saying "serves you right you idiot, you shouldn't have been up there" as he was carted away, my god nowadays it would be a lawsuit and a sacking. I can't believe i am still calling the teachers Mr, think i still have respect for them.

Can anyone remember when the weather was bad and you had to go in the gym instead of down the field (which meant there were now 2 groups in the gym instead of 1) playing "pirates"?

Or was that just another Man McDermott thing.

[Guest wapntake]

Can anyone remember when the weather was bad and you had to go in the gym instead of down the field (which meant there were now 2 groups in the gym instead of 1) playing "pirates"?

Or was that just another Man McDermott thing.

wasn't Pirates where we had to jump from different pieces of apparatus without touching the ground. Didn't we also play a game called Bulldog where we ran from one side of the Gym to the other without getting caught, then when we were caught we joined the catchers, they wouldn't play that today without a risk assessment and public liability insurance. Remember the trouble we had with Hurlfield School at times, i remember one incident when i was in the second or third year (can't think exactly) when there was i bit of trouble in the chippy at Northern Avenue Shopping Centre between a couple of the older lads and a couple of boys from Hurlfield. I heard that a fight was arranged on the Arbourthorne Playing Fields after school to Settle it, The teachers found out and a call to the headmaster at Hurlfield stopped it, It was mentioned in the morning assembly that any boy caught having anything to do with it would be severely punished (the cane would have been red hot). With my friend and i living so close to the School we were allowed to go home 15 minutes early from school to avoid the other kids. so at least i benefited anyway, Does anyone remember Freds Chippy on City Rd, Chips, Cob and Curry, a queue of pupils all with half a loaf removing the innards into a box on the counter, i remember it tasted wonderful. I think it's Franco's Pizza now.

[DaveH]

wasn't Pirates where we had to jump from different pieces of apparatus without touching the ground. Didn't we also play a game called Bulldog where we ran from one side of the Gym to the other without getting caught, then when we were caught we joined the catchers, they wouldn't play that today without a risk assessment and public liability insurance. Remember the trouble we had with Hurlfield School at times, i remember one incident when i was in the second or third year (can't think exactly) when there was i bit of trouble in the chippy at Northern Avenue Shopping Centre between a couple of the older lads and a couple of boys from Hurlfield. I heard that a fight was arranged on the Arbourthorne Playing Fields after school to Settle it, The teachers found out and a call to the headmaster at Hurlfield stopped it, It was mentioned in the morning assembly that any boy caught having anything to do with it would be severely punished (the cane would have been red hot). With my friend and i living so close to the School we were allowed to go home 15 minutes early from school to avoid the other kids. so at least i benefited anyway, Does anyone remember Freds Chippy on City Rd, Chips, Cob and Curry, a queue of pupils all with half a loaf removing the innards into a box on the counter, i remember it tasted wonderful. I think it's Franco's Pizza now.

Yes that's right we played both those games and both were quite serious injury risks.

In fact in a game of bulldog just before Christmas 1969 I seriously sprained my right wrist by putting my hand out to stop myself running into the gym wall. Being me I didn't want to have time off school and miss all the Christmas fun, especially as my mate Stuart was playing father Christmas in the school Christmas production (see previous posts and images) and the 3 cutest girls in the class were dancing in it (also a previous post and image) so I put one of those leather straps on around my wrist that was about 3"-4" wide with several buckles and metal studs through it like an Hells Angel would wear to brace my wrist (even though I could hardly write anything in lessons). Anyway Man Whitham caught me wearing it and wanted me to take it off as it wasn't school uniform but he relented when I complied with his request and he saw how swollen my wrist was, - he told me to keep it on.

Never went to the chippy as I had 2 aunties who worked as cooks in the school canteen but it was legendary about the half loaf with the middle scooped out, most kids did it. We wern't supposed to leave school at lunchtime but most kids did, even me and Stuart who went to the sweet shop with that grumpy old shopkeeper, - I've forgot his name now but the shop carried his name and we used to refer to it by his name.

Even more legendary was the frequent showdowns with Hurlfield. It was a sort of unwritten rule that Norfolk kids went to City Road front and Hurlfielders went to Northern Avenue to avoid trouble, but it didn't always work out like that, especially as my mum worked in Northern Avenue Co-Op and I had to go up there in my dinner hour to get the house key sometimes. Walking into a shop full of Hurlfielders wearing a Norfolk school uniform is quite a scary experience.