Introduction

I hope members will read this before reading my posts on War Time Heads (1940).

It must be remembered that things differed not only from area to area but also from school to school in that area. Please also be aware that things were different during the war. One big difference was that we had double summer time so it stayed light late at night even on a winters day, but of course it was darker in the morning. During 1940 evacuees would constantly arrive, almost daily, but some would also leave. It was hard to keep track of pupils and truancy was a problem. These evacuees were a source of constant trouble. Some were from inner cities and use to constant beatings at home

and a disregard of rules. Others came from very well off families who were living in high risk bombing areas and often sent their boys away. To these the mention that they were going to be caned often caused tears. On top of this was a dislike, in most cases, between the local boys and the evacuees.

The school was in an area that only saw very minor bomb damage. The bombing we suffered was mainly where the pilots could not reach their target and just dumped their bombs on the way back to Germany. We had air raid warnings, but were not that frequent and then mainly at night. This did not stop you thinking that you may be in the middle of something and have to stop it at once because of an air raid warning. Drill had to be done both for the air raid and in case of a gas attack. These drills had to be fairly frequent because of the new arrivals.

The school was slightly different from most junior schools in two key areas. Firstly it was just all boys, we had no girls on site at all. Secondly, the local secondary school could not cope with the number of evacuees, and so an old building on our site was quickly put into service. I had two classes of boys of first year secondary (age 12) on site. They were on my school roll and under my control. In 1940 these two classes had about 40 boys each.

The school was of Victorian design with large windows. The windows all had the regulation tape on then to prevent glass from flying around cutting pupils in the case of bombing. The windows were very large and had no curtains. This was because the school finished at 4.15 and even in mid winter, it was not dark before it was blackout time. Some nights if I wanted to work late I had to move to the shelter as not even my office had curtains..
Certainly on winter nights, parents tended to collect boys to make sure they were home before the blackout. Most mothers worked in the local uniform factories. Fathers mostly had enlisted and other than those exempted for one reason or another very few males were in the area. Mothers often use to wait right by the entrance of the main school to shelter from the wind and cold. This started in 1939 and carried on even after the war. It was a good place for mothers to meet and chat. From this place they could see right into my office and could see any boys receiving an after school caning. This were very much on public show.

On average class sizes were about 45 but at times they were well over 50, certainly in the early part of 1940, when the bombing really started. The biggest problem, and it was my job as head, was to get teachers. A lot of teachers were female who had great difficulty in controlling classes. This was because so many fathers were not at home that boys tended to be a little out of control. Yes, prior to 1939, dads belt kept boys in check as well as the school cane. The other teachers were often old retired people. They may not have taught for a number of years. They had little or no control or respect in these large classes. What made it worse was many were only part time so classes had a number of teachers, few of which could control the classes. It was my constant job to keep some form of discipline in these schools. Clearly the discipline problem was made a lot worse by the boys who had been evacuated from the inner cities.

The war years also put special requirements on heads. With so few boys fathers around it became more and more the roll of the head to punish boys at school for offences outside school and during the holidays. Boys were under school control 24 hours a day. Their was this big thing, that Hitler had to be shown that it did not matter what he did, life would carry on the same. It was reported, totally untrue as it turned out, that he had spies everywhere. This required heads to be very firm so as not to show that discipline was declining with children, which in some cases was true. Little things like being at school on time now was a big issue. Prior to the war boys who were two or three minutes late would just be told off by their class teacher, but in 1940 failing to be in the playground BEFORE the bell went was an automatic two strokes of the cane from me. Boys talking about their father coming back from the front and saying where he had been, were severely caned if caught. The saying on posters stressed this “Careless talk cost lives” and “walls have ears”. Another task of the head was to check that everybody had his gasmask with him at all times. This was not easy as except for drills and one real event they were never used. Not only did you have to check they had them but to make sure the box contained nothing other than the mask. Boys had to checked to make sure they had a clean handkerchief and put hands in front of their moths if they cough or sneeze. Again this was a big thing backed by the poster “coughs and sneezes spread diseases.”

It was so different in the war and while I will try to describe what it was like on any one day for the head, no two days were ever the same. The top priority was to keep discipline in the school. Everything else was of less importance.

I will describe the day in four sections….up to morning play…..then to lunch……then to end of school…..then after school.

I will willingly answer any questions or expand on points but will post separate posts on…truancy…..home visits….after school caning … caning on hands or bottom.

I hope readers will find the posts interesting but I must stress again this was NOT the case in every school in the country during 1940.




George

Not that these contributions aren't a jolly good read, and there is some nice period detail - but could we just do the arithmetic ? Assuming George was youthfully promoted - wartime needs and all that - and that he had not been called up, would he have been, say, 30 on appointment in 1940 ? Still rather young for a headship, when I think the large majority of schools were being run either by women or by older men who were beyond the age for acr=tive service. So George is now 98 or so. Wonderful to find a computer-literate nonagenarian...

It's postings like Peter's that give me hope for this forum and he might be interested to learn that, only a few years ago, George used to stay up till 1.30 am arguing with his detractors here.

That's not bad going for someone who's expecting a telegram from the queen any day now.

For your information i was born in 1916. I started teaching at ST Peters when I was 19 which was in 1935.As most teachers signed up at the start of the war I was about the only one left in the school so was given the headship at the start of the war at the very young age of 23.
Yes, and that does make coming up to my 92 birthday. As to using the computer, those that were here will recall when I first started it was very bad.As to posting at 3am in the morning, when you get old timemeans very little.

George

Was anyone in the history of the world ever so obsessed with boy's bare bottoms?

It's total, complete, absolute and utter fantasy.

Here we go again. Somebody that cannot bring themselves to face the fact that I am talking from real life. I just dont think it is worth spending time to finish these posts.

George

Please don’t stop now, George. Your pieces are fascinating.

Keep posting!

Georges posts sound unbeleivable, however...
From what I have heard about state schools during the war the amount of CP given by George was given by headmasters and teachers alike.
Lateness, the cane, no homework, the cane etc etc. After assembly, during lessons, during break etc etc.
The only difference being that parents were not informed, by phone letter or what have you. Nost were at work, at war or stuck down a shelter.

I didn't mention how Killer Kemp acquired his nickname.

He came back to MGS from war service in 1946. The school was in chaos, mainly women teachers, bottles of ink & pears regularly being flung around in class.

Killer assisted the Headmaster to the extent of taking over Headmaster's beatings. Still in private, but exactly what was expected from a Headmaster's beating at that time;George will know what that was, from his own education, I'm sure.

George simply seems to have proactively enforced discipline rather than await the return of Killer's contemporaries-he, incidentally, was born in 1903!

The only question I have is why George finished up with boys alone-I presume there was a separate girls' school, as this was church?


Steve M

You are right their was a girls school about one mile away. the thought in these church controlled schools. WHICH IS NOT THE SAME AS STATE RUN SCHOOLS AS SOME SAY,that boys and girls were best educated separately.THis was in differant schools or in separate classes.

George

Go on George, tell us what went on at the local girls school. Even rumours would appeal to our illustrious crew.

As I said the local girls school was about a mile away and their was very little contact between the schools. i do know that they did have an all female staff, ncluding the head. They kept the same rules as I enforced on the boys.I do know that like myself discipline was kept by the use of the cane. They did not have such discipline problems as I had at St Peters. This was because the classes were smaller and above all they hardly lost any teachers at the outbreak of war. They had well trained teachers who could control classes and were much younger than my staff and just carried on during the war. it was not a question for them to find a lot of retired teachers to come back and take the classes.As I said the cane was used to keep discipline and I think it was used on a regular basis and may be tempted to say it was used cetainly as much as i used it or maybe more. this however is only a feeling from things i heard and as far as i know the cane was only used on the hands.

George