Among the first at Dulwich Road School, 1931

When I went to live in Norbiton Road on what was then Warren Farm estate, in March 1930, Dulwich Road school was not built. The children living in the area, nearly all went to Hastings Road School, which was quite a good walk away, which we did four times a day. No school meals then and we were not allowed to take sandwiches as there was no room where we could sit to eat them. At this time I was six years and two months old. I found these journeys very tiring. As soon as Dulwich Road school was opening in 1931, my sister, 18 months my senior, and I were amongst the first children to go there. It was not a secondary modern then, but known as an elementary school and we had what was known as an elementary education. I was in the infants for a very short time. Mrs Lwa was my teacher and we were taught to knit dishcloths! I soon went into the junior school – both infants and juniors were mixed schools and I still remember most of the teachers names. Whilst I was in the juniors we had two headmasters. One was Mr Lock and the other was Mr Locker! Milk could be had at break time but had to be paid for – no hand outs then! Games and sports took place in the playground (Tarmac) so there were plenty of scraped knees and elbows. I went into the Senior Girls school aged 10 and a half. Miss Deakin was my class teacher. I remember she was very fond of tapping knuckles and heads with a ruler! Discipline was strict and bad behaviour and manners were punished. When we left school aged fourteen, we could read, write, do arithmetic, and talk properly – shame the same can’t be said of some of today’s pupils. It was lovely to watch the mural being painted in the hall – Miss Wallace, our headmistress with girls from different years and classes. When my daughter went to pre-nursing courses in 1961, it was still there. And we both think it was a shame that a way wasn’t found to save it when the Girls school became a leisure centre – a bit of history lost for ever! Our exercise books were left in our desks and reading books, maps etc, were all stored in a large cupboard, which was a built in fixture. For the most part, we stayed in our classrooms and the teachers moved around to teach the different classes. About the only time that the senior girls and boys met, was at Christmas when the woodwork teachers and some of the boys erected a stage in the Girl’s Hall for the show that was put on for parents and other visitors. Some of the boys also took part in plays etc. The hall was always full three nights a week that the show was on. I wasn’t a clever person and wasn’t upset when I left school, but I always managed to get fairly good exam results I did, however, enjoy ‘domestic’ science – cooking all done from scratch, no ready made pastry etc and laundry all done the hard way. Both my sister and I found lessons quite easy because our mother had already taught us how to do these jobs. When I left school in December 1937 (aged 14 on December 24 th ) the school was still an elementary one. I expect it was after the war that it became secondary modern.