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Young Jack Hill attended the junior school in his home village of Desford in the 1930's, and reminisces thus:
The eleven plus examination opened the horizons to a whole new life, for my marks entitled me to a County Scholarship that paid for my attendance at Market Bosworth Grammar School.
Preparation for the first day on September 14th l937 involved the purchase of formal clothing: shoes, grey socks, grey shorts, a navy blue jacket, white shirts, the school tie and a school cap of more or less the right size.
The girls were required to wear a tunic with a white blouse plus a large black hat with the school crest.
Mr Priestnall, the saddler in Main Street, created a leather satchel and its distinctive smell stayed with it throughout my school years. I often buried my head into its innards to enjoy the scent.
Two Desford boys were already at the school and so were asked to keep an eye on me but we seldom came in contact despite the small numbers involved. Their names were GeorgeMoreby who lived at a farm in Lindridge Lane and Lewis Beale who lived in Station lane. Lewis was drafted into the navy and was killed in battle somewhere.
Imagine the terror of catching the first Gibson Brothers bus at 8.10 that morning and then watching as several other boys wearing the same cap got on along the route. First Rex England in Newbold Verdun, then Ron Hardy and Ron Thompson in Barlestone...The overall class intake was quite small, there being several hang overs from the previous year. The number of new girls was quite large but total class size was about 25. We all fitted quite happily into Form II, which was adjacent to the front entrance hall.
Mr Webb was the Form master and he seemed a formidable person with his gown. He taught Maths and History, and in some ways made life hard for me, as I couldn't get the hang of Geometry and Algebra.
With the competition from the repeat people such as Roy Fox, Colin Mugglestone et al, I found that my place in the class ratings was very low for the first two terms. They of course were already aware of the subjects and so were able to come up with the answers. This fact was very demoralising for me and I feared going to school but had to persevere if only for my folk's sake. Also I didn't know how to duck out of the situation.
Class organisation was slightly ridiculous in that all books and equipment needed for the morning's classes had to be carried from room to room since the pupils went to the home classroom of the teacher. No-one was allowed to return to a classroom to collect a book and if the book was not to hand then that person was made to feel very small for the rest of that lesson.
Thus, at period changes signalled by the clanging of the school bell by a prefect, all books were gathered up and stacked on a large bottom support, usually one's atlas, with pencil case etc perched on top and the lot carried in to the next classroom. Most of the rooms were accessed via the school playground so rain, hail or snow had to be weathered in one's indoor clothing. Additionally if one needed to spend a penny, the books would be placed on a dry stretch of tarmac whilst entering the smelly outdoor facility.
Fortunately, discipline was so severe that no-one dreamed of interfering with other people's belongings.
The first Latin lesson was a complete mystery with the introduction of amo amas amat. Addressing a table as an object was unusual and it took quite some time before I appreciated what was happening. George Jellicoe was the Latin master and he was a real joker when it came to teaching the subject in the upstairs classroom. He would strut about on the dais and expound on the magic of the language.
He loved causing embarrassment to the girls and would invariably get one of them to conjugate verbs such as mitto mittere misi missum, which would go mitto mittis mittit mittimis mittittis mittunt. Another one was causa meaning cause, which went causa causa cassam causae causae casas (cowsarse).
I later years, the teaching was taken over by the Headmaster, one Mr Smith. He was a tyrant and one can say that Latin periods were a nightmare. The slightest misunderstanding by a pupil was enough to set him off in a tirade of abuse.
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