HILLHEAD HIGH SCHOOL PRIMARY

I f Dorothy and I got a break in life it was to be sent to Hillhead High School. It was a grant aided co-educational day school. Grant aided meant your parents had to pay fees but the school got state funding.There were about five of these schools in Glasgow.Some like Glasgow Academy and Kelvinside Academy were totally private.

You went to primary aged five to twelve and the secondary thirteen to eighteen.

In the primary most of the teachers were female spinsters,many from the Western Ilands like Sky.To this day I remember their names : Brooksby, Clark,Campbell and Mc Leod.

One teacher I remember wore a striped suit, white starched collar & a black tie. She had her hair in a bun.

Discipline was strict and the use of a leather belt with two thongs was not infrequent.

Classes were mixed but girls and boys had seperate playgrounds.

There was considerable rivalry between different classes of the same age. In winter this would manifest itself in some fierce snowball fights. I think I collected two black eyes and a split lip.

As one progressed you moved up one flight till eventually your classroom was at the top.From there you got magnificent views of the Campsie Hills to the north of Glasgow.

Hidden in this panorama was the remnants of Antonines Wall which ran from Old Kilpatrick on the Clyde right over Scotland ( 39 miles) to Carriden on the Forth Estuary.This Wall was the Romans most northerly defensive line in Britain. On the east coast they did make forays as far north as Perth and beyond.The Wall was built in 142 AD but 20 years later the Romans withdrew to Hadrians Wall which links the Tyne with the Solway.Douglas and Angus have camped by Hadrians Wall.

In the last year in primary pupils took the Qualifying Exam.If you got grades S 1-3 you went onto a Senior Secondary School Those with J 1-3 went to a Junior Secondary.The assumption  was that that if you went onto a Senior Secondary you would stay at school till 18, matriculate and take up some form of tertiary education to enter a profession.Those going to Junior Secondary would probably leave school at 15 and take up an apprenticeship if they were bright enough. For late developers the only option was to go to Night School which is what many returning from the War did.

In her final year at primary Dorothy became Dux of the School which meant she had gained the highest marks in the Qualifying Exam : our father would have been proud.

If you got S1 (like Dorothy) it meant you did two foreign languages at Secondary.I got S 2 so just did French ( Badly).

Primary school was principally about the three Rs(reading ,writing & arithmetic)with a smattering of history, geography and art.Classes were pretty large ,about 40. We sat in pairs with wooden desks and porcelain ink wells. During writing lessons your pen had to be dipped in the ink to just the right level and the pen had to point directly over your right shoulder.Just tried to find out when the biro was invented but Wikapedia are having a protest about Congress.The teacher would tower over us behind an enormous desk.

In classrooms there would be a large map of the World covered in RED depicting the extent of the British Empire.India was still in Red although it got independence in 1947.

In my early years in the Army I was involved in the demise of this Empire. First in Hong Kong ,Sarawak and Aden but later in Rhodesia.  You could say Ireland was the last colony.