tales of bunking off school
Micky Simmonds
I do believe that I've told this tale about Rozzer before. I finished top of his form 4T1 and he said he was very pleased but just had to get my brickwork marks from Mr Rook to finish my school report. Alas for me I was always bunking off that class as his room backed onto the Cally so a nice easy route to Risinghill School; best batch of girls in the borough. Mr Rook told Rozzer that he had never seen me so could not give me any marks at all.
This got me six of the slipper and demotion to 3rd place in the form and Rozzer always made sure that you only had your shorts on to give you maximum pain.
I do believe that I've told this tale about Rozzer before. I finished top of his form 4T1 and he said he was very pleased but just had to get my brickwork marks from Mr Rook to finish my school report. Alas for me I was always bunking off that class as his room backed onto the Cally so a nice easy route to Risinghill School; best batch of girls in the borough. Mr Rook told Rozzer that he had never seen me so could not give me any marks at all.
This got me six of the slipper and demotion to 3rd place in the form and Rozzer always made sure that you only had your shorts on to give you maximum pain.
John Tythe
Having moved from being around 30th, out of a class of 36, in 1S, 2S & 3S, I finally pulled my socks up in the fourth year and moved up to 3rd place.
The first three got moved up a grade, so getting to 5A was quite an achievement for me. However, my joy was to be short lived, as the new Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was being introduced and they wanted some passes, so a new class was formed 5Aα (that’s alpha)
The new class was formed from the bottom six of 5A, 5α, the top six of 5S & 5X. We were to do the CSE course, as were all of 5M & 5R. The rest of 5A, 5α, 5S & 5X were to carry on doing the GCE course. Bugger, pulling my socks up meant that I was to leave school with not a GCE to my name!
I was miffed to be on this new course, having worked so hard, but after protests and even getting my dad to see the Bonk, I was stuck with it.
Now the M & R classes always had a lesson called Humanities, where they were given half a day to roam about on buses going to places of interest. Our new class also got to do Humanities and very soon I exploited it for all it was worth.
Now, you could get your afternoon registration mark before lunch if you were on Humanities, so I would take the morning off, getting to school at 11.45 and go to my form master, Mr Walton in the art class and tell him I was on Humanities that afternoon. He would get the register and mark me in for the afternoon and, bless him, he would also mark me in for the morning, as he had seen me before lunch.
I would meet up with Robert Woodford and we would set off for the museums in South Kensington. Mostly we would walk there, we had all afternoon and no supervision. We would make some notes on exhibits in our Humanities notebooks (I still have that stashed somewhere!!!) and then we would make our way home.
The next day we would claim back our bus fares, even those we hadn’t spent, which was most and then pocket the cash.
A whole day off and cash in our pockets. 5Aα wasn’t too bad!
[it has to be said that it has been an education reading John's article. I knew nothing of the form divisions and CSE's, not to mention a course called 'Humanities'. - ed]
Having moved from being around 30th, out of a class of 36, in 1S, 2S & 3S, I finally pulled my socks up in the fourth year and moved up to 3rd place.
The first three got moved up a grade, so getting to 5A was quite an achievement for me. However, my joy was to be short lived, as the new Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was being introduced and they wanted some passes, so a new class was formed 5Aα (that’s alpha)
The new class was formed from the bottom six of 5A, 5α, the top six of 5S & 5X. We were to do the CSE course, as were all of 5M & 5R. The rest of 5A, 5α, 5S & 5X were to carry on doing the GCE course. Bugger, pulling my socks up meant that I was to leave school with not a GCE to my name!
I was miffed to be on this new course, having worked so hard, but after protests and even getting my dad to see the Bonk, I was stuck with it.
Now the M & R classes always had a lesson called Humanities, where they were given half a day to roam about on buses going to places of interest. Our new class also got to do Humanities and very soon I exploited it for all it was worth.
Now, you could get your afternoon registration mark before lunch if you were on Humanities, so I would take the morning off, getting to school at 11.45 and go to my form master, Mr Walton in the art class and tell him I was on Humanities that afternoon. He would get the register and mark me in for the afternoon and, bless him, he would also mark me in for the morning, as he had seen me before lunch.
I would meet up with Robert Woodford and we would set off for the museums in South Kensington. Mostly we would walk there, we had all afternoon and no supervision. We would make some notes on exhibits in our Humanities notebooks (I still have that stashed somewhere!!!) and then we would make our way home.
The next day we would claim back our bus fares, even those we hadn’t spent, which was most and then pocket the cash.
A whole day off and cash in our pockets. 5Aα wasn’t too bad!
[it has to be said that it has been an education reading John's article. I knew nothing of the form divisions and CSE's, not to mention a course called 'Humanities'. - ed]
George Kent
I can join Micky Simmonds when it came to going over the back fence when I should have been bricklaying.
This might be a bit early for some of you as it was 26th March 1958, afternoon kickoff for the FA Cup semi final replay at Highbury between Manchester Utd and Fulham, also live on the tele, it went around the school that there was going to be a mass exodus at lunchtime to go to the match, easy then just turn up and get in or wait until half time when they opened the gates and get in for nothing, it turned out that suddenly we were all given half a day off. Can anyone else remember this? Happy days.
I can join Micky Simmonds when it came to going over the back fence when I should have been bricklaying.
This might be a bit early for some of you as it was 26th March 1958, afternoon kickoff for the FA Cup semi final replay at Highbury between Manchester Utd and Fulham, also live on the tele, it went around the school that there was going to be a mass exodus at lunchtime to go to the match, easy then just turn up and get in or wait until half time when they opened the gates and get in for nothing, it turned out that suddenly we were all given half a day off. Can anyone else remember this? Happy days.
Ramondo Silk
Now if there had been a GCE for that, I definitely think I would have been a top banana. I can't recall when I first started, but in the end I had it down to a fine art. I must confess I can't recall the route of escape from Camden Road. To hell with that, I used to take a week off at a time. I quickly realized that a brown envelope would be delivered on a Saturday morning saying I had not attended school, but (and I am slightly ashamed here), I forged my mum’s handwriting and replied to the letters. I think on one occasion the 'school board man', as he was known, paid a visit!
On another occasion I had read in the Sunday Mirror that the world was going to end on this certain day; I noted said day and made plans to bunk off. Bobby Woolgrove, who was in the year below me and who lived in my flats, plus one or two others decided we stood a better chance of surviving if we were in the country and we could survive on nuts and berries. We made our way out to Broxbourne, an area I knew quite well from fishing. When the hour passed when it was all supposed to happen we all felt mightily relieved I can tell you.
I remember my final attempt at bunking off very clearly as soon after that I left Barnsbury. Podge O'Shea and myself skipped out of the school. We were merrily walking along when a Morris Minor drew up beside us – the dreaded Bonk. "Come here boys", he said. Well I just panicked and did a runner. I think I went in the next day to sheepishly receive my punishment. It was decided the best thing for me would be to leave school. So I left at Easter 1961 and immediately started work as a messenger for a print company, which at the time was perfect for me as I knew the way around London like the back of my hand due to all the bunking off.
There was one other time I and several others bunked off. I think one of them may have been Frankie Tepper; maybe some of you GoBBs were involved. We bunked off at lunchtime and made our way to the Lyceum. It used to be open I suppose for office workers, obviously we couldn't have been in our uniforms, but I note that in some of the form pictures we are not all wearing blazers. Anyhow, I remember getting the tube from Holloway Road to Aldwych (now closed), and we gained entry to the Lyceum.
Now if there had been a GCE for that, I definitely think I would have been a top banana. I can't recall when I first started, but in the end I had it down to a fine art. I must confess I can't recall the route of escape from Camden Road. To hell with that, I used to take a week off at a time. I quickly realized that a brown envelope would be delivered on a Saturday morning saying I had not attended school, but (and I am slightly ashamed here), I forged my mum’s handwriting and replied to the letters. I think on one occasion the 'school board man', as he was known, paid a visit!
On another occasion I had read in the Sunday Mirror that the world was going to end on this certain day; I noted said day and made plans to bunk off. Bobby Woolgrove, who was in the year below me and who lived in my flats, plus one or two others decided we stood a better chance of surviving if we were in the country and we could survive on nuts and berries. We made our way out to Broxbourne, an area I knew quite well from fishing. When the hour passed when it was all supposed to happen we all felt mightily relieved I can tell you.
I remember my final attempt at bunking off very clearly as soon after that I left Barnsbury. Podge O'Shea and myself skipped out of the school. We were merrily walking along when a Morris Minor drew up beside us – the dreaded Bonk. "Come here boys", he said. Well I just panicked and did a runner. I think I went in the next day to sheepishly receive my punishment. It was decided the best thing for me would be to leave school. So I left at Easter 1961 and immediately started work as a messenger for a print company, which at the time was perfect for me as I knew the way around London like the back of my hand due to all the bunking off.
There was one other time I and several others bunked off. I think one of them may have been Frankie Tepper; maybe some of you GoBBs were involved. We bunked off at lunchtime and made our way to the Lyceum. It used to be open I suppose for office workers, obviously we couldn't have been in our uniforms, but I note that in some of the form pictures we are not all wearing blazers. Anyhow, I remember getting the tube from Holloway Road to Aldwych (now closed), and we gained entry to the Lyceum.
