Saving the 70s- Education
We learned to cross the road using the Green Cross Code and we joined the Tufty Club – who could forget Tufty Fluffytail. Many of us still took the 11 Plus exam, and later O Levels or CSE’s. We attended either the local Grammar or the Secondary Modern School. Comprehensives gradually become the norm. The school leaving age was raised from 15 to 16. Far fewer of us went to University. Further Education/Technical Colleges were set up to provide a skilled workforce.
“We also had really, really, good Christmas fairs, which lots of parents got involved in helping and making things. For instance I remember one of the mums making a set of finger puppets of the Wombles out of felt which I still have” – Richard Grayson
Visitors enjoyed the skittles and other games on offer at the Hemel Hempstead School fete which took place on the 9th July 1977.
In April 1970 it was reported in the local Gazette that over 35,000 metric rulers, 2000 tape measures and 10,000 balance scales were ordered for schools across Dacorum. Courses
were also being held to enable teachers to become conversant with decimal and metric.
Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, visited the staff and pupils of John F Kennedy School in Hemel Hempstead. In 1973 the school saw the development of the Upper Sixth Form and the Cardinal had been asked to bless the school.
Magnificently decorated prams, fast wheeling races and a range of stalls drew a crowd of 1,600 people to Dundale Junior School playing field in Tring. In accordance with tradition, the winners were presented with the Dundale Glern Wheel Award, a twisted pram wheel
mount on a wooden block. Where is the trophy now, we wonder? Did you compete in the Dundale pram race?
Eastbrook School, Grovehill [In the 1970’s I had] “…applied for the headship of a new school which was being built up in Grove Hill. The reason I applied for a second headship was because it was being built as an open plan school which was a new project in education at that time… The open plan meant that the classrooms were not enclosed. There were six home bases, two large work areas and a very large hall and of course a kitchen and the idea of opening a new school with the open plan appealed to me having been head for 13 years at Chaulden where the classrooms were the normal type. …”
– Stella Chandler
Children arrive at the new Augustus Smith Middle School in Berkhamsted. Officially opened in 1971 by Margaret Thatcher, then the Secretary of State for Education and Science. It amalgamated with Thomas Bourne Middle School in 1988. The name was then changed to the Thomas Coram Middle School.
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