I was touched by the joy that comes through in that class picture! I would love to see a group of adults exude that much of themselves in a photo.
This piece reminds me how much of an impression those early years have on us. As a Montessori teacher (of 3-6 year olds), I know this, but your dive into this part of your past dispelled any possible doubt. What a joy to read.
There are likely two impediments to fun: 1) large classes 2) government interference. In Aotearoa NZ that is increasingly the case. Our new lot are trying to force-feed math and cut out art and anything cultural. Basically, the fun stuff for most children. Typical!
Such a shame, kids don't have the chance to be kids anymore..
Instead they're forcing them to be little politicians and trying to shape their future instead of letting them design their own future with a bit of guidance..
I was teaching round about then. Happy days before the National Curriculum ,sats and Ofsted. That's not to say there was no planning, testing and recording or inspections, quite the contrary. I think what was different was a rigorous teacher training programme. I remember in the early 70s having full on days of lectures not just a couple of lectures a week but every day packed with something. Also lots of time in schools on teaching practice.
You had to be on the ball with resources and ideas..no Internet or classroom assistants and we still had classes of 30 or so.
I hear nowadays newly qualified teachers staying only 5 years or so in the profession before throwing in the towel. Something's very wrong somewhere.
I'm sure there are still very dedicated teachers and amazing schools but this piece just brought back memories for me.
I was at Primary between 1969 and 76. We had fairly staid teachers but the two oldest - chaps in their fifties by then - knew what they needed to get into us in our last two years but were also great thinkers outside the box and could veer wildly away from a standard lesson into amazing territory, and then back again. The best of both worlds. I have a cousin who is a primary year head now, and the amount of paperwork and strict course work involved wouldn't allow for such freethinking. Even as little kids, it seems all about results and grades, which inevitably become meaningless if everyone gets great grades because of moving the goalposts. It seems to me that in my younger era you were examined on what you learned, whereas now its geared to learning to pass exams: a crucial difference.
I got a tear in my eye reading this.... it brought back so many good memories of a primary school which sought mainly to inspire joy and seek out the creativity in every child.
Same! I've just shared it with a friend, with whom I've recently been reminiscing about our early childhoods (before we knew each other - we met at secondary school), including talking about our love of Playschool!
I started reading 1983 yesterday and, a quarter of the way in, am now riddled with nostalgia.
I'm not going to talk about my own halcyon schooldays (they were brilliant with wonderful teachers), but I am going to say that I agree with Tom's proposition with this novel that something changed in the UK in 1983. He describes very eloquently a light going on. For the good in some ways, to our collective detriment in others. Decades rarely begin with the zero year, and I think Tom has identified the year the 80s got going in the UK and we left what can sometimes feel like more straightforward times behind.
But as Benji asks in his opening line, "Do I trust my memory?" Like Benji, I think I do, too, but I can guarantee that people decades older and younger than me think their childhood was the golden age, and those who were/are teachers think their time was/is the time we got things right. We can only experience what we experience and, if we're Tom Cox, write about it in a way that makes others homesick for their own past. I already don't want the book to end.
Everything you need to know about that school, is evident in that photo.
Joy, ebullient silliness, love, friendship, anarchy, gregarious proximity as well as slightly internal, and yes, the kaleidoscope of clothes, of kids...
If that was your school, it surely tracks. Hope all still look back with similar warmth and gratitude.
What I love about the photo is how happy the children look. This is how my Mum always taught. I know so many teachers these days who are heartsick that they can no longer teach in this glorious creative way. No child lining up for a structured literacy class ever feels joy. It’s so sad!
I absolutely loved this piece, and the photos. Reminds me of my own elementary school experience- it was a public school in the U.S. in the mid-90s but because of the people running it and teaching in it at the time, was a magical place all about the love of learning. We measured ph and algae blooms in the pond on the grounds and learned about how the growth affected the creatures beneath; our archaeology club catalogued mason jars of canned goods from an old house long ago burned down in the woods behind the school; our unofficial school troubadour wrote us a musical to perform about saving the earth, and he sometimes brought friends with names like Desert Heart to play and sing songs about the environment to us. My 3rd/4th grade teacher would sit cross legged on the floor wrapped in a blanket while we read each other poetry. In hindsight I realize there were a lot of hippies involved in this magical education… Could go on and on, but anyway, the learning there was hands on and and free-ranging and joyful and I’m forever grateful for it. Can’t wait to read 1983.
P.S. Apologies for my failed attempt at embedding, which will show on the email version, but which I've now fixed on the web version.
I was touched by the joy that comes through in that class picture! I would love to see a group of adults exude that much of themselves in a photo.
This piece reminds me how much of an impression those early years have on us. As a Montessori teacher (of 3-6 year olds), I know this, but your dive into this part of your past dispelled any possible doubt. What a joy to read.
What is really noticeable about that school photo is the kids were having fun. I can't feel that school is really about fun now sadly.
We try
There are likely two impediments to fun: 1) large classes 2) government interference. In Aotearoa NZ that is increasingly the case. Our new lot are trying to force-feed math and cut out art and anything cultural. Basically, the fun stuff for most children. Typical!
Such a shame, kids don't have the chance to be kids anymore..
Instead they're forcing them to be little politicians and trying to shape their future instead of letting them design their own future with a bit of guidance..
I was teaching round about then. Happy days before the National Curriculum ,sats and Ofsted. That's not to say there was no planning, testing and recording or inspections, quite the contrary. I think what was different was a rigorous teacher training programme. I remember in the early 70s having full on days of lectures not just a couple of lectures a week but every day packed with something. Also lots of time in schools on teaching practice.
You had to be on the ball with resources and ideas..no Internet or classroom assistants and we still had classes of 30 or so.
I hear nowadays newly qualified teachers staying only 5 years or so in the profession before throwing in the towel. Something's very wrong somewhere.
I'm sure there are still very dedicated teachers and amazing schools but this piece just brought back memories for me.
I echo all you say here. I loved teaching back then. It was a joy and a privilege to be with little people.
Yes, they were good days.
I was at Primary between 1969 and 76. We had fairly staid teachers but the two oldest - chaps in their fifties by then - knew what they needed to get into us in our last two years but were also great thinkers outside the box and could veer wildly away from a standard lesson into amazing territory, and then back again. The best of both worlds. I have a cousin who is a primary year head now, and the amount of paperwork and strict course work involved wouldn't allow for such freethinking. Even as little kids, it seems all about results and grades, which inevitably become meaningless if everyone gets great grades because of moving the goalposts. It seems to me that in my younger era you were examined on what you learned, whereas now its geared to learning to pass exams: a crucial difference.
Oh that photo, takes me back. When school was good.
I got a tear in my eye reading this.... it brought back so many good memories of a primary school which sought mainly to inspire joy and seek out the creativity in every child.
Same! I've just shared it with a friend, with whom I've recently been reminiscing about our early childhoods (before we knew each other - we met at secondary school), including talking about our love of Playschool!
And how we waited with bated breath for which shape window it would be. The joy when they picked the arched window.....
Same! The arched window was the best!!
Wonderful story, and I can't wait to read the book. Really love this post. Thank you for brightening the day!
Thanks Scott!
I started reading 1983 yesterday and, a quarter of the way in, am now riddled with nostalgia.
I'm not going to talk about my own halcyon schooldays (they were brilliant with wonderful teachers), but I am going to say that I agree with Tom's proposition with this novel that something changed in the UK in 1983. He describes very eloquently a light going on. For the good in some ways, to our collective detriment in others. Decades rarely begin with the zero year, and I think Tom has identified the year the 80s got going in the UK and we left what can sometimes feel like more straightforward times behind.
But as Benji asks in his opening line, "Do I trust my memory?" Like Benji, I think I do, too, but I can guarantee that people decades older and younger than me think their childhood was the golden age, and those who were/are teachers think their time was/is the time we got things right. We can only experience what we experience and, if we're Tom Cox, write about it in a way that makes others homesick for their own past. I already don't want the book to end.
Try mult Substack too Jan. My real-life 1984!
Everything you need to know about that school, is evident in that photo.
Joy, ebullient silliness, love, friendship, anarchy, gregarious proximity as well as slightly internal, and yes, the kaleidoscope of clothes, of kids...
If that was your school, it surely tracks. Hope all still look back with similar warmth and gratitude.
What I love about the photo is how happy the children look. This is how my Mum always taught. I know so many teachers these days who are heartsick that they can no longer teach in this glorious creative way. No child lining up for a structured literacy class ever feels joy. It’s so sad!
Am halfway through 1983 and all I can say is “bloody good read “
Thanks Johnnie!
I love this so much. Thank you for all of the fantastic photographs. I felt like I was right with you at school and I would have loved Claremont.
Thanks Jeni!
I absolutely loved this piece, and the photos. Reminds me of my own elementary school experience- it was a public school in the U.S. in the mid-90s but because of the people running it and teaching in it at the time, was a magical place all about the love of learning. We measured ph and algae blooms in the pond on the grounds and learned about how the growth affected the creatures beneath; our archaeology club catalogued mason jars of canned goods from an old house long ago burned down in the woods behind the school; our unofficial school troubadour wrote us a musical to perform about saving the earth, and he sometimes brought friends with names like Desert Heart to play and sing songs about the environment to us. My 3rd/4th grade teacher would sit cross legged on the floor wrapped in a blanket while we read each other poetry. In hindsight I realize there were a lot of hippies involved in this magical education… Could go on and on, but anyway, the learning there was hands on and and free-ranging and joyful and I’m forever grateful for it. Can’t wait to read 1983.
Such a beautiful story and a delight to read.
Thank you!
How beautiful. I wonder how many other readers are going to be thinking about their early education experiences over the next week or so?
Thanks Antonia. I’m loving the comments on that subject that are starting to come in.
Yes. It did make me think back, to fun and not-so-fun times. I'm going to post a short story I wrote last year on this topic (sort of).
Tom, the class photo says everything about Claremont. ♥️ Freedom ♥️