Manland School, Harpenden 1959-1966: Part 2

 

I can remember the names of my eight teachers but the exact order in which I had them and the spelling of the surnames might be open to debate - Mrs Avis-Jones (reception), Miss Searby (class ?), Miss Wade (class ?), Mrs Postlethwaite (class ?), Mrs Thorburn (class ?),  Mrs Rumball (class 5), Mr Fuller (class 3) and Mr Kingham (class 1). Mr Walton was the Head Teacher.

Physical punishment of primary school pupils was allowed in the 1960s and it was quite widely practiced at Manland School especially by Mr Fuller and Mr Kingham. Mr Fuller was “firm but fair”and only fairly rarely used the slipper. Mr Kingham was a thoroughly unpleasant person who should never have been allowed to become a teacher. He used his hand, a slipper or a cane most days and mass punishments of large parts of the class were very much part of his repertoire. He was almost universally disliked by the pupils.

The strangest aspect of my time at the school was the two terms I spent being taught by Mrs Rumball. Her classroom wasn’t in the main school but was in an old building that backed onto the railway line about a mile away from the main site. It was generally accept by the parents that “Mrs Rumball didn’t like teaching boys” so it was no bad thing that I only had her for 2 terms. She lived on Dalkeith Road, not far from my parents. I used to walk back from school with my best friend Martin Gill, except on the day when he had a piano lesson, and I remember it seemed quite a long way especially going up Station Road hill. I don’t remember much about my time with Mrs Rumball. I know I always struggled in lessons when cutting out was involved and I remember getting into trouble for leaving over large gaps between my words when doing compositions.