Nostalgia: The back to school days

Published on Saturday 22 August 2009 11:13

SENSIBLE shoes all shined, satchel packed and ready, and a new blazer generally two sizes too big – they were once the all-too-familiar rituals of the return to school after the long summer holidays.

Edinburgh's schools reopened their classrooms for the autumn term this week, although pupils were more likely to be wearing fleeces and sweatshirts than blazers and berets seen here – and who these days would be happy with an old-fashioned leather satchel?

But there are some parts of that first day back at school which pupils of whatever decade would recognise.

"You always got to school early so you could catch up with your pals to talk about what had happened during the summer, what had been on TV and to play games in the school yard," recalls John Arthur, 60, who attended Dr Bell's School on Great Junction Street in Leith back in the early 60s.

Corporal punishment and teachers in gowns would only be part of a history lesson in a school today, though. And the classroom itself was also different. "On the first day, you would be assigned a wooden desk with an angled top and ink pots," John says. "We actually enjoyed learning. It got you out of the house – there was a lot of poverty in Leith and school gave you opportunities."

Michael Barton, 35, now manager of The Balmoral Hotel's Bollinger bar, recalls a downcast ten-minute walk to Portobello High. "I was never that happy to get back to school," he laughs.

Smartly turned out – "you always had a new school uniform" – he'd arrive in time for an 8:30am assembly, before heading off to class for another yearly ritual.

"You had to stand up in front of the class and say to everyone where you had been for your summer holidays. You knew your pecking order at this stage as some classmates had been to Florida and I went to Fife," he laughs.