Remember When: It's a brave new world with so much to learn

DRESSED impeccably from top to toe, a brand new bag firmly in their grasp, thousands of enthusiastic youngsters bid farewell to their loved ones in playgrounds across the Capital this week as they set off for their first day at school.

Waving them off were teary-eyed parents, brimming with pride as their bundles of joy took their first steps into the grown-up world alone.

The first day of primary school is a big event for any child and their family, as is their move to secondary school and all the aspirations that come with it. Sometimes it can all seem a bit overwhelming.

But there were no tears from those five year olds who made their way to Tollcross Primary back in August 1955, just wide-eyed wonderment as they met their new classmates for the first time.

Pictured here in neat rows, staring up at their friendly-faced teacher, they were some of the 62,000 Edinburgh children that year who were attending school after the summer break.

For those primary-one pupils who arrived for their first day at the new premises of the Mary Erskine School for Girls, in Ravelston, in 1966, nerves and excitement were just as strong.

But they had to face not only unfamiliar faces, but noisy cement mixers, hammers and saws, as construction work had not quite come to an end.

Only the junior department of the school had been installed, meaning a full move from the old campus on Queen Street was not yet complete.

Every finishing touch had been made at the brand new Portobello High School two years earlier though, allowing pupils for the 1964 intake a chance to experience some of Scotland's finest educational facilities.

The Duddingston Road site was praised by the then-chairman of the education committee of Edinburgh Town Council, councillor Melville Dinwiddie, who said: "This is a very fine new school with very modern facilities and we are looking forward to the Portobello children having a very good education."

That same year, a new primary school in Musselburgh opened its doors, built on the site of the former Inveresk Church manse.

It replaced the old Burgh School on the High Street and carpenters had worked around the clock, right up until the day before the start of term, to make sure it was ready for its new arrivals.

This weekend, youngsters across the Lothians will be reflecting on their first week at school, the people they met and the lessons they learned.

Just as these pictures show, many may already have met some future friends in what could turn out to be the best days of their lives.

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