What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

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Chrissie Boy
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What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by Chrissie Boy »

I was just reading a book about the contemporary State educational system and was surprised by a few things I read regarding changes to long-established practices. Then I started wondering whether the reforms were specific only to the State system or whether CH has gone the same way too. Does anyone know about the following stuff?

Do pupils still have to stand up when a teacher enters the classroom?

Are teachers still allowed to smoke in plain view of pupils, eg out of doors, outside the Common Room door, whilst leading field trips, whilst driving their cars through the grounds etc.?

Do 'sets' for subjects like Maths and French still exist or have they been done away with as non-PC?

Do pupils in Chemistry lessons still do experiments themselves or do they simply observe the teacher doing them?

Have certain chemicals been banned from science labs as too dangerous?

(And, vis-à-vis nothing, does the soap provided for the pupils still stink to high heaven, like the very worst public toilet soap in the world?)

Also I've just noticed what LambA38 has posted on another thread: 'I've always found the smell of mud and steam - which i don't come across all that often!- instantly takes me back to the changing rooms on cold autumn afternoons on the second form. Specifically that year because by the third form the house renovations had begun and the changing rooms were never really used again, and i don't think even exist anymore. '

What does this mean, the changing rooms were never really used again, and i don't think even exist anymore?

Yes, yes, I know I'm an ignorant b******, everybody tells me so....
Last edited by Chrissie Boy on Sat Aug 15, 2020 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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NEILL THE NOTORIOUS
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

I'm sure you are not ------ but keep going, and we may be convinced ! :lol:
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by J.R. »

Don't get me started on 'Then' and 'Now' again !

A pal recently suspected I could end up 'inside', after I was venting my spleen over a political issue whilst having a pint.

My reply, was............

"'Wouldn't bother me a bit. After enduring the regime at CH in the late 50's and early 60's, 'Nick' would be a piece of cake !"
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by LongGone »

There is some evidence that one of the reasons British officers in WWII treated POW camps as a challenge, rather than prisons, was their experience of public schools
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by jhopgood »

Can't comment on a lot of these but having recently (January) sat in on a Saturday morning class of Music Theory, children did not stand up when the master came into the room. They were there, he came in, some wandered in late, but the atmosphere was one of joint exploration, not one way traffic, and, in my opinion, very good and conducive to learning.
Comments from others in the next Old Blue, now a work in progress.
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by lonelymom »

As far as I know...
Chrissie Boy wrote: Do pupils still have to stand up when a teacher enters the classroom?
I don't think so.
Chrissie Boy wrote: Are teachers still allowed to smoke in plain view of pupils, eg out of doors, outside the Common Room door, whilst leading field trips, whilst driving their cars through the grounds etc.?
Again, I don't think so, and I hope not. I haven't ever seen any staff smoking when I've been at CH.
Chrissie Boy wrote: Do 'sets' for subjects like Maths and French still exist or have they been done away with as non-PC?
Yes, they do still exist.
Chrissie Boy wrote: Do pupils in Chemistry lessons still do experiments themselves or do they simply observe the teacher doing them?
Yes, the pupils do experiments themselves.
Chrissie Boy wrote:(And, vis-a-nis nothing, does the soap provided for the pupils still stink to high heaven, like the very worst public toilet soap in the world?)
No, it smells quite nice, I think.

:)
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

With regard to "Pupil Experiments" ---
I still bear the scar, on my left thumb, due to boiling H2So4 in a test tube -- to concentrate it further -- and chatting to my adjacent friend, as it boiled over ! ! :oops:
Since I was opposite a tap, over the sink, I took action, and the Science Master, never knew ! :lol:
I blame this for the fact that I did not follow Colin Davis in his carrer, in Music.
It didn't to much harm to a prospective Soldier however ! :wink:


Nowadays the School would be sued rotten ! ----- Elf & Saferty -- Wot's that ?
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by J.R. »

jhopgood wrote:Can't comment on a lot of these but having recently (January) sat in on a Saturday morning class of Music Theory, children did not stand up when the master came into the room. They were there, he came in, some wandered in late, but the atmosphere was one of joint exploration, not one way traffic, and, in my opinion, very good and conducive to learning.
Comments from others in the next Old Blue, now a work in progress.

John,

Could you imagine 'Rocker' Bob Rae's reaction if that happened in one of his math classes ? :axe:
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by midget »

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:With regard to "Pupil Experiments" ---
I still bear the scar, on my left thumb, due to boiling H2So4 in a test tube -- to concentrate it further -- and chatting to my adjacent friend, as it boiled over ! ! :oops:
Since I was opposite a tap, over the sink, I took action, and the Science Master, never knew ! :lol:
I blame this for the fact that I did not follow Colin Davis in his carrer, in Music.
It didn't to much harm to a prospective Soldier however ! :wink:


Nowadays the School would be sued rotten ! ----- Elf & Saferty -- Wot's that ?
In my last year at Hertford I was instructed by the LCC to tryfor a State Scholarship. Having already passes Chem, Phys and Bio, I was left pretty much to my own devices, one outcome of which was that I did practical Chem on my own in the inner lab, while the junior class was in the outer lab. I produced a spectacular explosion in the fume cupboard, which remained intact, but the stuff I was using was shattered.
Miss W rushed me up to the inf, from where Sister took me to hospital, as I was bleeding from a cut on my hand, and completely deaf.

My hand was stitched, i had an anti-tetanus injection, and returned to the Inf. DRW came in the evening, and gave me one of her lectures, I was quite incompetant, using equipment that was too large, yadayadayada. It took some talking on my part to convince her to speak to the one person remaining who had been yaught the technique by Miss Bruce, who had retired the previous year, and even then I'm not sure she believed me. I think of thT MISERABLE old bat every time I looj at that scar!

To add to my woes, I had a bad reaction to the anti-tet injection, and was rushed up to the inf 10 days later with swollen tongue and eyes. Doctor arrived and gave me anti-histamines, so that I was "walking wounded" for Phys practical exam a few days later. It made for quite an exciting last term!
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by jhopgood »

J.R. wrote:
jhopgood wrote:Can't comment on a lot of these but having recently (January) sat in on a Saturday morning class of Music Theory, children did not stand up when the master came into the room. They were there, he came in, some wandered in late, but the atmosphere was one of joint exploration, not one way traffic, and, in my opinion, very good and conducive to learning.
Comments from others in the next Old Blue, now a work in progress.

John,

Could you imagine 'Rocker' Bob Rae's reaction if that happened in one of his math classes ? :axe:
Fairly accurate machine gun chalk or the occasional board eraser.

But after the first occasion, you learned how to duck.

Not like "Bogey" Fryer, who entered carrying a pile of books and someone in the front row was slow in standing. He was\even slower after the book shower.
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by icomefromalanddownunder »

midget wrote: DRW came in the evening, and gave me one of her lectures, I was quite incompetant, using equipment that was too large, yadayadayada. It took some talking on my part to convince her to speak to the one person remaining who had been yaught the technique by Miss Bruce, who had retired the previous year, and even then I'm not sure she believed me. I think of thT MISERABLE old bat every time I looj at that scar!

Don't you love the way that it was all YOUR fault. No sense from DR that, perhaps, the school owed it to us to supervise and, G*d forbid, actually care about us.

Off to gingerly take a sample from a culture vessel that looks suspiciously as though it is rife with bacteria <sigh>. Worse case scenario is that I spend the rest of the day scraping smelly, slimy scum off the lab walls and go home smelling like a sewer. I will, of course, be wearing full PPE (gown, gloves, safety specs): but the tips of the gloves get caught in things and cause me to have more spills than I would if I weren't wearing them, and the safety specs don't fit terribly well, so between them and my prescription specs that need updating I sort of misjudge bench edges and distances ..............

xx
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by Angela Woodford »

midget wrote:
Miss W rushed me up to the inf, from where Sister took me to hospital, as I was bleeding from a cut on my hand, and completely deaf.

My hand was stitched, i had an anti-tetanus injection, and returned to the Inf. DRW came in the evening, and gave me one of her lectures, I was quite incompetant, using equipment that was too large, yadayadayada. It took some talking on my part to convince her to speak to the one person remaining who had been yaught the technique by Miss Bruce, who had retired the previous year, and even then I'm not sure she believed me. I think of thT MISERABLE old bat every time I looj at that scar!
Maggie, that's a wonderful story! (One for the eventual Book, no doubt about it!)

But isn't that just too like DR? To give "one of her lectures" to somebody who had just lost their hearing?

To blame you, the student, rather than the mistress (rtd) who'd taught you the technique? And to call you incompetent? Oh, how.... infuriating!

Then, when I imagined one of those DR lectures, aimed at somebody who could barely hear after an explosion.... somehow rather wonderful to have the typically grim monologue gruffly barked at one, whilst just seeing the mouth of righteousness opening and closing, opening and closing.... that was the way to be whilst being lectured....
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by NEILL THE NOTORIOUS »

Midget ---- Oh Happy Days !

How DID we all survive ? --- and can still look back with fondness ! :lol:
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by midget »

We were tough.
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Re: What Doesn't Happen At CH These Days?

Post by sejintenej »

midget wrote:In my last year at Hertford ....................I produced a spectacular explosion in the fume cupboard, which remained intact, but the stuff I was using was shattered.

My hand was stitched, i had an anti-tetanus injection, and returned to the Inf. DRW came in the evening, and gave me one of her lectures, I was quite incompetant, using equipment that was too large, .....................
The story of the aniline dye / concentrated NaOH explosion has already been told. Mr Potts simply ensured that the two boys involved went straight to the sicker, that we cleared up the water and other debris as well as possible and that was the end of it. (He did go and check on the boys later and confirmed to us that they were OK because we had done the "right thing")
midget wrote:To add to my woes, I had a bad reaction to the anti-tet injection, and was rushed up to the inf 10 days later with swollen tongue and eyes. Doctor arrived and gave me anti-histamines, so that I was "walking wounded" for Phys practical exam a few days later. It made for quite an exciting last term!
Sorry to hear about the anti-tet jab problem; over here it is required by law as are the follow-ups. I don't know if the two are connected but I recently heard a plausible story about tetanus and the French. In days of old when Agincourt was in the news the English archers would stick their arrows in the ground in front of them so that they could load and fire more quickly. The ground, of course, often contained tetanus bacteria (or germs or whatever) so that if the arrow didn't kill the French soldier immediately ......
My daughter, talking to a teacher, was hit and injured in the school playground so her parents were sent for to remove her. The treatment included much dental work that afternoon. The next day we had to remove her from the school due to her illness - she had reacted to the anaesthetic and had to go to hospital. The poor dentist was shattered and got Jo admitted to Guys (I think it was) for tests almost instantaneously.

These things happen - life is unfair and the universe doesn't care if something happens to you, or to me, or to all mankind
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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