WHERE IT ALL BEGAN FOR RHYME TIMES

Rhyme Times: where it all began (1)…

As a 5 year old at a convent school in the 1950s, routine was the order of the day: on arrival, hang up coat in cloakroom, change into indoor shoes, file into class, and stand behind the desk and join with the rest of the class in reciting our morning prayers.  Then we were allowed to sit at our own desk with its lift-up lid, groove along the front for pencil (later a pen) and an ink well in the right hand side usually stuffed with blotting paper. The desk contained our exercise books and was allocated to us for the year.  Once seated we began to chant our times tables; 3 sets a day read off the blackboard for the next few years.  By the time we were 7 years old we were expected to know them off by heart without the prompt of the blackboard.  The teacher would then ask one of the children a times table problem. If they could not give the answer those who did know it would shoot up their hands to give the correct response. The fear of not knowing the answers made sure everyone learnt their tables.  By age 11 we went on to senior school with a sound knowledge of the times tables up to twelve. They were almost part of our DNA.

There were some less stressful times during the day for the pupils in the strict regime, one of which was the opportunity to use the school Eukajakas. These were an envelope of felt that you slipped your feet into and skated across the highly polished floors. You were expected to use them whenever you left the classroom for a loo break or to take a message to the staff room or office. As a result the floors remained in a spectacular state of high sheen. But the joy was to contrive to leave the classroom as the same time as a friend and have a race to the loo. We never seemed to be suspected of this little highlight of the day!

To be continued…

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