The Old Heathrow School
THE OLD HEATHROW SCHOOL
This report was kindly written by a former deputy headteacher, Miss Mary Height. She was a member of the staff here from 1960 to 1980.
The original Heathrow School was built in 1877 and situated on the Bath Road right opposite the Airport. Some of the children actually lived in old cottages within the perimeter fence and were brought to school by taxi.
The school was fairly typical of schools built around that time with very high ceilings. Two Junior classrooms led off from the hall- the only means of access -and the Infant classroom was down a corridor. I can remember the caretaker at that time, a Mr. Alf Flory. During the summer holidays he used to polish the wooden floor of the hall until you could see your reflection in it. We used to pray that the first day of the new school year would not be wet but it invariably was. He used to stand guard and glare at us all as we made our way to the classrooms, trying to tread as lightly as possible on his newly polished floor!
The desks were the old wooden, metal framed contraptions with fixed seats which lifted up. There were frequent accidents when children sat down on a seat which was up and disappeared under the desk. Fortunately there were no serious injuries - only dented pride. Each desk had an inkwell which had to be filled with ink from a white enamel jug, which was in turn filled from a large stone jar in the stock cupboard.
Mr Cheslyn was appointed as Head in January 1960 and I was a first appointment in September 1960. Mrs Grant had all the infants in one classroom and Miss Sims had the third and fourth year Juniors in another. Both had been at the school for a number of years. I had the First and Second Year Juniors. Class sizes gradually increased over the next couple of years. How Mrs Grant coped with over 40 Reception children, plus all the Middle and Top Infants I shall never know. As Sipson was right at the edge of the Borough of Hillingdon it was always difficult to get staff and to obtain supply teachers to cover sickness was virtually impossible. I remember on one occasion there were two teachers from Australia -husband and wife. I think they were supplies but I can't remember a lot about them. There was a Welfare Assistant called Mrs. Scranny and the secretary was Mrs. Pickford.
The Hall was used for dinner, PE, Music and also housed the library. This consisted of one glass fronted bookcase containing about 50 books altogether. Some were novels like Treasure Island, Lorna Doone, and several by Charles Dickens- not very suitable for Primary children and there were one or two reference books.
There was no kitchen and the dinners used to be delivered in large metal containers. The smell of cooked cabbage which had been shut in a metal container for several hours was indescribable but the children used to eat it without complaint.
The toilets were across the playground which was not very pleasant in the wind, snow and rain. There was a school house next door to the school - I can't remember who lived there but it certainly wasn't a member of staff, nor was it the caretaker. There was another building across the playground near the children's toilets which housed the staff toilet. Unlike the children's toilets which appeared to be some sort of wooden shed like structures, the staff toilet was housed in a proper brick building. There was a toilet and sort of kitchen area downstairs, where the staff tea and coffee was made at playtimes, and a room upstairs which was used for Art and set up with easels.
There was no school field and we had to walk the children round to the local recreation ground for football and rounders. The infants used to play in the front playground - about the size of a postage stamp, and the Juniors at the back. The aircraft could clearly be heard from within the classrooms and if you were doing PE in the playground it was impossible to hear yourself speak so everyone just stopped until the noise had gone.
On one occasion some sort of road or drainage work was being carried out right outside the school and the pavement had been dug up. A large plank had been placed across the resulting hole which the older children had to walk across very carefully. In the morning and at hometime the workmen downed tools and lifted the younger children across !!!!
SCHOOL CAMP
The highlight of each school year from 1962 onwards was School Camp . We took about 45 children to St. Mary's Bay, near Dymchurch. Their ages ranged from 7 to 11 in the early days and the first year it cost £9 for two weeks, including pocket money!!! which was 6d or Is - old money - per day. The amount depended on whether we were going out on a trip or not. The following year it was £ 11. The camp was an old army barracks and I remember Mr Cheslyn driving me down there in about March of 1962 to show me what it was like. There were sheep wandering in and out of the huts !!! However, it was all cleaned up ready for the first school trips in May. The conditions were pretty basic in those days - tin wash basins and toilets. The bath facilities were in another block some distance away. The bath block had to be booked once a week in advance. The children had to strip to underclothes and put a coat over the top to walk across to the Bath block!! The children slept in large dormitories - one for the boys another for the girls. Each bed was a metal framed base with a thin mattress on top which felt as though it was filled with horsehair or something. The children were provided with the old grey army issue blankets but had to bring their own sheets and pillow. Each morning they had to roll their mattress up, fold the bedding neatly, sweep the floor and stand at the foot of their beds for an inspection by the camp staff, who then awarded stars for the best kept dormitories.
The TV programme - Bad Lads' Army - was very reminiscent of what the dormitories looked like except the children were not provided with lockers. All their belongings had to be kept in a case under the bed !!! In those days of course, many of the children had never been to the sea before so they thought it was all marvellous. The camp used to have treasure hunt competitions, inter school sports, football and rounders. There was a film show one evening a week. As the camp was just across the road from the sea a lot of time was spent searching for shells and other treasures on the beach. There was a sand castle competition each week.
Food was served in an enormous dining room. Children from each school had to clear the tables after each meal and set them up ready for the next meal. The children sat at huge tables and the food was delivered to the end of the tables in large metal containers. We dished it out and it was passed along from one end to the other until everyone had been served. One or two of the children were a bit fussy to begin with. I remember one parent saying to us, "I don't know what you are going to do with him. He only eats bacon sandwiches!!" We told her not to worry while secretly thinking, "Well he will either eat the food provided or starve !" Needless to say after a couple of days the fresh air and constant activity all the children were ravenous and not only ate our share but any left from neighbouring tables - including the lad who would only eat bacon sandwiches ! We used to hope the neighbouring tables were Secondary Schools as they generally had far more pocket money than our children and had spent all day stuffing themselves with sweets from the tuck shop and therefore turned their noses up at the food. Mr Cheslyn used to go to the staff and say, "Aren't your children going to eat that ?", bring the container back to our table where the Heathrow children were only too willing to polish it off .
Each school arranged their own day trips and the camp provided packed lunches for the children on those days. As far as I remember we went out on two whole day trips each week and two half day trips. The day trips included trips to Dover, Rye, Hythe, Saltwood, Hastings, Lydd and the half days to places nearer the camp - Dymchurch to the funfair - which was only a couple of miles walk along the beach. The Dymchurch miniature railway was another half day trip which was very popular with the children. The station at St. Mary's Bay was only ten minutes' walk from the camp and it took us to Dungeness with the lighthouse and lifeboat station. Once each week we walked along the beach to Dymchurch in the evening to buy chips. I remember clearly the first time we went into the Fish and Chip Shop to ask for 48 bags of chips. It was run by a couple originally from the East End of London whose reaction was, "B .... ,. Hell !" but we got our chips and the children sat on the sand and ate them before walking back to camp. We went boating on the Hythe canal- I shudder to think what the authorities would make of that today - as the children tried to row their boats down the canal. Some of the boys got the hang of it but most of the children spent the time with the nose of the boat stuck in the bank, or going round in circles in the centre of the water while Mr Cheslyn and I ran up and down the bank to make sure they were all safe. There was also a church at Hythe with a crypt stacked from floor to ceiling with skulls. We used to do brass rubbings in the churches and the children used to take their efforts home. I know that several parents had them framed so no doubt they are still around somewhere.
On the last evening before returning to school we had a midnight feast - it was held at about 9.00pm on the beach. We had gathered up Driftwood etc and made a small bonfire, had drinking chocolate and cakes and sat around singing songs. The bonfire was stopped after the first couple of years - something to do with the Coastguard!
THE NEW HEATHROW SCHOOL
We moved into the new school in 1966. Mr Cheslyn had been telling the authorities for years that it was not going to be big enough but the plans couldn't be changed. All the furniture was new so all that had to be moved were the books, pencils, etc much of which we moved in Mr Cheslyns's car during the Summer holiday. As there were only 5 classrooms each designed to hold 32 children and there were about 230 children on roll when we moved in all the classes were very large. There was a kiln in my classroom which I couldn't use because there were so many desks the children would have been sitting too close to it for safety. I think I had 52 in class that first year. Consequently the second year - 1967 - I spent in the hall with the third and fourth years sitting at dinner tables and with their belongings in boxes which were stored in the PE store in the hall. Mr David Gale moved into my classroom as a first appointment. Some time during that year a mobile with three classrooms was erected over the playground and sanity prevailed once again.
There were centenary celebrations in 1977 and each child and member of staff was given a certificate with a commemorative coin. The PTA added colour to Mr Cheslyn’s and had it framed for him.
Many more people will know about the new school but we continued with our annual trips to St. Mary's Bay. One memorable year we stood waiting for the coach - which should have arrived at about 1.00pm. Mr Cheslyn kept phoning the coach company, who said it was on its way. I don't think mobile phones had been invented and there didn't seem to be any other method of contacting the driver. By 3.00pm we should have been well on our way to camp and we were still all waiting for the coach. Eventually one of the parents - a Mrs. Fsadne - set off to look for it. She eventually found it parked outside the old school on the Bath Road. The driver had, apparently been sitting there since just after 1.00pm and it hadn't occurred to him that a completely empty and locked up school with no children was quite strange and maybe he ought to ask someone what was going on! We eventually arrived at camp, somewhat later than planned!
