All Together Now - Going to School in County Down by VisitMourne

ALL TOGETHER NOW GOING TO SCHOOL IN COUNTY DOWN

This project has been funded by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body and delivered by North Down, Ards and Down Councils’ Cluster.

Published 2013 by Down County Museum First Edition First Impression Copyright © Down County Museum Copyright has been acknowledged to the best of our ability. If there are any inadvertent errors or omissions, we shall be happy to correct them in any future editions. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and publisher of this book. The authors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as authors of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Designed by April Sky Design, Newtownards Tel: 028 9182 7195 Web: www.aprilsky.co.uk Printed by W&G Baird, Antrim

This project has been funded by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body and delivered by North Down, Ards and Down Councils’ Cluster.

STARTING SCHOOL Contents

Introduction

Introduction 3 Starting School 4 Daily Routine 11 Out To Play 14 Behave Yourselves 17 Changing Times 20 Testing Times 23 Leaving School 25 Times to Remember

Safe Haven 35 The Story of Downpatrick Primary School 38 The Story of Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School 42 The Story of Millisle Primary School

Acknowledgements 48

his booklet has been produced during the course of Down County Museum’s PEACE III community history project which has been funded by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body and delivered by the North Down, Ards and Down Councils’ Cluster. The aim of the museum’s community history project is to build positive relations between and within communities in Down, North Down and the Ards, through groups participating in a range of learning programmes. The project seeks to explore issues of cultural and community identity and diversity, examine the beliefs, customs and traditions of different communities and create opportunities to address issues of sectarianism and racism. The museum is working with a number of groups to achieve this by examining five distinct themes. This booklet is part of the intergenerational strand which seeks to bring people from different communities and of different age groups together to increase understanding of the achievements and experiences of people of all ages in County Down. This booklet has been created by three primary schools from County Down: Downpatrick Primary School, Millisle Primary School and Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School, Downpatrick. Older adults in the community, including past pupils have made a great contribution. The Reminiscence Network of Northern Ireland have conducted interviews with these people and the information gathered is used in the booklet. The booklet provides a fascinating account of schooldays and shows the common experiences of children today and in the past and the shared heritage of communities throughout County Down and beyond.

STARTING SCHOOL in. I was rves kicked e n e th n e would e wh was bad? I ight befor n it e if th t a s h a w w It ering: I was wond years. panicking. s my mum r ere fo six toys; so wa th h o it g w to lf e e s v ha my uilder bag to comfort y Bob the b der. g m in t y o g tr s m a u il Iw . My m Bob the bu y dozed of I watched d n but I ﬁnall a g in n r next mo . ready the ery scared ool P7 ing I was v n r o m t a a m h ri ry Sch T npatrick P ilton, Jack Ham

enan and Julie mick, Nigel Ke Giilian McCor dy House, 1982 beside the Wen

-Ann Walker

My teacher ha d this doll calle d Molly and I I stopped cryi would hold it ng- she was ni until Claire Morriss ce and cuddly ey, Our Lady . And St Patric k Primary Sch ool

4 STARTING SCHOOL

Dow

My Mum was from the south of Ireland and I knew, even at that early age, that she talked differently and she didn’t do things like other people did but she didn’t care. She told me that I was going to see people. They were going to teach me things that I wouldn’t really know that much about. These were very special holy ladies and they had no husbands and they had no children and I was not to ask them why. My mother had, funny enough, no experience of nuns. I couldn’t wait to get there, busting to get in through the door but being mindful about the holy ladies. Dying to see them, I didn’t know what they were going to be like. I thought right, I’ll get a good look at them. … I could spy up in the corner a book case and books and I just couldn’t wait and I thought I wonder when she (the nun) is going to let us go into the book case. Kate Hannah, The Convent of Mercy Primary School

e she didn‛t want me to go.

I think my mum was sad becaus

St Patrick Primary School Reece Mathers, Our Lady And

I was almost 6 when I started school. My parents were very democratic and they consulted me about when I would like to start. Perhaps, on reflection, they were ahead of their time and I remember on the very first day I went to school, I was taken by an older girl. She was about 14. Her name was Mena Fitzpatrick. Mena collected me and delivered me to school. The school was a 2 room school with a coal fire, behind each teacher’s desk of course. There were 2 teachers in it. Moving to The Boys’ Primary, I remember my first teacher in that school. It was a Brother Ignatius. He was a very good teacher. Things seemed to be much more serious in the school. There was a very serious programme of work to be done and we would have prepared for tests – intelligence tests to verbal reasoning tests and a written paper in English and arithmetic. I remember doing a Christmas test and I got 1st in the class and I got a prize. I got a harmonica, the only time in my life. Pat Higgins, Legamaddy Primary and St Patrick’s Boys’ Primary School

starts saying goodbye as she Lindsey Beckett’s Mum Wilson, 1990 Mrs h wit ary Prim rick school in Downpat

The memory I have is that it w as a Nissan hut, there was a big the P1 classroo black potbelly m and stove in the mid heated the room dl e of it; that was . There were lit how they tle seats round of that first day, it and that is m that big stove. y memory I had a bow in my hair becaus e my mum was bows in our ha very fond of pu ir and I probab tting big ly wore a dress. Mary Lowry, M illisle Primary School

Infants boys class, Convent of Mercy, 1940

re tearing my mum‛s eyes we – y m um m y m to ilet but she was I was cuddling up s going to the to wa e sh id sa um up – my m ed down. me – then I calm ary School actually going ho St Patrick Prim d er, Our Lady An Rachael McAte

STARTING SCHOOL 5

rs. Leake. a teacher called M th wi s wa ol ho sc at s up as witches. My first day d being able to dres an e us ho a of is y o were already My memor with the children wh ay pl to e us ho e th because initially, I I went into ing quite nervous be r be em m re I n. ee for a wee while in receptio and I sat on her kn um m y m ve lea to and have a wee didn’t want le to go and dress up ab s wa I en th y all remember being and eventu I did cry and I do r be em m re I … . member what my look around e on it but I can’t re ur ct pi e we a th wi on your peg. given a peg ng your gutty bag ha d ul wo u Yo s. picture wa ol isle Primary Scho Hazel McCrea, Mill

We went to school in my mum‛s car. On the way there I wondered if I would make new friends. I thought about my friend Katie who was at my old school. I missed her a lot. When I got there I met my teacher Mrs. Cooke. She was a lovely teacher. All the children seemed nice and friendly. Our classroom assistant was called Mrs. Maynes. She was lovely as well. Louise Kimpton, Downpatrick Primary School P7

The night before I started school I went to bed early. I couldn‛t sleep be cause I was excited and a little scared. When I go t up the next morn ing … My uniform felt a bit strange. I had never worn a tie before. Ian Holland, Down pa trick Primary Scho ol P7

I think the first day we went, I arrived home again before lunch time. I probably run out to the door and then home again… There was a small girl and I must have known the girl and both of us left and went home but the parents brought us back round again. We slipped out … I don’t think we did it again you know. George Caffrey, Bonecastle Primary School and St Patrick’s Boys’ Primary School

6 STARTING SCHOOL

1981 P1 class, Convent of Mercy,

the er from d n r o c e an th d round and straight in ing e v li t s ool, I ju ven say e path, into sch ning down th ory and not e ool g in n n n m ber ru no sch id me ber ru I remem d I can remem is my most viv hen there was ing good. I at an y meth ime w school ndy house. Th t into so sed up to go m of the t u s a p s w e a I w W s I e a … t r y o d m d a t u g d in an he to my m ly for the first emember bein esks and that e y b d o b r a go n ed I saw so, prob skirt and I ca g toys and th orning m m r t o a if un bein rtan traws. Th ber a ta member there k, and s il remem m e r r u n o y. I ca ut with first da sitting o y house. s le t t o nd chool milk b that We mary S i t r u P b e g l s i nothin ey, Mill cGimps M n a i Gill

I was the eldest – it doesn‛t mean I never felt small. I didn‛t want to go – I felt nervous and very, very small. I felt my childhood was coming to an end. Beth Mc Dowell, Our Lady And St Patrick Primary School

The night before I was so excited I couldn‛t wait. I packed my bag with stationery; I tried on my uniform and hung it up. My mum read me my favourite book: What Shall We Do Blue Kangaroo! Next day I was so thrilled. I put on my uniform after I had my Ready Brek. I sat on my beanbag and watched Charlie & Lola. For the walk to school I had a horsy bag so I jumped over the pavement cracks and pretended that I was a show jumper. When I arrived at school, I wasn‛t clinging to my mum...When I look back on that day I wish that I was little again.

P1 class, Millisle, 1958

Jade Kelly, Downpatrick Primary School P7

y at scho er first da

lly on h Betty Ke

ting in the P1 me and my friend sit My first memory is of t type thing but was a big yellow teapo classroom and there t... I remember u opened the teapot ou it was like a house. Yo de it so that I was ers … my parents ma being scared of teach to be good or the school… you had wary of the adults in cross. they were going to be ary School nvent of Mercy Prim Gemma Vaughan, Co

STARTING SCHOOL 7

ll – the ha g n i d w le cro ends. – peop ad some fri d l n a h h Schoo er g to h d knowing I rimary n i P g k n i l ic e c tr St Pa I was elt comfort y And f d I a L n e r u th Niamh

l, O

O‛Neil

I started there in the early days of the war. And one of the memories that my mother told me was when she took me to school. I was the fifth in a family of six and I had three sisters at the top end of the family. The youngest of those three was 10 years older than me. So when my mother took me to start school at Southwell Primary school the principal asked my mother, “Is this an evacuee?” Anne Ferguson, Southwell School

My Mum felt very proud of me for going to school. Ronan M C Kinney, Our Lady And St Patrick Primary School

per school so he was at the up s wa I an th r de ol s 7 years the back of Bridge My big brother wa and marched me up nd ha e with him th by e m ol gates, I pleaded and he took ho sc e th to t go we . When Street, up to school e again. d to let me go hom an in e and then he not to take m me for 5 minutes, th wi sit m hi let lis El e infant bit. He took me in, Miss was next door to th ich wh , ol ho sc g e bi had to go on into th npatrick hwell School, Dow ut Bobby Skillen, So ol

ck Primary Scho

980 Downpatri

P1 class, 1979-1

When my pare nts left, I was still a bit scar welcomed as th ed but felt mor ere wasn‛t as m e any people wat Alanna Crane, ching me. Our La dy And St Pa trick Primary School

8 STARTING SCHOOL

I ing at me – dy was look o b ry ” s. ve e e “Y r o id, the do re?” – he sa I walked in e to go in he av h In P1 when ly al re School , “Do I ick Primary asked my dad And St Patr ,Our Eoin Douglas

Lady

I remember the very first morning getting up and getting the school uniform on, the excitement in the house. My friend John Taylor and his mum and dad came down and we all walked, a big posse of us all walking down to school together. There was quite a number of us living in the locality all going down to school. We didn’t have that far to walk to school; it was probably a couple of hundred metres to the school from Knocknashinna to the school in St Anne’s Avenue. I remember just walking in and going “Wow”. I saw the big doors and the big classroom and all these people and everyone going around; the classroom teacher, Miss Cahalane coming and being there and meeting us with a big smile on her face. It made us really feel at ease as soon as we walked in. There was a big competition very, very quickly to see who could build the highest blocks without it falling over. We all got into that very quickly and I think, because of that, we didn’t notice our parents drifting away and that was really a very happy memory of the first day at school. Paul Gilchrist,St Patrick’s Boys’ Primary School

P1 class, Convent of Mercy about 1976.

As a teacher, the first day was mad. In those days, the whole way up the school, the cla ss that had been there the previous year had to graduate, so what happened was that my new P1’s were there, 38 of them wit h their parents and the pre vious P1 ready to move to P2 we re also there. ... So I had about 60 children and all their pa rents in my room and I wa s on my own. In those days, you didn’t have a classroom ass istant… In fact, once the old P1’s had moved on and I was left with the children I was fine.

On my ﬁrst day of school I remember the night before I was worried. However when it happened and my Mum was crying, I was just thinking, “Why is she making such a big deal?” I was so pleased with my shiny new shoes and smart navy skirt and top. I wasn‛t so keen on the tight tie though. Treya Dorrian, Downpatrick Primary School P7

Rosemary Wilson, P1 Tea cher, Downpatrick Prim ary School

STARTING SCHOOL 9

nerves and ent about starting school and the I can remember a mix of excitem my mother said in g… As we were waiting to go butterflies in my tummy about goin girl who were a and the twins.” They were a boy to me, “There is Mrs Pentland with nd that first frie t bes called Susan. She became my also starting school. The girl was on my first nd frie ever since. So I made a lifelong day and we have been best friends day in P1. Gill Kimpton

My sisters were already sorted - my Mum told them to look after me. h an, wit yndm arting H h a k t ma s Rebe ter, Em 6 her sis 9 9 1 l in schoo

I was ve – we h ry nervous ad a d - I th o o and b lue ju ll called Mo ught no on m e wou l l p ye Collee r, red n Cur jeans we liked he ld like me ran, O and b ur La lack s r ginger ha dy An hoes. ir d St Pa trick

Ania Crolly Kelly, Our Lady And St Patrick Primary School

We didn’t have a uniform. But to school I would have worn short trousers. Long trousers were only worn by men in my days, even up to the age of 14 boys wore short trousers and jumpers or ganzies as we called them, just a sweater. Pat Higgins

Mrs Wilson brought in a lamb to meet her P1 class

10 STARTING SCHOOL

Prima

ry Sc hoo

DAILY ROUTINE u maybe e that. … Yo k li s g in th and ught your ature walks and you bro n e r er fo th o t g u o to have took lked We used ells. You wa d you would W an l k el il u tr m S n r ow tified birds got out to ell and iden brought thei w n e so th er d p n h u ro a swamp, milk. Eac e and walked e the school there was er th t u o ch e tadpoles. esid your lun e and get th s like that. B g m ti in th er d m m an er Raphael’s the su and nests and in Broth to go out in l d o o se h u e sc W to . ack d he would marshes ught them b into frogs an ro b ed e rn av h tu e ld We wou would hav d then they classroom an em outside. ut th then have p rey George Caff

At the end of the corridor there were these big books … they were gospel stories and they were all on a big string hanging on a coat stand or something. Inside they were lovely. They looked like paintings but they were on like a linen background … great stories and the colours were quite vivid. Everybody sat down and listened to the story. Kate Hanna

There was just an ink well on your desk and a pen with a nib on it and pencils. Rita Gamble, Millisle Primary School

We had assembly every day I think, from what I can remember. We had prayers and all stood in our lines and there were big hymn books that were given out. We all sang the hymns and the teacher played the piano. Gemma Vaughan

The subjects you would hav e covered were generally the same. Every morning when you came in you did your spellings an d your times tables. You had to know them. Every morning you were tested on them. You did your Engli sh work, your comprehen sion, some difficult passages and poetry. Pro se, stories and maths, wo uld have been in the morning time. In the afternoon it would have been some science, geography, history ... we always looked forward to PE. We would have had PE maybe twice a we ek. Paul Gilchrist

DAILY ROUTINE 11

a wee ving a wee suitcase, ha r be em m re n ca I ied my that was what I carr d an e as itc su n ow br book ly had the reading stuff in. You probab ok and bo k or ew d your hom home with you an finished ck when you were then they came ba metimes so ed ar be even sh with them. We may have enough. because we didn’t ol isle Primary Scho Mary Lowry, Mill

I can remember that I just really enjoyed his classes (Mr. Walker). He just made them come alive you know and he really took an interest. I can remember that it was either once or twice a week we listened to the schools’ programmes on the radio. Then it was a big sort of wooden frame but with a wee round mesh speaker in the middle and at a set time, we would have listened to that. We didn’t have ways to record it then so you had to listen to it at the time. We learnt that the letters of Belfast all stood for an industry in Belfast B for biscuits, E for engineering, L for linen, F for factories S for ships T for tobacco Mary Lowry, Millisle Primary School

It was the highlight of your day if you got cleaning the blackboard with the wooden duster. But if it was really bad you would have got a wee bucket of water and washed it down with a cloth. Bobby Skillen

e class

ork in th Hard at w

Mr Walker when we started was very, very big on dictionary work. You had your sheets made out and you had to find the words in the dictionary and learn the meanings of the words and how to spell and how to pronounce them. After that you were given a reading sheet maybe once a month and you had to learn and recite or say back to the teacher the words that you knew. Gillian Mc Gimpsey, Millisle Primary School

12 DAILY ROUTINE

ry Schoo

sle Prima

82 Milli room, 19

I liked the I.C.T. work with Mr Maginnis. I loved the P.E. and the topics. I liked Art, a bit of Science and History. The topics I liked were ﬂight in nature, Vikings, Egypt, and Victorians. Mr Maginnis helped us organise ourselves. Tom Martin, Downpatrick Primary School

the P1 we went to g and , s r e h c a change te do sewin ry, we did d she taught us to a im r p k atric , an In Downp was Mrs. Ferguson nd the o h w r sitting rou at one teache ll a re e w e ol er class, w d to throw the wo knitting. e day in h te n r ased. o ta r le s e p e b t w o m e was n hy, but n w o s w I can rem u o g r n e k I don’t d Mrs. F atrick tables and t all tangled up an d Downp n a l o o o h g c S Primary another. It son, Inch u g r e F y r Rosema School Primary

Mr Walker and class, 1968 Millisle Primary School

e Chestnutts. I remember one of th g baby doll I remember her makin Lindsay in her pyjamas. I remember nts and the loose baby doll pyjamas. Pa iated things with top. You always assoc ppose. Sewing was certain children, I su ow there was a quite involved. You kn and there would syllabus for the sewing for sewing and have been a syllabus mber of years. knitting for quite a nu Anne Ferguson

I suppose during my teaching days one important thing was to give children experiences. I wonder do any of the past pupils remember. I brought a bantam hen in. I had a quiet room off my room over in the primary school and I kept the bantam hen in there. So I got eggs from the lady who loaned me her bantam hen. But we brought out the eggs and the chicks and that was a wonderful thing. There was so much writing and storytelling all around that. Rosie was the first one and that was brought into the classroom every morning with a couple of sods. I can still remember the silence when we listened for the chicks tapping on the shell. I can still feel the sounds I suppose. It was a great time. And then we kept them you know for a certain time in a little run, and then I took them home. Anne Ferguson

I suppose I can visualise the room better and the teacher. The teacher sat up on a raised platform to the side of the classroom. The fire in the classroom would have been up at the front as well. She would have had P5 to P9 in those days because the children would have been up to age 14 in the school. Anne Ferguson, Pupil and teacher in Southwell School, Teacher in Downpatrick Primary School

To go for yo ur dinner yo u had to wal Southwell Sch k from the ool through down to the the church h lower floor o all in Church f Street for ou Mr. Thompso r lunch. And n the butcher had the contr central meals act with kitchen in C hurch Street the dinners ro to deliver und all the d ifferent scho delivered to ols. They Southwell Bo ys, Southwel was in the sa l G irls that me building but their clas the stairs in sroom was u the church h p all, and also which is now the Back Lan the Presbyter e ian Church h dinners were all... The lovely... the la dies in the n were a Mrs. ew primary McCoubrey and Mrs. Mag because I was ennis. And a lovely big fe lla I always go before anybo t seconds dy else got th em. Bobby Skille n

DAILY ROUTINE 13

OUT TO PLAY s and we into 2 team t o g e w re now, red whe nted you k have been a h ld c u e o v a w h It – y from the would Red Rover ll somebod d then we a n c a s ld d u n o a w h e ugh our had to hold r. We call and then w d break thro itches in n a y tr e to v e v st rover, red ro r and they would ha had to get e wall and ve o th m to a in te ll r e fe oth friend at game. e time my a stop to th t u p arms... On f o rt d that so her chin an ughan Gemma Va

In the playground there were bikes, hula hoops, tricycles and even bowls that you spin around in. These were all fun to play with. We had an adventure playground built when we were in P3 and we got the honour of being the ﬁrst class to ever go on it. At break and lunch time the older children who act as “buddies” came up to our playground to help look after us and help us. Rebecca Casement, Downpatrick Primary School P7

We kicked the football about, at different times of the year. For example, you probably played marbles and then maybe round Halloween time you played with the conkers. Maybe Grand National time you would have had piggy backs like riding a horse… In the school it was football probably and maybe tig or rounders or that type of ball game. George Caffrey

I play with my best friend in the playground. I like to play skipping in the playground. It‛s quite fun skipping when it‛s fast. Julia Patterson, P5 Millisle Primary School

and we also yed skipping la p e w P1 in . Sometimes When I was ps and cars o o h a ul h e th h its played with ngle gym wit ju e th which n o b im obble bench w e we got to cl th d an e, tyres play climbing fram e. All the boys and girls it ur time. During was my favo most of the at d re g is h ic ssy bank an together wh down the gra o g n ca e w the summer, chains. ool make daisy Primary Sch ownpatrick on, P7 D Jordyn Wils

ary school

Prim nvent of Mercy

rd Co 1979 School Ya

14 OUT TO PLAY

There was a time when everybody brought their marbles to school for a few weeks and we played these marble games. And you know some people had many marbles that their parents had bought them. Then there were others, me included, we didn’t have very many, we just saved them from year to year because we knew the marble time would come. I remember the privilege of being the older girl and going down to help the little ones, and loved that – the responsibility of being able to show them how to play these games. We had loved them ourselves and we loved to go and show them to the little ones who were very impressed that we could throw these two tennis balls. Gill Kimpton

d to play the left hand side and you use The school had a big green to each on as got say maybe 6 or 7 fell “Churchy one over”, where you One up se. hor l and he made like a wee side. One stood against the wal and line t igh scrum and then in a stra against each other, like a rugby kept y the if top. You had to jump up and everybody else had to get on in. It aga out you fell they had to split you you up, that was good, but if d fun. was just simple but it was goo Mervyn O’Neill

e round. I like it in th y park in our playg pla s lou bu fa a ll. ve We ha e climbing wa I especially like th play park. It‛s fun. Having

ary ound, Downpatrick Prim great fun in the playgr

le Primary School Ben Lally,P5 Millis

School

I like to play penalty shots in the playground. Kyle McClean, P5 Millisle Primary School

German jumps: we had elastic bands all strung together and 2 people would have had the elastic bands arou nd their ankles and then you jumped over and pulled the elastic ban ds and made different shapes with the elastic bands. Then you wen t home and put 2 dining room chairs out to practice before you cam e back another day so that you got better at it. Gillian Mc Gimpsey

In P1 I played with the buddies and my big cousin, James Dean. We played catch the buddies and skipping. Now I am a buddy and I look after the P1s, P2s and P3s. When I was in P1 we had a different adventure playground which was very old. Our new adventure playground has a climbing frame, slide and even a wobbly bridge.

Having great fun on sports day, Millisl e

I remember playtime being fun. Another thing I loved to play with was the parachute. The parachute has lots of colours and is in the shape of a circle. The game was to keep the ball on the parachute but it was too hard. It was a marvellous game. Claudia Fitzpatrick, P7 Downpatrick Primary School

Ellie McCreesh, Downpatrick Primary School P7 OUT TO PLAY 15

ent for us to play with as I don’t remember there being equipm and spies. I remember the such. I do just remember playing tag ld spy round the corners at girls would be in groups and we wou r and things like that. I see each other and try to catch each othe and it just reminds me children doing it in the playground now of that you know. ol Hazel Mc Crea, Millisle Primary Scho

hich is me – w ns. a g le b b e the bu ere is two d h I miss t t u d St n b s” Lady a r u “chasie O ill, n O‛Ne ool Tierna rimary Sch P k Patric

At the top end, they would have been playing cricket. On the wall they would have just drawn the stumps on the wall. We would have a ball and bat and there was half the wall where a lot of the boys sat along the top of the wall waiting to come in to bat. One of the greatest cricketers Downpatrick ever had was Noel Ferguson, and Noel went to the school with me. And Noel was the man who you wanted to bat. He was very good. As I say if you were picked, you liked to be picked for Noel’s team because you knew you were going to be on a winner. ... He went on to play for Ireland. Joe Mc Comb, Southwell School

On a wet day break we play with puppets. We play cool math games on the computer and I love it, so it‛s not too bad to have a wet break-time! James Reid, P5 Millisle Primary School

I remember in P1 Andreanna and I used to play tag and mini moto cars and sometimes we still play these games until this very day ... if you don‛t you will lose your imagination skills. Chelsea McCabe, P7 Downpatrick Primary School

yground.

dge ball in the pla

I play chasies or do

y School P5 Millisle Primar Jake Donaldson,

16 OUT TO PLAY

Marbles: I remember just always standing watching them and then when I was asking could I have marbles I was told they were just for boys. Rita Gamble

rick Primar

y, Downpat outside pla g n yi jo en P1

BEHAVE YOURSELVES Well in primary school, it was probably just a ruler and later on, probably, they used a larger cane… I got six of the best one time… My hands would have been marked. Well you would never really have said at home because you could have got hit again. If you got hit you just kept it to yourself, you know. George Caffrey

win the Down Dynamo r good work; if you fo ed rd wa re t ge le Peop e every one can t up on the wall wher pu re tu pic ur yo t ge you ey could get their ing bold or nasty th be e ar le op pe If it. see n off them and they t of class merit take ou or ss cla in ur vio time. beha break time and lunch om fr ed nd ou gr be could hool P7 patrick Primary Sc Ellie Coburn, Down

We have a book called a merit book we can earn stars and get them taken off us if we forget something or be bad... we also get grounded when we misbehave ... we have to stand in a place with bars around it and a gate. Kyle McKeever, Downpatrick Primary School P7

The great thing about the school was there was a great relationship between the teachers and the pupils. The pupils accepted the rules. We wrote the rules actually. This was a new thing, at the beginning of the year we used to draw up the rules within the classroom. The children would have an input into the rules and we would put them up on a special white board. I would always go down the line and say look you know that behaviour is not acceptable within the class or within the yard… The children knew the score. Brother Christopher Kelleher, Teacher, St Patrick’s Boys’ Primary School

a swish of it and there was a bit of ne ca all sm a d ha n ite often too. Miss Williamso u over the knuckles qu yo d pe ap wr ve ha and she would ve wrapped you e hand, she would ha on in ne ca e th ve ha ght it wasn’t hard If she didn’t ’t very often. She thou sn wa it t Bu s. kle uc over the kn enough for the fellas. Mary Lowry

Master Kane … He would have struck the desk with his cane or his stick or he may have poked you a bit but he never really seemed to slap or anything like that. He was ahead of his time. Pat Higgins

My first tea cher was v ery do anythin g. If you did strict … You weren’t allowed to an been down speak or on you and ything at all out of pla ce she wou y you did so ou would h ld have mething w a v e b een in trou rong she w over again ble. And if ould have m ... As I say, ade you do the kids do to rhyme o it o n’t get that ff your tim d iscipline no ver and e s ta sentences sh ble and if y w. You had e would ha ou made a ve made yo mistake in Mervyn O your u do it aga ’Neill, Milli in 10 or 15 sle Primary times. School

You get happy faces by ﬁnishing maths, literacy and also for homework. I have won lots of times. Stephen Flaherty, Millisle Primary School

BEHAVE YOURSELVES 17

Ballymoney was much stricter. I remember in my first couple of weeks, some boys were throwing rubbers around the classroom and the teacher got them up to the front and slapped their hands with a ruler. I had never seen that happen in Millisle. I think if you were talking too much, you might have got put in the corner. Hazel Mc Crea, Millisle Primary School

Down Dynamo Name: ________________________ Class: _____

computer. and go on the es m ga ay pl work you get to u get reduced If you do good e Principal, yo th to nt se t ge our you For bad behavi playtime. n Time. , you get Golde 9 – so you If you‛re good tars on Cloud S e th h ac Re lled rewards. ard system ca clouds, you win ne ni ve ha We have a rew u n yo cloud and whe time. can colour in a n win extra play ca u yo rd ya e good in th If your class is mputer Pass. ork Pass or a Co ew om H a h it w ded You get rewar ary School. Patrick Prim ur Lady and St Pupils from O

Date: ___________

ww This Dynamo Award is for ___________________________

___________________________________________________

Signed: ________________ Teacher Signed: ________________ Principal

Down Dynamo certificate example

school in secondary er b em m re I nd d instead any a time. A the house, an in er ap p n I got lines m o l rb em to schoo ing a bit of ca d brought th actually find an , Mr. es al n p li ci 0 n 5 ri p wrote es”. The n li 0 0 1 y of 100 lines I m ne py paper. ell I have do sed carbon co u u yo , d and said, “W te ea , “Oh you ch night.” Jackson, said for tomorrow er p ro p es n li 0 0 2 Now do ick n, Downpatr Bobby Skille

18 BEHAVE YOURSELVES

We had a male principal. Our principal had a cane, and he carried the cane around with him, as he would be on patrol along the corridors. He carried it behind his back and I have a very clear mental image of him walking and carrying this cane. He was a tall man and stern looking. I know now that he is really a gentleman, but to the child’s eyes, he looked stern. We were frightened and we would have been frightened to have been sent to his office. It was at the other end of the corridor and we heard stories that he used the cane. And you know there were people who had been caned and had red marks on their hands. Gill Kimpton, Downpatrick

Mrs Patterson has a Happy Face Chart for Us. Our happy face chart helps us work. If you get twenty happy faces you win and get a prize, but if you get three sad faces you are out of the game. Jasper Robbins, Millisle Primary School

Only once, I remember getting smacked once with the ruler because I laughed at the minister and that was in P2. I thought he was the strangest looking person coming in with this thing round his neck and I laughed and got slapped with the ruler over the hand. But apart from that I never had any problem. Gillian Mc Gimpsey

The happy face char t is a chart that if you ﬁnish your work do something good or you will receive a ha ppy face. Whenever get 20 happy faces you you have won. I win it lots of times !

own sponsible for their ildren would be re ch n of at io th ot en om ke Pr ry d ve We were scheme calle a d te op ad we d, at en haviour and behaviour and to th warded for good be re re we n re ild ch e we used wher positive behaviour n a Friday afternoon O r. ou vi ha be or po for ey wanted, there were penalties uld do whatever th co y od yb er ev en wh n I get the to have golden hour e the computer, ca us I an “C e lik , ol e scho nalty from within reason in th ” So if you had a pe r. he ot e th d an at is, th t on a chair lego out, can I do th en hour and you sa ld go on t ou ed iss um a treat, it really did. during the week yo work. That worked tra ex t go d an ad re imary School and you al, Downpatrick Pr cip in Pr er rm Fo Arthur Greenwood,

Harry Carswell, Mi llisle Primary Scho ol

Golden time is when we can play on the whiteboard or the computer or do whatever we wish, within reason! I love Golden Time.

ything ybody off with an They didn’t let an ... ot like it is today that was just it. N rs he ac te e th r fo spect You had more re king of kids now chee because you hear wrong, all. That’s what’s the teachers and ed given cheek to Fr you wouldn’t have have u, or you would Walker, I’ll tell yo place very quick. been put in your Mervyn O’Neill

You had te n sp John. I’m ta ellings every night an d I’m not ta lking abou t adjacent, lking abou 2 slaps for I always re t Janet and it. Adjacen member th t you got te world whe at because n every nig n you got u I got ht. Y p there (Up Kate Hann per Primary ou were in the real ah ). Very stri ct.

Kenzie Adams, Millisle Primary School

'Traﬃc lights' help us behave well in school - Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School

we were bad . This meant when ed nd ou gr ing be by eak time. If We were punished g lunch time or br rin du ol ho sc in ay d your feet or we would have to st use you have lifte ca be be uld co it you were grounded ng people names. bad words or calli g yin sa , le op pe to hands ch as Down Dynamo s many rewards su ha ol ho Sc y ar im al behaviour … Downpatrick Pr arded for exception aw is is Th d. ar aw d forgiving. … Head Master‛s ent, responsible an lig di ing be r fo n these can be wo hool P7 patrick Primary Sc James Ross, Down

BEHAVE YOURSELVES 19

CHANGING TIMES t teacher taugh ned what the ar le u ft yo le , u es yo bl e e sat at our ta d the only tim We came in, w your desk. An at the teacher. I t h sa it u w yo p d ou an gr t, g in on fr ad e re from th t to do a occasionally. when you wen the chalkboard on te ri w your desk was to or something. being allowed and do a sum up go to remember just rn tu acher for a wee en it was your felt like the te of d n ki You know wh u yo to go up and You were able ow. minute, you kn a Hazel Mc Cre

ite ‘Snow-wh ven and the Se 6 196 Dwarves’, Millisle

We used to go into the convent at Christmas to see their crib and the figures. They must have been nearly life size and it was better than Disney, you know. Real straw and it was kind of like, “Where is the child? Why haven’t you got him in and what are there three wise men doing over there?” Kate Hanna

A visit to Short Brothers with Mr Walker, Millisle Primary School

20 CHANGING TIMES

Master Kane. He had a grea t interest in h when we pla orse racing, yed racing at so much so th lunch time, h the road for at e would have us so that we marked a fu could race a hear the resu rl o fu ng on rl lts of big race ong. He also s and on that was very kee been around n d to ay the time of a on reflection big race that , it would hav And we wou we would hav ld have walk e e had nature ed to the pla nipped into study. ntation at O the local bla akley. He wo cksmith’s sho race on the ra uld have p, Joe McCo dio or to hea rm ick’s, to listen r the result. Pat Higgins to a

e day if it was e of the saint for th lif e th ad re ht ig m I r the children. e was a message fo appropriate or ther m 8am on come in any time fro The children could the yard and great supervision in because there was them off and going to work left parents who were ays had looked after. We alw knew they would be ayed a set do duty and they pl teachers willing to in their own football, in the yard amount of informal ss. I always had en you went to cla disciplined way. Th n seemed to prayers. The childre a reflection before . like that, you know er Kelleher Brother Christoph

The inspector th en would have ar rived and the sc attendance office hool r would have ar rived. I remembe have taken a pa r he would rticular interest in some of us be have got 2 weeks ca use we would off in the autum n time to gather with the local fa potatoes rmers. We got pa id for this and I princely sum of remember the £5 for a week w orking from 8.30 6pm at night. Bu am to maybe t it was heavy go ing. Some of us have stretched th would maybe e normal time an d stayed off a lit so the school at tle longer tendance officer came and he didn pleased. His nam ’t seem very e was Mr Savage , I remember. Pat Higgins

The people were lovely, far ming folk and lovely cou ntry kids. You would go out in the evening an d there would be a bag of spuds lying up against the car that somebody ha d left for the Master or a pair of pheasants hanging on a car aerial tha t somebody had shot and left for the Master. The Master in those days, you know, was still a big deal. I used to get people coming in to read letters you know people that couldn’t read. (They) would come in an d say I have a letter from a solicitor here, could you translate this for me . That was lovely you know but the days of two teacher country schools are gone. Arthur Greenwood

ercy 1976 Convent of M

I just loved Mrs. Patterson and she taught us then in P5. It was Mrs. Patterson that got us all involved in doing the speech festival in Bangor and encouraging us and teaching us how to do speech and drama and saying poetry. That was something that I had never had any experience of. I have never forgotten that and that has really been the basis that I now speak at various church groups and things like that. Hazel Mc Crea

We had three seni or classes in the early years you kn great interest in ow ; there was a the school on ex tra mural activiti football, quizzes, es . In games, hurling, concerts and mus ic. The children because we had got a great chance a nice green field and there was gr lay teachers taki eat commitment ng games after sc by the hool and the child to it. You saw an ren looked forw other side to the ar d children after sc classroom, you kn hool, outside the ow. Brother Christoph er Kelleher

CHANGING TIMES 21

I think these little ones come into me, to my care and what I have to give them is how they see school for the rest of their days. If I can make school fun, whilst learning, and they’re happy and very confi dent with me and the whole school set up, then that is what would be mo re important to me than the actual physical teaching. I am now teaching children of chil dren I taught years ago and it is love ly to have that contact with the par ents that I knew. But it is very har d to get them not to call me Mrs. Wilson . So I also think it is nice to put that trust in me and bring their own childre n back… Rosemary Wilson, Teacher, Dow npatrick Primary School

seum

Folk Mu Visit to

it was your nolds. When ey cR e then M . rs ckboard. Sh called M la 2 b P e in th n er o h e f your cak a teac aybe some o big birthday I remember m y k el v ic p lo a to t w had go e dre ke that she d then you birthday, sh birthday ca ices of it an e sl , th es f o ic e sl ic to cut it in to have a sl you wanted friends that lovely. ou. She was drawn for y rea Hazel Mc C

I think it is more formal. They know they are doing comprehension today or their tests, spelling tests when they come in the morning, their comprehension, their numeracy. I think the formality is much more organised. I can’t remember going in on a day and knowing what I was going to be doing that day, apart from your tables. It was just more relaxed. Gillian Mc Gimpsey

22 CHANGING TIMES

There was a lot of spontaneity of teaching in those years, where just whatever might have arisen on a particular day. I remember one day over in the school a fox went past the window. We then had a wonderful day, writing about foxes. Anne Ferguson

I suppose one of the big things I see changing is tec hnology. I made everything and wrote it ou t for the children and for a number of children we used carbon paper. So that was all done in the eve ning for maybe six or eight children. You wo uld have needed to do lik e three at once. But I see that as a wonderful thi ng now we have photocop ying. Anne Ferguson, Teacher, Southwell School

d helping reaks, an b e h t r e y as well in ov y Tuesda aking us r t e v y e b s s r u ape help us ol helped d doing p chool to n s a r ut s e n t f Our scho io a t s our eekend b ough que b for 1 h er the w v lu o c r a e o us with t p t a p e g us com practice as lettin score. d to do a a d h o o o g ls a a e ot revise. W did now I have g chool P7 I rimary S P k ic r I am glad t a Downp

TESTING TIMES

orrian, Treya D

I didn’t like the 11 plus because I got a lot of pressure from my grandparents. They would have made it a point to try and force me to do practice papers a lot. I just was very stressed out about it. I remember on the day of the exam I was sick, I was vomiting that morning. I ended up failing it and ... feeling like a failure ... I ended up having a great time in the secondary school I was in. Gemma Vaughan

trying to ved it … lo I … g in orn l because st every m rther up the schoo te a id d ing … we s when you got fu bal reason r e v at wa e th d I love t I think th plus. u B t. u o t tha r your 11 figure all g it then fo in o d re e you w y c Gimpse Gillian M

When I did the transfer test I was conﬁdent that I would get a very good score in the test and I‛m so proud of myself. Andreanna Edgar, Downpatrick Primary School P7

We need to do lots of work especially tests for high school. Eoin Douglas, Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School

TESTING TIMES 23

wn High. g to be in Do in go as w it that s. I was lus. We heard f my mother p o 1 1 d n e ie th fr r a fo was t all the paring ok round, ge t that I knew lo an We were pre d st o te go ro a p e k ly rls playing ter ta , the on again so I bet d saw these gi Well I mean k an ac w b o t d ge in t o w . You the ight n read about it I looked out ad thinking I m e. h k I li t u as b w fe it li e what match in my news, and se en a hockey se er ev onder, n ad h day I often w hockey. I is th to . w n o n uk Blyto g out. er and do yo indow lookin know in Enid ap w p e s h th at e m id e es b looking at th I was sitting But here I’m oing, because ey match. d r ck to o h la is gi vi th in atching w m I’ what was the … er my test pap I didn’t touch Kate Hanna

I was held back a year to repeat and that was another thumping I got, because when I went in to do it the second time I just put an X on it because I didn’t want to go to anywhere else except Donaghadee School, where all my mates were. So I just put an X on it and I came back and Fred Walker (Principal) got the word that I had put the X on it and I got another hiding for wasting his time for teaching me for a year. Mervyn O’Neill

I learned a grea t deal – this knowledge enab led me to do my transfer exam .

Tiernan O‛Neill, Our Lady and St Patrick Prim ary School

ant to as import w 7 P o t the Going in year I did e h t s a w me as it assed. test - I p St transfer ady and Our L rrissey, Claire Mo ary School rim Patrick P

d how hard ber lots of it an em m re I d an 7 r a lot of past P6, P P6. I remembe k probably in or in ew er sf om an h tr r r I remembe e studying fo eekends too. larly as we wer it was particu and over the w ht ig n y er ev most papers, one al Paul Gilchrist 24 TESTING TIMES

LEAVING SCHOOL it good, but it is not, at leaving school is th t gh ou lec th Ta s in ay am alw We friend Benj P4 my second best d is incredibly sad. In ide Tom, Benjamin an ts Ou her James. ot br t tle ou lit ab I his d th an wi left y told Tom Wars. He eventuall ar St d ye him e pla s se ay to I alw not going ppen, how we were e what was going to ha out the news. In th ab ed was devastat I e. or ym an ch mu that and leaving isn‛t fun. end we will all leave y School P7 Downpatrick Primar Jonathan Beattie,

I was excited to get to wear a uniform, that was one of the big things. I would have to go to the shops and buy a uniform. I was excited to play hockey. I even thought I would play rugby. I wasn’t aware that the girls didn’t play rugby. My brother had rugby boots and I thought I would inherit those and I would play rugby too. Gill Kimpton

1978 June Presentation on retirement of Sr Bernadette

Going to a new school will be difﬁcult because you are going into a world of the unknown and you are saying farewell to teachers, friends, family and good memories. Then you meet new teachers and pupils. I will miss my classmates who are going to other schools. Tom Martin, Downpatrick Primary School P7

I attended the Sout hwell School and I left the school 2 m before my 14th birth onths day. I remember lea ving because I coul away quick enough dn’t get … I felt grand beca use I was very muc farming at that tim h into e. And we had a do nkey and cart, and have taken out this I would donkey and cart to do wee odds and en was delighted to ge ds. So I t away from the sc hool. Joe Mc Comb

Cup winners, 2011

LEAVING SCHOOL 25

cy 19 nvent of mer

Home time co

Oﬀ on a trip , 2008

close. Even now I would still We had a leavers’ mass. We were all very ary school with. The leavers’ mass talk to a lot of girls that I went to prim ple crying and after the mass was is very sad and I remember a lot of peo ld have signed our normal white finished, that was when everyone wou d and signed them with a wee school shirts. Everybody just went roun message… we didn’t want to leave. Gemma Vaughan

It will be just like starting P.1 again. I w leaving my pr ill be sad on imary school but life will go school I will on! On movin be sad and th g en I might ju primary schoo st forget abou l and on the t la st day I migh about leaving t be tearful my friends.

Abigail McKee ver, Downpat rick

Primary Sch ool P7

When I think about leaving I think about leaving primary school, not seeing the teachers and best friends and not seeing familiar faces. A new uniform, new classroom, new buses but at least some of my friends are coming too. I know for a fact I‛ll cry at the leavers‛ assembly. The thought I‛m most scared of is growing up. I am sad yet excited. Alex Swafﬁeld, Downpatrick Primary School P7

26 LEAVING SCHOOL

ary School

npatrick Prim

P7, 1986 Dow

I remember going around saying goo dbye to all the teachers. The teacher at the time had a party for us. I just have this memory of clearing out the classroom with the teacher and there was a skip at the end of the school and we brought a lot of things out to it. We had never done that before. Paul Gilchrist

ady and St ils in Our L up p m o fr ts Commen ary school Patrick Prim e There will b new people. g n ti e e m d o It will be go ework. d hard hom an rk o w hard fy Brianne Duf

ard to y. I look forw tr to s g in h day. e new th ing a bus eac d There will b ri d an rm w unifo getting a ne

P7, 2007 leavers’ assembly Downpatrick Primary School

eill Niamh O‛N

different are going to o h w s d n ie all girl y fr I will miss m tting into an e g r fo y p hap schools. I am school. ne Alanna Cra

achers. Mrs of all the te ss e n d in k e ole school. I will miss th on in the wh rs e p st e d in Vint is the k ey ss Claire Morri teachers . I am sure re tu n ve ad be an stuck on. Leaving will hing you are yt an h it w u will help yo Ben Curran

gest – u are the big yo – y ar sc e b miss the It is going to I am going to . st le al sm the then will be it. b y n ti girls a inney Ronan Mc K

LEAVING SCHOOL 27

TIMES TO REMEMBER erds who f the sheph o e n o s a w ink I was as. I my role. I th d the ry Christm re e v o e m id n d e e e b yw ave rds an The nativit at would h the shephe th re e s, e w n li re e y Th an g to do. didn’t have or 5 years … everybody somethin 4 t u o b a r fo ve a shepherd bers and ga p the num u e d a m ls ange ughan Gemma Va

Oh for goodness sake, you were no body if you weren procession. You ’t in the May made your First Communion. Yo you made your Fi u had no uniform rst Communion s, so and you had a ve the May processio il. So when it cam n your mummy e to had to get the ve days starch maybe il out. And in th wasn’t that easy ose to come by. They sugar or whateve had to make it ou r to do the veil fo t of r the May proces Kate Hannah sion.

A ‘fancy dress’ assembly with the theme of ‘Kings and Queens’

For the Diamond jubile e in 2012 we dressed up. I was Queen Victoria and my hair was up in a bun. I wore my ﬂower girl‛s dress along with my re d pumps. We all had a Ju bil the hall which was sa ee dinner in usages, ice cream and a lot of jelly and biscuits.

Ellie Coburn, Downpa trick Primary School P7

28 TIMES TO REMEMBER

ary

im ent of Mercy Pr ding’, 1942 Conv

ll’s Wed Cast of ‘The Do

where there school here, e th all f o k ac the b at is where . It was out area and th ay ss d s ra a g rt as o ig w b sp e We had a g here, ther e was a great s now. Ther f the buildin g o all the in k d ac ch il b u at e b w e th ar chairs to . Along d e el th h n e o er t w sa ts the sports ll the paren at’s where a th d d the an h at . p row race an ss bank ar ra lb g ee e h th w , n n o oo sports up s, egg and sp hing. s, sack race et ce m ra so er at b o ing a g I remem av h d an p u ng parents getti Mary Lowry

Celebrating the Jubilee May 2012

Celebrating the

12, Downpatrick

Jubilee May 20

We were very adventurous. I think Mrs. Patterson brought the adventure to Millisle. She took us to London on a school trip, the P5/6/7. I just remember going to the Tower of London. I remember staying in the hotel. I remember the not very nice food in the hotel and going to Tower Bridge and just really having a good time. Hazel Mc Crea

TIMES TO REMEMBER 29

ago, way onkey’s years d as w at Th – erstanding eir height. r Mutual Und bles were at th ou tr e th Education Fo en h ded with d of the 80’s w P3 to P7. It en om fr d back at the en ke lin e wer across to d Legamaddy both schools an om ck fr ri s at d p ki n 7 P And Dow ke . You would ta Benetton Park… still ip d tr lle al ca ti e en ac d si pl ld a re park, a er pupils, wou big adventure who were form enetton Park? Do , n England to a re d il ch e er that th r we went to B many years aft ell she was you remembe o “D e m Bernadette. W to h y it w sa y d or an it e m m co g a dor r I was sharin e still mates”. you remembe ing and we ar d ed w y ary School m at d ai npatrick Prim ow D my bridesm l pa ci n ri P wood, Former Arthur Green

Having dec ided I wou ld dr suit. In add ition to gett ess up as Prince Willi am in a Joc ing horse r with PW on key iding boots the back a and an old nd front, I wood. We p t-shirt had to mak araded aro e a whip ou und the ha the class c t of ll so the ju ostumes w d g e es could se r e li ke. Jamie Gels e what ton, Downp atrick Prim ary Schoo l P7

Enjoying the ‘100 day’ maths challenge with Mrs Beattie

ol, 1976

scho nvent of Mercy

the Co e centenary of Celebrating th

30 TIMES TO REMEMBER

We did it (sports day) out where the nursery is now, it was a green. And the parents would have put the chairs and all out. And you would have had like the sack race, and the egg and spoon race. The games really aren’t the same today as they were then. Oh, I won a few things. ... The sack race and the barrel race... The egg and spoon race, and the sprinting, because I loved running. Andrea Bingham, Millisle Primary School

For the Silver Jubilee Celebrations, the council had a fancy dress parade and my mum made a costume for myself and my friend Susan. My Mum got green fabric and sewed green dresses for us and she got two colours of pink fabric and made petals, and she dressed us up as jubilee roses. The two of us, we were of similar height and we just had our faces with these petals coming out. We won every fancy dress competition we entered because I suppose we were small P7s but we looked quite cute. We walked along hand in hand as these little jubilee roses. Gill Kimpton

Cycling proficency, 2006

ber that P1. I remem in as w I d in the hen en’t there an e coming w er p w o s P il e p u th p er e b big stand. of th I do remem 6” TV on a e were a lot 1 a er t u Th ed o t. ab en as ev . It w eing march being a big put on a TV hall and I remember b ad h e ey p th o watch the p gymnasium e assembly middle of th in and we were made to e th in t sa eland. We us very few of sermon in Ir e a g er w in e iv g er e Th p in. the po Ireland and arriving in st Paul Gilchri

pports the rugby tea

su Patrick the Penguin

For the Queen‛s Diamond Jubilee we dressed up as Kings and Queens. For the outﬁt I dressed up as King Arthur of Camelot, from Merlin. I had a sword and a big ring. It was the best Jubilee Party ever. Matthew Crichton, Downpatrick Primary School P7

TIMES TO REMEMBER 31

During the Queen‛s Jubilee Downpatrick Primary school celebrated with activities full of fun. On Monday we made bunting. I used many colours such as red, blue, yellow and green. We also got to make Royal crowns, and mine was gold. James Ross, Downpatrick Primary School P7

Harvest Festiv al in Downpat

rick Primary Sc

hool

ick in the Lake ol trip to Kesw ho sc a had been on t en the first time I In P7 we w as w It . us lo bu 11 plus was fa for passing the t District and it ea tr a as w it esick e and t was very hom away from hom bu , at th to go ed to twater. … and I was allow ent to Derwen w e W . ay aw tting the e I was ugh it… and ge the whole tim ro th n w do ip l hyper boat tr sure made us al We went on a I’m ch hi w rs h gar ba stayed in a yout Kendal mint su remember we I rough . th ed ll tt fe ro y h od et e. Someb and the te ok br ds be e th one of hostel … and e. because it brok d be k their bun psey Gillian Mc Gim g

Fundraisin

Mrs Wilson with Downpatrick Boys’ hockey team

32 TIMES TO REMEMBER

oard, I used and his blackb , st ti ar e th r as Walke dried there w g about Fred d then when it an ash it w er We were talkin u at w yo h e it ad have m h it. Just w ld as ou w w to e h e d av n h to it. A taken me It would have wee bit left on k. er h ac ot bl an re s pu ay alw spotless. l it was be absolutely h it again unti to as w ad d h it an d n ai an ag e chalk and board rawing with th d r to wash the a ou e h on d an t e av ou ab dh ith chalk on have started an lievable, just w ld be ou n w u e as h w en it Th d and t it in his han er blew it and pu Then the pap . days to do it. ve fi to the blackboard d or r se u u fo e h him d then ld have taken Chronicle, an e th or r to It maybe wou ta ec me in, the Sp would have co . ar ery ye be in them ev ll Mervyn O’Nei

Downpatrick Primary School NI Hockey Finals 2007 with Mr Maginnis

like this on beautiful scenes Mr Walker drew ristmas. Ch at ar ye y er ev the blackboard

ck Primary School

’, 2010 Downpatri The cast of ‘Annie

TIMES TO REMEMBER 33

Banner created by children from Millisle Primary school for the opening of the Memorial Garden.

SAFE HAVEN

afe Haven is the name given to the Holocaust Memorial Garden in the grounds of Millisle Primary School and a safe haven is what the community of Millisle provided for many Jewish refugees during the Second World War. The seaside village of Millisle in Co Down played its own small part in holocaust history. Their story is an important part of the story of the Millisle community and retelling it has become a vital part of the life of Millisle Primary School. A small group of Jewish children came to live at a Millisle farm during the Second World War. Refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, they had been rescued from their homes after their parents were imprisoned by the Nazis. This transportation of children, to safety in Britain and Ireland was known as the Kindertransport. The Kindertransport rescue operation was unique, in that about 10,000 unaccompanied children aged from three months to seventeen years of age were permitted entry into the United Kingdom on block visas. Frightened and bewildered, the children were put on trains clutching a few precious belongings – they could bring nothing of value. Most of the Kindertransport children never saw their parents or families again. In December 1938 the first Kindertransport of 206 children arrived from the Hook of Holland to Harwich, on the east coast of Britain. Other Kindertransports followed, until, with the outbreak of war in September 1939, the borders were sealed, and the Kindertransports ceased. A lucky few of these children had relatives in England; the rest were accepted into foster homes, boarding schools or hostels all over Britain. And some were sent to Northern Ireland, a place of which most of them had never heard.

“The Farm”

The small Jewish community of Belfast responded wonderfully to the needs of the young refugees who ended up in Northern Ireland.

A hostel was established at Cliftonpark Avenue, Belfast, initially for the older group of refugees. When the Kindertransport children began arriving, nearly every Jewish family, and some non-Jewish families, took a child into their homes. In May 1939, Barney Hurwitz, Leo Scop and Maurice Solomon of the Refugee Aid Committee leased a derelict farm of about seventy acres on the County Down coast. ‘The farm’, as it became known to its inhabitants, was situated close to the village of Millisle, about twenty miles from Belfast. The children arrived from the Belfast hostel in the summer of 1939. They found a few derelict barns and outbuildings, and a dilapidated stone farmhouse known as Ballyrolly House. Up to eighty people, including the children, lived and worked on the farm at any one time. In all, from the first arrivals in 1938 to its closure in 1948, well over 300 adults and children are believed to have passed through it. It was run as a co-operative farm, patterned on the kibbutz principle; all the children, even the youngest, worked on the farm, and received a shilling per week pocket money; later this rose to half a crown. The children attended the local school, where the head teacher, John Palmer, sat each refugee child with a local child to help them learn the language. Mrs Mawhinney taught the under-eights.

Friendship

The Jewish children integrated well into the local community and Bobby Hackworth, who was 11 years old in Millisle Primary School when the Jewish children arrived, remembered the great fun they had playing football matches every week. Invitations were extended to each other’s concerts. Even if they did not understand the words they could always appreciate a good tune. Bobby also recalled seeing the children in a horse and cart on their way to Donaghadee railway station to pick up goods. They would also have been taken to the pictures in Donaghadee or the travelling concert shows which were held in Millisle during the summer. Bobby, who had a keen interest in local

SAFE HAVEN 35

STARTING SCHOOL

SAFE HAVEN

Jewish Children Millisle

Holocaust Memorial Garden Millisle Primary

36 STARTING SCHOOL

history, kept in touch with some of the refugees throughout his life and was a valuable participant in the creation of the memorial garden and in passing on the story to the children in Millisle. Robert Sugar was one of the children. In a heartfelt interview, Robert Sugar, said that after the war he felt homesick, for the town he called home for 10 years: “I didn’t feel like a refugee when I was here. In 1967 I was in London and was homesick for Millisle – and that felt unusual,” he said. “In world history, as Jews, we have been excluded from the mainstream, but here in Millisle, we have been included in the local history and that is very special. In the farm and the local community, there was not a bad moment or anti-Semitism throughout all those years. As a community we expected some unpleasantness in a new place, because of our background, we were used to it; but in Millisle there was absolutely none of that. The children in the school accepted us. They didn’t treat us like victims, we were just children to them.”

Shared history

A memorial garden commemorates all who helped rescue these children from the horrors of the Nazi holocaust. Robert Sugar, speaking at the opening of the garden, said, “Without the welcome and friendship of the Millisle community our Jewish farm would not have succeeded. In later years I thought perhaps I had exaggerated how well we lived together, but now … with the rising of this monument (the garden) which so lovingly incorporates our history with yours, I know my memory was true.”

Faraway Home

Marilyn Taylor, a well-known children’s author, has written a fictional book, Faraway Home, based on the story of the Jewish farm in

Millisle. In Faraway Home, Karl and his sister, Rosa, are sent to the Millisle farm. Here, they must adapt to a very different life. War is never far away, with rationing, air-raid warnings and the spy scare. When Belfast is bombed, Karl feels his fragile world has collapsed. With the help of others, he learns that out of conflict and despair extraordinary friendships can grow. This was true of these real children in Millisle. “Writing Faraway Home has had a deep emotional effect on me – tracking down the former refugees in Ireland, Britain and the US; visiting the actual farm (now in private hands); finding out about wartime life in rural County Down; and reading eye-witness accounts of the massive Belfast Blitz. And whatever I write about in the future, Millisle – the village in its beautiful setting, the people and their history – will always have a special place in my memory.” Marilyn Taylor (Author of Faraway Home) The story of the Jewish children in Millisle was shared during workshops in preparation for this book with pupils from Downpatrick Primary School, Millisle Primary School and Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School, Downpatrick. This work enhanced the pupils’ understanding of the impact of world events on County Down society now and in the past. The pupils explored issues of racism, identity and cultural diversity and shared this learning with others via the book and exhibition. This ensures the impact of the story, the friendship and bravery of the participants will be treasured and reach a wider audience. It remains important that stories like this about those who defeat racism and conflict continue to be told.

SAFE HAVEN 37

THE STORY OF DOWNPATRICK PRIMARY SCHOOL Downpatrick Primary School opened on its present site in Mount Crescent in 1975. The school known as the Downpatrick County Primary School was created out of a number of national and public elementary schools in Downpatrick. One of these was the Southwell School, one of the oldest schools in the town. In 1733 Edward Southwell established a charity school to educate ‘10 poor boys and 10 poor girls’ from the parish of Down. Local children were admitted to the school to be given a basic education and then trained for a variety of jobs. The museum has a register book from the school in its collection and in 1868-69 some of the children who were apprenticed included: • Robert Skillen aged 14 apprenticed to Mr Traill, a valet • Robert Casement aged 14 apprenticed to Edward Heron, a saddler • John Thomson aged 15 apprenticed to John Lloyd, a cabinet maker • Isabella Hanna aged 15 apprenticed to Mrs Quaill, a bonnetmaker In 1890 the school became part of the National School system and in the 1920s it became part of the Public Elementary School system. Boys and girls at the school continued to be educated separately with separate buildings and teachers.

Downpatrick Primary School House Captains

38 STARTING SCHOOL

Fountain St School Christmas 1958

In 1837 Fountain St school opened, known locally as the “Back Lane” school. The first principal was Mr William Robinson. This school also entered the National School system at the end of the nineteenth century and continued in operation until 1959. Pupils from this school transferred to the Downpatrick County Primary School. Later a new two storey red brick building was erected in Mountcrescent and pupils from many of the smaller schools, including Southwell and the “Back Lane” school moved to be educated there in. This building continues to be used for education purposes and now houses Downpatrick Nursery school. The closure of controlled schools in Inch, Ardglass, Strangford, Killough and Annadorn in the 1970s and 1980s brought an increase in the numbers of children at Downpatrick primary and today children at the school come from both urban and rural backgrounds to be educated together. Today the school has over 200 pupils aged from 4 to 11. The school’s motto is INSPIRE: Improvement, Nurture, Success, Potential, Innovation, Responsibility, Endeavour. Southwell School The teacher was called Mrs. Scott and I remember her well. She would have lived over at the Almshouses, the Southwell buildings. Although she was

Southwell School boys, 1956 with teacher Anne Ellis

Downpatrick Primary School, 1980s

STARTING SCHOOL 39

the assistant teacher, the principal I suppose, the two buildings at the end of the Southwell buildings were for the principals of the boy’s school and the girl’s school. That’s where Mrs. Scott lived. Anne Ferguson

Southwell School girls, 1947

Whenever I started teaching in 1956 over in Southwell boys I had to walk the children who would be taking school dinners, walk them down the street to what was the church hall. Those children who were going for dinner I walked them down until they had their dinner and up again. Anne Ferguson, Southwell School The classroom was like one big building. But we had our own entrance into it. And then there was a wooden partition went across to divide off us from the big ones. And I can’t remember a fire at our end but there was a fire at the big end. The caretaker who was Mr. Tommy Gray, used to come in the mornings and light the fire and leave the coal beside the fire for the day. And he brought the wee milk bottles in and sat them beside the fire to warm for you coming in for break-time. Bobby Skillen Downpatrick

Downpatrick Primary School, about 1982

All Southwell children were nearly all Church of Ireland. The Back Lane would have been nearly all Presbyterian. The new school was a mixed school with all the different protestant denominations.Nowadays the children are often mixed. Well schools are open to everybody. No principal can turn round and say well I’m not taking because he is a protestant or I can’t take him because he is a catholic. It is even multi-cultural. Bobby Skillen, Downpatrick Southwell It was quite a big room and there was a fire. Once you went in you went into a sort of a hall, a big hall and that’s were all the coat hangers were, you hung your

coats if you had any with you. Then you went into another door and then you went into the classroom. And in the classroom there was a fire at the one end of the school and down at the other end there was another fire. There was a divider that you could pull across the middle. And as I was telling you whenever the war was on and they bombed Belfast, a lot of them come to our school. And then they would pull this divider across and bring another teacher, that was Mrs. Woodrow. …he had no hair so we just called him baldy Smith and he was from Cork. He lived in a house at the very end. At the very end one, there was a great big long garden which goes down round to the shopping centre. He grew everything in the garden and of course, he brought us all out to do work in the garden. So we maybe would have got a couple of hours a week, as we liked to get out of the school and work in the garden for a while. Joe Mc Comb It was a red brick building; it is what is now the Sure Start building and the nursery school. It was a red brick building and I remember our playground in P1, 2 and 3 had a wall. We were so small and the wall seemed very, very high. A stonewall around it. Gill Kimpton, Downpatrick Primary School The new school opened in 1975 … There was a wet area. It was called a wet area and we didn’t know what a wet area was. There was a sink upstairs and you could wash out your paintbrushes. And conveniently, each class had its own wet area. There was a door out of the classroom where you could go straight out to play at break time and it just seemed marvellous. You know we were in awe of the new school. Gill Kimpton, Downpatrick Primary School

Now, and there are so many different cultures and customs as well. For example, a friend of mine at Dundalk Primary has many Ugandan parents and in Uganda, it’s the height of bad manners for a child to have eye contact with an adult. So you have a child in school and the teacher is saying to her “Look at me when I am talking to you” and then the child goes home and the father says “Don’t you dare look at me like that.” So where is the kid supposed to be with all that. Many Polish families are here because they want their children to learn English, so many schools teach Irish and parents are coming in and saying I don’t want them to learn Irish I want them to learn English. They are going back to Poland to speak English; it is going to be a big advantage to them. Then religion is another one you will have a whole lot of people saying they don’t want their child doing sacraments or doing any religious education because they are Buddhist or Muslim or whatever – major, major implications for schools. That whole religious thing was never an issue in Downpatrick to be honest because people just came into the school because they liked the school. It didn’t matter what religion you were, you just came into the school. I mean at one stage I couldn’t really have told you how many protestant kids or catholic kids were in my school and that’s the way it should be. … Throw them all in and let them get on with it. It always worked for us in Downpatrick. Arthur Greenwood, Former Principal, Downpatrick Primary School

Illustrations by P7 Downpatrick Primary School

THE STORY OF OUR LADY AND ST PATRICK PRIMARY SCHOOL In 1876 the Sisters of Mercy opened a primary school beside their convent in John Street, Downpatrick. It had two rooms and 129 pupils in its first week, 20 boys and 109 girls. In 1892 the De La Salle Brothers came to teach at the school. By 1936, numbers of pupils had increased so much that a new school was opened in Edward Street. Then, in 1951, 280 boys processed from the Edward Street school to a new school in St Dillon’s Avenue. Meanwhile, the number of girls in the Convent of Mercy Primary School had also grown, so the school moved to the Edward Street site in 1976. In 2011, 135 years after first opening, the two schools came together again at Edward Street, as Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School. I remember it as a really nice place. It was like Nissan huts. Doors, you know that folded out the whole way down one side and that led onto a green area. There was an outside large sandpit. There were swings and one of the things that I remember was a huge tree trunk with nails in it and hammers and you could hammer the nails so this must have been a great thing you know for frustration or to feel very powerful. I can remember people being sent to hammer things, you know. If they were running about or whatever. We had little beds that were like little canvas cots. Looking back they remind me of maybe something that the forces would have had, you know little legs. You had a little symbol and my symbol was an umbrella. Your umbrella was on your blanket and the beds were stacked and they were all taken out and went down the main room for the sleep in the afternoon. You had a little towel and a face cloth with your symbol on but there wasn’t running water. They were like a little table with 4 aluminium basins. They would have poured the water in for you to wash your hands after you had been to the toilet. Kate Hanna (Description of Nursery school in Church Street)

In those days, the boys usually spent the first 2 reception years in the convent school in Irish Street and after 2 years you are brought up to the Brothers and you began your education there. I remember you went in through the front door and up a set of steps into the classroom. It was the old convent school. It had big bench desks. It was timber floors and the desks in rows and each desk had a wee place for the ink and pencils. George Caffrey It was sad to see it demolished. It was a 6 classroom school with a large assembly hall. There was a principal’s office in it with some stores. It was probably a modern 1950 school, central heating and each classroom was constructed in such a way, there was one with elevation and just glass, no windows and there was plenty of natural light getting in. I think they were the old herringbone floor, the parquet flooring. George Caffrey We were invited here in 1892, by Bishop Henry and Father O’Kane – 3 Brothers came along. The first school, it was already there, it was in John Street where the present Patrician Youth Centre is. We were in that building until 1936 when we moved to the green site in Edward Street. The school continued there until we reached another green field site in 1951 because the numbers just grew and we got a new site. So the Brothers continued there with our lay colleagues until it closed in 2011. … Therefore the whole thing has come back to where we started you know. Brother Christopher Kelleher The 3 schools, the boys primary school and the convent school and the secondary school, all went down to the minor hall behind the Cannon’s hall and the lunches were probably spread over from 12noon to 1pm.

The Edward Street School, 6th May 1979

4th Standard 1954

Teachers and pupils, Sisters of Mercy Convent School around 1880

STARTING SCHOOL 43

School dinners were free for some people. You had to pay your dinner money on a Monday morning. You got tickets and if you lost your tickets, that was it, you had no more. Each day you brought the ticket and gave it to the dinner lady and she took it off you. George Caffrey It’s on the main Ballyduggan, Clough Road, out to Clough direction on the bad bend. I went there for a year or so. It was a small rural, country school. There were two classrooms in it and a fireplace at each gable end. The front was this blue porch and the sink. There were two outside toilets for the girls in the upper yard and one toilet for the male teacher and the boys in the lower yard. There was no central heating or anything in it and you had to walk about two miles to the school. So it was a change from the town school, it was moderately modern with radiators and heat, to go to a rural school with the just the fires each side. Bonecastle School – description by George Caffrey Then you would have had the gypsies coming into school. We had quite a lot of them over the years. I remember one in particular in P5, Joseph you called him. He came into the school and one of the first experiences we had with the travelling community was the accent and coming in and not being able to understand what he was saying and how good at football he was, how much of an outdoors person he was. We all looked up to that and thought oh we want to be somebody like that. Unfortunately he didn’t stay for very long, he only stayed a couple of months and then periodically through the years we would have had quite a lot of members of the travelling community coming in. Paul Gilchrist

Illustrations by P7 Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School

THE STORY OF MILLISLE PRIMARY SCHOOL Millisle is a seaside village on the Ards peninsula in Co Down. For a long time there was no school building in Millisle, so classes were held in different houses. By 1840, the Presbyterian church gave its “Retiring House” for use as a school. The teacher was an 18 year old called J Mc Meekin and there were just 42 pupils. Fees were charged and it cost three and a half pence for reading and two and a half pence for writing lessons. A teacher’s house was acquired and rented to the teacher for five guineas per year. Amy Carmichael, a Christian missionary to India, was born in the village in 1867. By 1867, after efforts made by Rev John Hanna, and donations from the Carmichael family and the general public, a new village school was built in the centre of Main Street. It was known as Millisle National School and served the Millisle community until the present larger school was built on the Abbey Road in 1959. There are currently around 190 pupils on the roll, due to the growing local population. The current principal is Mrs Linda Patterson. There was a large building at the other side of the stone building and there were two classrooms in it too but that was for the older people you know, long and cold. There were big potbelly stoves in them, one in each room. There were two rooms and whenever a cousin of mine left, I got the job of lighting them in the mornings. They were about four foot high with a big guard round them. Because I was the stoker, I was the only one allowed to go near them. And I was only about nine or ten when I started to light them. It was good fun and it got you off your first class. Mervyn O’Neill

I just lived up what was the Shore Road which is now the Abbey Road where the school is… they were like Nissan huts and they had a sort of a big fire, big coke fire in the middle of them. Rita Gamble P3 was Mrs Radcliffe and I can remember she was very much into our tables. And we had to stand behind the chair every morning and rhyme off our tables and a hymn. You normally learnt the verse of a hymn the night before so that had to be said then after your tables. Then P4 was on the hill with the steps up to the hut with Mrs Leake. And I loved Mrs Leake and I loved her class. And she always remembered me because I had the same birthday as her son. P5 was upstairs and you always loved to get upstairs in school because you thought you were getting so grown up then. Gillian Mc Gimpsey Usually I would have sat beside Meryl Turkington, there was Muriel McFall, there was Joan Bennet, John Warden and a lot of people from Childhaven that came to the school… Yes there was Mrs. Boyd and then there was I think after her came Miss Coulter and then there was Miss Williamson and then I went from the Nissan huts to the school itself, and Mr. Palmer was there and then I can remember Mr. Walker coming. He sort of came in his army uniform, he was in the army. … I can always remember Mr. Walker, he was a great sort. He was like an artist type and he was a great writer. I can always remember us writing and then you had to do lines and lines of it. It was like “procrastination is the thief of time”. I can remember doing that and doing sort of long sheets of it. Rita Gamble

Millisle School, about 1910

Millisle School, 1924

P5 Millisle Primary School with Mrs Patterson, Principal and Mrs McGimpsey, Classroom Assistant

Millisle School, about 1954

I loved Mr. Williams when he was teaching us in P6 and P7. He was just a brilliant teacher and he brought the school on a lot. He had set up a tuck shop and saving schemes and stuff like that. I remember having to go once a week to the bank. The bank came to the village once a week and you had to take this big brief case down the main street to the bank to lodge the money from the school tuck shop. Gillian Mc Gimpsey

Mr Walker with class, 1968 Millisle Primary School

Illustrations by P5 Millisle Primary School

Acknowledgements Thanks are due to all the following people who assisted in the creation of this book. Millisle Primary School Pupils from P5 Kenzie Adams Harry Carswell Jake Donaldson Stephen Flaherty Rebecca Fyffe Grace Kerr Benjamin Lally Molly McBride Stephen McCartney Kyle McClean Ellie McCoubrey Reece McCracken Tyler McLellan Julia Patterson James Reid Jasper Robbins Justin Swann Principal and Teacher Linda Patterson Classroom Assistant Gillian Mc Gimpsey Adults from the community Kaye Boyle Mary Lowry Mervyn O’Neill Rita Martin Andrea Bingham Hazel Kennedy Our Lady and St Patrick Primary Pupils from P7 Ethan Artt Alanna Crane Ania Crolly-Kelly Benjamin Curran Ben Curran Colleen Curran Shauna Curran Eoin Douglas

Briann Duffy Dylan Fitzsimons John Gordon Ciara-Rose Higgins Reece Mathers Rachael McAteer Beth McDowell Ronan McKinney Andrew McLean Claire Morrissey Niamh O’Neill Tiernan O’Neill Eoin Peel Ethan Press Jessica Reid Jack Shields Tom Smyth Heidi Tilley

Louise Kimpton Tom Martin Chelsea McCabe Ellie McCreesh Abigail McKeever Kyle McKeever James Ross Alexandra Swaffield Jordyn Wilson Principal Niall Stevenson Teacher Daryn Maginnis Classroom Assistant Rachel Patton

Principal Hugh Kelly Teacher Philomena Burns Classroom Assistant Theresa Vint

Adults from the community Anne Ferguson Rosemary Ferguson Arthur Greenwood Gill Kimpton Joe Mc Comb Bobby Skillen Rosemary Wilson

Adults from the community Gemma Vaughan Pat Higgins Paul Gilchrist Kate Hanna Brother Christopher Kelleher George Caffrey

Down County Museum Staff Peadar Curran Shirley Lennon Madeleine Mc Allister Linda Mc Kenna Lesley Simpson Danielle Smyth

Downpatrick Primary School Pupils from P7 Jonathan Beattie Rebecca Casement Ellie Coburn Matthew Crichton Treya Dorrian Andreanna Edgar Claudia Fitzpatrick Jamie Gelston Jack Hamilton Ian Holland Jade Kelly

Others Daphne Stevenson Marilyn Taylor The team at April Sky Design

This project has been funded by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body and delivered by North Down, Ards and Down Councils’ Cluster.

All Together Now - Going to School in County Down

Articles inside

The Story of Millisle Primary School

Acknowledgements

The Story of Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School

The Story of Downpatrick Primary School

Safe Haven

Leaving School

Changing Times

Behave Yourselves

Testing Times

Out To Play

Starting School

Times to Remember

Daily Routine