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 Ca rey

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

Th e great thing about the school was there was a great relationship between the teachers and the pupils. Th e pupils accepted the rules. We wrote the rules actually. Th is was a new thing, at the beginning of the year we used to draw up the rules within the classroom. Th e 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… Th e children knew the score.

Brother Christopher Kelleher, Teacher, St Patrick’s Boys’ Primary School

People get rewarded for good work; if you win the Down Dynamo you get your picture put up on the wall where every one can see it. If people are being bold or nasty they could get their behaviour in class or out of class merit taken off them and they could be grounded from break time and lunch time. Ellie Coburn, Downpatrick Primary School P7

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 fi rst teacher was very strict … You weren’t allowed to speak or do anything. If you did anything at all out of place she would have been down on you and you would have been in trouble. And if you did something wrong she would have made you do it over and over again... As I say, the kids don’t get that discipline now. You had to rhyme off your times table and if you made a mistake in your sentences she would have made you do it again 10 or 15 times. Mervyn O’Neill, Millisle Primary School

Miss Williamson had a small cane and there was a bit of a swish of it and she would have wrapped you over the knuckles quite oft en too. If she didn’t have the cane in one hand, she would have wrapped you over the knuckles. But it wasn’t very oft en. She thought it wasn’t hard enough for the fellas.

Mary Lowry

You get happy faces by fi nishing maths, literacy and also for homework. I have won lots of times.

Stephen Flaherty, Millisle Primary School

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Ballymoney was much stricter. I remember in my fi rst 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: _____ Date: ___________

This Dynamo Award is for ___________________________

Signed: ________________ Teacher

Signed: ________________ Principal

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Down Dynamo certifi cate example

I got lines many a time. And I remember in secondary school actually fi nding a bit of carbon paper in the house, and instead of 100 lines I wrote 50 lines and brought them to school and said, “Well I have done my 100 lines”. Th e principal, Mr. Jackson, said, “Oh you cheated, you used carbon copy paper. Now do 200 lines proper for tomorrow night.” Bobby Skillen, Downpatrick

18 BEHAVE YOURSELVES If you do good work you get to play games and go on the computer. For bad behaviour you get sent to the Principal, you get reduced playtime. If you‛re good, you get Golden Time. We have a reward system called Reach the Stars on Cloud 9 – so you can colour in a cloud and when you have nine clouds, you win rewards. If your class is good in the yard you can win extra playtime. You get rewarded with a Homework Pass or a Computer Pass. Pupils from Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School.

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 offi ce. 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 chart is a chart that if you fi nish your work or do something good you will receive a happy face. Whenever you get 20 happy faces you have won. I win it lots of times!

Harry Carswell, Millisle Primary School

Th ey didn’t let anybody off with anything that was just it. Not like it is today ... You had more respect for the teachers because you hear of kids now cheeking the teachers and all. Th at’s what’s wrong, you wouldn’t have given cheek to Fred Walker, I’ll tell you, or you would have been put in your place very quick.

Mervyn O’Neill

We were very keen that children would be responsible for their own behaviour and to that end, we adopted a scheme called Promotion of positive behaviour where children were rewarded for good behaviour and there were penalties for poor behaviour. On a Friday aft ernoon we used to have golden hour when everybody could do whatever they wanted, within reason in the school, like “Can I use the computer, can I get the lego out, can I do this, that and the other.” So if you had a penalty from during the week you missed out on golden hour and you sat on a chair and you read and got extra work. Th at worked a treat, it really did. Arthur Greenwood, Former Principal, Downpatrick Primary School

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

Kenzie Adams, Millisle Primary School

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

You had ten spellings every night and I’m not talking about Janet and John. I’m talking about adjacent, I always remember that because I got 2 slaps for it. Adjacent you got ten every night. You were in the real world when you got up there (Upper Primary). Very strict. Kate Hannah We were punished by being grounded. This meant when we were bad we would have to stay in school during lunch time or break time. If you were grounded it could be because you have lifted your feet or hands to people, saying bad words or calling people names. Downpatrick Primary School has many rewards such as Down Dynamo … Head Master‛s award. This is awarded for exceptional behaviour … these can be won for being diligent, responsible and forgiving. James Ross, Downpatrick Primary School P7

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