Sandhard with huts and Bridge House
It was wonderful living in the High Street, just opposite the lane down to Love Shore. On a hot day, you’d change, then run over the road and down to Love Shore. If we went for a picnic tho’, we’d go over the bridge to Sandhard.
Pat Burt nee Adams 1929
School was good. Yarmouth School was a beautiful school, well built, one door at the back and one at the front, steps up the front with 2 classrooms.
Mrs Barton was in the front one. Mrs Barton, she always used to have me sat at the front of the class. There was her desk and there was me, and I always remember, she used to have this ruler. If I used to turn round to say,
“Alright mate?”
Bang! She was a lovely teacher though, used to bring in an apple for me.
There was another teacher, lived up round the corner, Miss Chambers, had the baby class, ‘Polly Chambers’ we used to call her.
The sea used to come over the wall sometimes and anybody trying to skive off school got wet.
They were some good days in Yarmouth. I loved it there.
Brian Pomroy b 1937
Yarmouth C. of E. Primary School : Mrs Sylvia Sharp Head teacher Christmas 1968 – 1994
At Christmas 1968 I took over the headship of Yarmouth School from Mrs V.A.Barton, who had been head for 32 years. It was then an infant/junior school of 104 pupils , with 3 classrooms created by dividing one long hall into 3 by sliding ½ glass screens.
Mrs D. Vanson and Miss J. Bull were established as assistant teachers – both 12 years older than me! Mrs J Hall was part time assistant for the reception class of 34 pupils.
In June 1969 after I’d been at the school for 6 months, an electrical fire broke out in the southernmost classroom, luckily overnight so the classroom was devoid of humans. Mr. Holloway the then caretaker wakened me in the adjoining schoolhouse at 7.15a.m. and the fire brigade were on the scene within 20 minutes. School was closed for 2 days whilst all the staff sifted through the smoke and soot–blackened equipment to see what could be salvaged.
In September ’71 the ten and eleven year olds were transferred to West Wight Middle School – the start of the 3 tier system being introduced on the Island – leaving Yarmouth with the age range 5 – 9 years.
As Yarmouth is surrounded on 3 sides by sea, and we were no longer allowed to teach children to swim in the sea, we decided to build a swimming pool. A very active and supportive PTA helped to organise several extraordinary events to raise money .
One of the most ludicrous was a Dads versus Mums football match at the Recreation ground, where the men dressed as women and women as men, with feigned injuries to raise the laughs. Stretcher bearers carried off the ‘injured’ to howls of laughter and indignation. It wasn’t till after the match that we discovered that one of the dads had sustained a genuine injury and had to be taken off to A. and E.
* John Golding remembers being delegated to play in goal, for the mums – the only man on the team, wearing a wig of long blond curls and not allowed in the mums ‘changing room!
Our ‘It’s a Knockout ‘ competition delighted participants and spectators, especially when the Head Teacher was deluged with an entire dustbin of water by Mr. Roger Giles of Harwoods.
During our barbecue at Compton Beach the dads were beachcombing for firewood and gratefully received a huge pile of wood donated by a complete stranger. His donation had been burnt before our benefactor discovered his mistake – his party was half a mile away along the beach!
We finally raised the £780 to buy the pool, and the PTA dads, led by Michael Persse, constructed it.
It was a worthwhile effort as only 2 children left the school as non swimmers in ensuing years ( both of them had excuse notes to prevent them from swimming more often than was necessary!)
Building work to improve accommodation, designed by Mr. Biggs
( Architect), was started in the early 1970’s. Once again, the P.T.A. raised most of the money with funds topped up by the D.E.S.
( Department of Education and Science – what happened to them?)
Teaching and building work continued in parallel. At one time a class was in session with only a tarpaulin between builders and students ( Health and Safety eat your heart out!)
When work was completed we had windows that children could see out of, and spacious rooms with carpets and new furniture more suitable for small children – luxury indeed.
Yarmouth School 2013 showing new windows
We also had our own kitchen and cook. Prior to that, meals were prepared at Shalfleet or West Wight and sent to us in containers , by van. We had had to use the reception room for dining with monitors, elected weekly, to set up tables and benches for lunch.
* Mrs Mary Lord, reception teacher from 1974, wondered at the time of her interview whether her ability to move furniture about, had contributed in part to her appointment!
In the second ’87 Great Storm, conditions were so worrying that we gathered all the children into the hall, which is large and with relatively few windows. Ten minutes later something crashed into the west- facing windows of the reception class and glass shattered everywhere. The suspended ceiling was dislodged and tiles scattered. As I was phoning County Hall from the office, a dinghy blew past the window and over the wall into Mill Road. We all survived to tell the tale, but it was hair raising at the time.
One afternoon in ’89 a man entered my classroom. Obviously not in full possession of his faculties, he told me he was a member of the S.A.S., rambling fairly incoherently for several minutes whilst I was gently manoeuvring him towards the exit. As it was nearly time for the children to leave schooI phoned the police for protection for the children and shouted to the men repairing the school roof to keep watch!
Drama was much more enjoyable when we were all involved in pantomimes!
Yarmouth School pantomime 1970s
Mrs. Edna Crosbie proposed that we should have a pantomime at the school, involving all the children and parent volunteers, to raise money for school funds. We readily agreed and a good time was had by all who took part, and more importantly by the town’s community as audience. What a fun way to rally support!
We repeated this venture every second year until my retirement in 1994. Our last pantomime was entitled ‘In at the Sharp End’!
All requests for building work at Yarmouth School, although written on official request forms, were written in doggerel verse (* Alu can letter) by the ‘Poet Looreate’ ,
Mrs. Sharp’s Alu cans letter
as indeed was my retirement note and a poem for our OFSTED inspectors, when we were chosen for a pre OFSTED trial, from which we emerged triumphant. The County Hall Architects Department (AKA Ivor Trowell) often replied in rhyme. The OFSTED inspectors sent their report in rhyme, set to music, and requested us to sing it to the School Governors at our WRAP party.
Yarmouth was only a little school, but we did have fun. I had lovely pupils, a dedicated staff and supportive parents. What more could you ask?
Mrs Sharp at her leaving party July 1994
The only thing that the children will remember of their Head Teacher is her idiocyncratic kaftans and painted toenails – both deliberately adopted after noting the children’s enthusiastic reaction to the Afton Festival crowds!
* Not true, Mrs Sharp, you are remembered with much affection for your exuberant, encouraging and positive approach to learning. Miss Bull remembers you starting every day with a jolly comment.
I remember Miss Chambers who lived down by the Mill. If you swore she used to wash your mouth with soap and water. She used to grab hold of you with a cup of soap and water, and put it in your mouth. She kept her handkerchief tucked in her knickers, the old long bloomers. She was a good old gal though. She made sure that what she taught, you knew; taught you to read.
Then there was Mrs Barton, she could be a bit severe at times. I remember once Mick and Barry got the cane , which they didn’t like. Come lunchtime, in the classroom was this fish tank that had tadpoles and stuff in it. What did they do? They both peed in it and killed all the tadpoles, we saw them do it. Nick Chandler b 1937
Miss Chambers retires from Yarmouth School after 26 years service
I went to Yarmouth Primary School which was just over the road from our house and have many happy memories of being there. We had two teachers; one Miss Ella Chambers, and Mrs Vera Barton who was also the headteacher and lived at the back of the school. The school was much smaller in those days with two classrooms, now it’s double the size.
The toilets were across the playground and had a large gap under the door. We thought they were very creepy. We also used to have milk every day which I didn’t like much.
Log re milk
I do remember that when you had been very naughty you were sent to Mrs Barton for the cane, which I didn’t have very often but Serena, or ‘Squeak’ as she was called, did! We didn’t mind as we deserved it. Squeak was my best friend and we did everything together.
Sue Russell
I remember Miss Chambers who lived down by the Mill. If you swore she used to wash your mouth with soap and water. She used to grab hold of you with a cup of soap and water, and put it in your mouth. She kept her handkerchief tucked in her knickers, the old long bloomers. She was a good old gal though. She made sure that what she taught, you knew; taught you to read.
Then there was Mrs Barton, she could be a bit severe at times. I remember once Mick and Barry got the cane, which they didn’t like. Come lunchtime, in the classroom was this fish tank that had tadpoles and stuff in it. What did they do? They both peed in it and killed all the tadpoles – we saw them do it.
Nick Chandler b 1937
I hated school, HATED it initially. I don’t know why. I used to hide behind a big old chair at home and wouldn’t go to school with my mother. Eventually a girl called Daphne was persuaded to call for me, and everything was all right from then.
We learnt to write on a slate in a wooden frame with a slate pencil. There was no paper for painting – only newspaper, and that not very often. There probably wasn’t much paint either.
Reading round the class was so slow, I always used to read ahead and then be caught out when it was my turn and I had frantically to turn back and try to find where we were. Sums were really boring when you had to write 1 + 1 = 2 in each box, and repeat it across the page, before you moved on, but learning the times tables by heart worked. Anything up to 12x still brings an instant response!
Fraying, what was that for? We were given a square of fabric and had to sit and fray it as some sort of handcraft. Knitting came later.
Poor Dolly, who was a Downs Syndrome girl, was in our class with Miss Chambers. Every morning Miss Chambers used to ‘knock over’ her pin box so the pins went all over the floor. That kept Dolly occupied for the next hour or so. I used to think it so unfair that only Dolly got to pick up all the pins each day.
I don’t think Mrs Barton, the head, liked P.E. very much, which was a shame because I loved it. She’d find any excuse to abandon the lesson. We’d get out into the playground and she’d say, ‘ You’re making too much noise. That’s it. Back indoors!’
Oh the disappointment.
Winter heating was a big old black coke stove with rails around it, topped off with a brass bar.
When you finished your work you could go and warm yourself next to the stove – that was a big incentive to get your work done.
Mary Lord nee Hayles b 1936 who returned to teach at Yarmouth from 1974 to 1990
School was good. Yarmouth School was a beautiful school, well built, one door at the back and one at the front, steps up the front with 2 classrooms.
Mrs Barton was in the front one. Mrs Barton, she always used to have me sat at the front of the class. There was her desk and there was me, and I always remember, she used to have this ruler. If I used to turn round to say,
“Alright mate?” Bang! She was a lovely teacher though, used to bring in an apple for me.
There was another teacher, lived up round the corner, Miss Chambers, had the baby class, ‘Polly Chambers’ we used to call her.
The sea used to come over the wall sometimes and anybody trying to skive off school got wet.
They were some good days in Yarmouth. I loved it there.
Brian Pomroy b 1937
Aerial photo of school and town, before harbour was dredged. Photo Rod Corbett