The Central School – 1944 to 1945



1944 saw me in Form 1b where the Form Mistress was Miss Kissane, 

a white haired lady, who spoke very softly but would suddenly startle 

the class by raising her voice by what seemed to be a thunderous thousand 

decibels---her way of ensuring we paid attention. 

Other teachers I remember were Mr Miller (Science), Miss Fanny Jones (Latin), 

Miss Rankin (Drawing) and a popular Miss McGilpin who taught singing/music 

but was not replaced when she left. Other teache...

The Big School – 1940 to 1943



1940 saw me in the "big school" where Grade 3s were taught by 

Miss Quirk and Mr Winkle. Grade 4s had Miss Opie and Miss Tynan. 

Mr Mc Donald and Miss Oulton taught Grade 5s. In Grade 6, 

Mr Lester taught the boys and Miss Wall taught the girls. 

Whilst at the Big School, my teachers were Miss Quirk, Miss Tynan, 

Mr McDonald and Mr Lester. 

 
The 3rd grade was the beginning of a good grounding in the three 

"R's".  Miss Quirk seemed to be obsessed with multiplication...

The Infants School (known as the Little School) 1938 to 1939

On my first day at school, aged 4, I can still see headmistress 

Miss Cross leading me by the hand through the big hall to the 

"bubs" classroom where I met my first teacher Miss Lawson, a tallish, 

thin lady, with grey hair tied in a bun. She always wore lisle 

stockings and a very good girl or boys would sometimes be invited 

to help themselves to a chocolate from the bag she kept in her cupboard. 

My other memory of the "bubs" is the b...