Portchester School

I had nightmares of joining this school (I still have nightmares of being lost in that place with no idea where I am supposed to go). 

It was at the end of our road and therefore very convenient. On my first day I was in fear of meeting that bully again (I never did, but I met others like him). Wicor school had about 120 children. There were about 300 just in my year at Portchester school and of course there were 5 years. 

I became a shy kid desperately trying to find the friendship that I had experienced in my previous two schools and overwhelmed by the size of the school. 

I was in class 1K, the classes in each year being named alphabetically from A, we were the tenth and last class in the year and seemingly as an afterthought our tutor room was in the music and woodwork building. Our first tutor was Mr Bennett, a short balding man in his early sixties, who taught music. He retired within the first two years and our tutor for the rest of our time in the school was William Walker. I idolised that guy. Maybe it was the brown leather jacket, maybe his relaxed attitude, or maybe because he taught us to sing Beatles tracks. More than likely, it was that he trusted me to work the antiquated stage dimmer board for the school play two years in a row. 

Teachers that stood out for me were Mrs Richardson, my set 2 maths teacher, who promised herself new shoes for every O level C grade, hats for every B grade and dresses for every A. She wrote to me after my results to thank me for the hat. 

Mr Wendes was our chemistry teacher, a bit too close to some of the older looking girls, but a great teacher. 

Mrs Mullis our English teacher, who taught me to appreciate the First World War poets. 

Mr Cunningham who tried to get us interested in the materials and techniques of woodwork and seemed to be absent from the room just long enough for chaos to ensue. 

A rather rotund German lady, who was fluent in Japanese and tried to teach me French for 3 years. 

Finally our physics teach for his wonderful practical experiments. 

I was pretty infamous on our regular cross country runs for being very slow, getting lost and usually quite dirty. It was never a subject that I enjoyed. If I had brains I would have done what my little sister did and pop into our house, which was on the route, have a drink and a snack then join the route somewhere near the school. 

In the end, I made two very good friends at that school.