School Year From Hell

I thoroughly enjoyed my primary school years. I made lots of friends and received an excellent education.  Due to an anomaly I wasn't given the opportunity to take my 11+. The kids who attended my primary school were split across 2 local government areas, Tameside and Manchester. There had been a boundary re-structure in 1974 and I found myself on the "wrong" side. If you lived in Tameside you could take the 11+ and , if passed, be given the opportunity to go to a Grammar school. My side of the boundary was in Manchester with no 11+ option so I was packed off to the local Comprehensive school.

My first year in my new school in Openshaw was fairly tough as many of my friends from primary school had gone to other schools (passed the 11+ etc, I'm not still bitter) so in some ways I had to start again`. I got by, however, and by the second year I was a little more settled. In the last term of this year we were told our year had to go to it's sister school in Ardwick for the 3rd year then we would return back to Openshaw for the last 2 years. A ridiculous state of affairs. It was related to class numbers and resources etc but for us this was preposterous. I had previously been able to walk to my school in Openshaw but the move to Ardwick would now entail 4 buses a day. 

In September 1980 I embarked on what would become my "school year from hell". The school in Ardwick was being closed down and was in a state of disrepair. There was only one other year left in the school.  This was an all boy "5th" year meaning they were 15 and 16 years old so were 2 years older than us. The areas we came from were hardly salubrious but this bunch in Ardwick were a different breed. Many of them were drawn from some of the toughest areas of inner city Manchester and when they saw us turning up in the first week they were watching us like starved sharks.

The playground quickly became a world of intimidation, bullying and violence. Our only hope was safety in numbers so our year realised we would have to pull together and put past issues between us to one side, at least for the duration of this school year. . in the first week of the new term, "The Ginger Twins" gave a couple of us a few slaps around the head then kicked our ball onto the school roof. This happened several more times so we just didn't bother playing football in the end and decided just trying to stay alive was a more preferable pastime.

At the end of the previous year at Openshaw, there were stories about what a hellish place this Ardwick school was. My school was RC. and the nearest local C of E school in Ardwick was known to be full of out of control thugs who carried out regular beatings in the streets around the school of their (soon to be us!) neighbours. Our new 5th year co-habitants were already aware of our fears so they also demanded "protection" money from us as they said it was common for the the other school to invade our playground for bouts of mindless violence. Oh what a marvelous time we were having!

I soon decided that my education was going to have to be put on hold for a year and It would be a case of simply surviving this daily hellish experience. My 3rd year schoolmates worked out a strategy where we would all stick together and look out for each other at bus stops etc. This largely worked although there was regular verbal intimidation to and from our school. We were vastly outnumbered of course as they had 5 full years of trouble.. The fact that the other year in our school also saw us as "outsiders" and were also trying to "do us"just made it all the more of a scene from Satan's hollow.

ne bit of light relief was the arrival of an ice cream van every lunchtime. However, just before the first half term the Ginger Twins organised a raiOd on the van which resulted in the van being tipped onto it's side with the ice cream man still inside it. The Police were called (but Sting wasn't available) but unsurprisingly, no ice cream van ever returned again to the school. Goddamn it! No education AND no ice cream.

In the aftermath of "IceCreamGate" the teachers fully implemented their corporal punishment right of the day and the behaviour of the 5th years improved slightly over the next 2 terms. This all changed again in the Spring of 1981. This was the year of massive social unrest in the UK and serious disorder and rioting was breaking out in Brixton, Toxteth and Moss Side amongst many other parts of the country. In the last term of the school year this unrest had spread to our school. There was a permanent feeling of tension in the air and violence was now back on the agenda.

As I was leaving the classroom one day in June there was widespread panic in the corridors. Schoolkids were running in all directions in a scene of mayhem. Suddenly, a teacher appeared from another class to tell us all to get back in the classroom and lock the door. There was a major incident and the police had been called. Our school had been invaded my baseball bat wielding teenage psychopaths. The incident was eventually dealt with but later that day some teachers were called in from our parent school in Openshaw to monitor the ongoing disaster zone.

The last month of the term ended in complete mayhem. Many inner city areas around the country were going up in flames and, as the 5th years were on the verge of leaving school for the last time, they were doing their best to ensure this school in Ardwick was also going to pay a price. By this stage I was so stressed that just getting home in one piece was enough of an achievement for me. When the term ended in late July, I was mentally and physically wrecked.

I returned to some kind of normality again in the 4th year back at Openshaw but was left with a real feeling of bitterness that after being denied the opportunity to pass the 11+ I had also been subjected to this year of hell. Dark days indeed.