How was your first day at school?

freshpopcorn

Some of the local secondary schools are back this week.
My first day of junior infants was in the mid 1990's!
I just remember lot's of people's parents being around and meeting people from play school.
I also remember having a bag/lunch box/etc which was all new to me.
I had a terrible habit of walking in the door and dropping everything and sitting down. I was all over the place for those two years.
When I started first class I went to the CBS and I was delighted I was all grown up going to big school and I liked my teacher. I really settled down.
Secondary was fine. I wasn't really pushed about the whole thing. Having loads of new subjects/teachers/junior cert/etc didn't really bother me. I was just happy we could go down town for lunch!


How was your first day at school?

Bellerstring

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Some of the local secondary schools are back this week.
My first day of junior infants was in the mid 1990's!
I just remember lot's of people's parents being around and meeting people from play school.
I also remember having a bag/lunch box/etc which was all new to me.
I had a terrible habit of walking in the door and dropping everything and sitting down. I was all over the place for those two years.
When I started first class I went to the CBS and I was delighted I was all grown up going to big school and I liked my teacher. I really settled down.
Secondary was fine. I wasn't really pushed about the whole thing. Having loads of new subjects/teachers/junior cert/etc didn't really bother me. I was just happy we could go down town for lunch!


How was your first day at school?

Dreadful

Thelonious Monk

I think it was 35 years ago howtf am i supposed to remember?

fmpisces

I wet myself!

So I'm guessing it wasn't great. My Junior Infants teacher was a big tower of a woman and I suppose I felt anxious as I hadn't attended playschool and had nearly always been at home with my Mam.

honeybear

Terrible. I got stuck under my table (old double desks with seats that go up) and my table companion laughed at me. I was always put sitting beside him in the Junior classroom and still haven’t forgiven him. Oh, he also pushed me out of the desk in first class - I had been knitting and the plastic needle broke and pricked me! Having said that, I loved primary school!

Pissed my pants, physically abused the teacher, played lego and met someone who has been one of my best friends ever since. 7/10.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I don't think I have any genuine memories of my first day. I've have images but I think they are contrived from hearing stories at home years later. It was 1948, so I have an excuse for it not being foremost in my mind.

stateofflux

I dont remember the start of primary...but i do remember i used to bring my dads old 70's wine leather briefcase into primary school thinking i was cool as Feck.

The days before i was due to start secondary school the local equivalant of Nelson from the simpsons actually gave me some good advice

he said "If you bring that gay looking briefcase into secondary school you will die"

Good advice

freshpopcorn

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I think it was 35 years ago howtf am i supposed to remember?

Mine was nearly 25 years ago now.
Could you remeber then or is it only in the last few years you've forgotten?

Leg End Reject

I think I blocked it out, but I've been reliably informed that I cried uncontrollably.

I can still remember the smell of primary school - mala and dirty toilets.

Cork Boy 53

A long long time ago so I don`t remember but one thing I do recall is that in my day we never went back to school until the start of September, be that primary or secondary level.

Mars Bar

I remember getting to play with toys that looked like squares of cadburys chocolate. I was also put in a desk on my own at the front of the room and there was only 3 junior infants. We had juniors up to 2nd class in one room!

I changed school the following year to a town school. I'm still good friends with the girl I sat beside first on the first day there but I don't remember anything else.

Sunny Disposition

Think it was okay, better than many that came afterwards!

looksee

I can remember going into the classroom aged 5, completely unconcerned and wanted to play with a toy that had little wooden shapes that you put a nail through a hole in the middle and hit with a hammer into a fibre board base. This was 1952, they still allowed such dangerous toys and I have no recollection of any child being injured. Anyway I wasn't allowed as it was a boy's game. I have no idea what I did play with.

Your Face

I was unimpressed.

Potential-Monke

It was 24 years ago, I can't remember last week!

Super-Rush

I was out that day.

Yer Da sells Avon

I was grand - didn't cry or anything. I recall being very upset the next day though, when it struck me that I'd have to go there every day.

buckwheat

stateofflux wrote: »

I dont remember the start of primary...but i do remember i used to bring my dads old 70's wine leather briefcase into primary school thinking i was cool as Feck.

The days before i was due to start secondary school the local equivalant of Nelson from the simpsons actually gave me some good advice

he said "If you bring that gay looking briefcase into secondary school you will die"

Good advice

:D

Fair play to him. You'd have been a briefcase wanker :eek:

happywithlife

Although I can remember play school I do not remember 1st day at primary - had a pretty crappy childhood at times tbh. I'm guessing I was packed off with wall paper covered books and a lunchbox. I do remember myself & neighbour walking home together on country roads on our own for the earlier infant finishing times. And the laughter and rows as the 6 of us walked to school in the mornings. Was packed off to boarding school for secondary so remember being dropped off on a Sunday afternoon and making my single bed in the dorm ,& trying to fit everything into my locker. I do remember that night the older girls quizzing us new ones on who "ate chocolate & drank coke" or whatever analogy they used. Being the country buffon I was I hadn't a clue what they were on about. :-D innocent times !

PsychoPete

I barely remember the start of today nevermind 22 years ago

The Satanist

freshpopcorn wrote: »

How was your first day at school?

I'll let you know next week

Gregor Samsa

First day of Junior Infants was in 1978. I remember it because I was put into the wrong class, then taken out half way through the day and put into the right one. I was 4 (almost 5), but I remember thinking “if they can’t get my class right, how the hell can I trust them with teaching me anything?”. I was put sitting beside a kid called Alan who became my friend but tragically died of a brain haemorrhage in 1st class.

Ms Roper was my teacher. She was old and kind. Retired at the end of that year.

Cee-Jay-Cee

My first day of school was 45 years ago in 1974 and I remember it clearly. I’m a twin and me and my sister were put sitting together which I was not pleased about. We had a lovely teacher, Ms McHugh who reminded me of my granny. I don’t remember much else about my first few years at school but I do remember that day vividly.

sunbeam

Mars Bar wrote: »

I remember getting to play with toys that looked like squares of cadburys chocolate. I was also put in a desk on my own at the front of the room and there was only 3 junior infants. We had juniors up to 2nd class in one room!

I changed school the following year to a town school. I'm still good friends with the girl I sat beside first on the first day there but I don't remember anything else.

We had 5 classes-Baby Infants to 2nd Class in one room. Baby infants was a sort of preschool year and I don't think it was mandatory. Some kids did a full year in it, some started whenever they turned 4. I started at 4 and a half in April 1977, then on to Junior Infants the following September.

I loved my first day but that swiftly wore off when I found that I had to keep going...

Spanish Eyes

Our teacher sang "who is afraid of the big bad wolf, la la la la" On our first day. Lovely. I remember it to this day. She turned out to be a lovely woman. A Mrs. Ryan, and I was five. Great days.

Stuck in a bench about ten feet long surrounded by god knows who.

But it turned out great. Tiny school in Dublin and I survived. Got a slap of the ruler now and then, but it was just for show. Have no scars. Nothing ever really hit me.

big syke

Awful got stabbed under the eye with a pencil. Still have a mark from where the lead broke under skin .

Aglomerado

38 years ago. I probably cried despite being really excited to go (I wasn't quite 4.)
Our teacher was lovely.

I haven't a notion... don't remember

Rubberchikken

i apparently promised to be nicer to my brother if i was taken home!
i wasnt and i wasnt:)

I skipped in happily and remember sitting on the teachers knee while she read a Postman Pat book.

Had to be dragged in the next day. I'd already gone once, I didn't see the point of going again.

Salary Negotiator

I barely remember what happened 30 days ago never mind 30+ years ago.

r93kaey5p2izun

I was disappointed to discover it was all playing and colouring and not proper school work. I idolised the teacher. There were 44 in the class, I don't know how she coped. I was just gone 4 and so excited to start. I remember my first day of playschool the previous year I had bawled crying and was devastated to leave my mammy. Soon discovered I loved it and was only dying to get to big school.

Dial Hard

I was 4 starting school, so 33 years ago. Remember it so well. I'm the youngest of five so I was DYING to go to school like everyone else. The teacher was Miss Murphy and she had black hair with a white stripe in the front like Pepe le Peu. I got put outside the classroom door for talking the very first morning and have a crystally vivid memory of thinking how unfair it was, that I was just excited. The headmistress came down the corridor while I was standing there, asked me why and I pretty much told her as much.

I got put at a table with a sign saying "Chatterbox" on it in the first few days of Senior Infants too, so to be fair to her, Miss Murphy may have been onto something.

Junkyard Tom

I can imagine aliens looking at humans and thinking 'What the fuck is this shit'? when we march five year old kids into education centres.

It's just not right.

Gregor Samsa

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

I can imagine aliens looking at humans and thinking 'What the fuck is this shit'? when we march five year old kids into education centres.

It's just not right.

Screw what they think. As long as they keep on with the anal probing, I’m not going to be lectured on what’s appropriate by damn aliens.

KathleenGrant

Over 50 years ago for me (and more) remember being scared going in but meeting a friend. We were best friends for 19 years. Then she died of cancer. Have never had as good a friend since.

ToddyDoody

I think I spent some of it hiding under my mother's dress.

Junkyard Tom

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

I can imagine aliens looking at humans and thinking 'What the fuck is this shit'? when we march five year old kids into education centres.

It's just not right.

Hadn't really thought about it before, but I'd have thought school socialises children rather efficiently, tends to teach them resilience.

Having said that, boarding school for under-12s is a preposterous idea that was once seen as an ideal method of youth formation, so perhaps you have a point here.

AllForIt

I was quite enthusiastic about it. I remember I wore a pair of blue shorts. Not that it was my choice what I wore. I remember I was jealous of my older sisters school bag and I wanted one which I eventually got. I don't remember much about the day in class itself. I defiantly didn't brake down in tears or anything like that.

Arghus

Terrifying.

Zaph

Not a clue. It was 1971, there was a lot of acid dropped in the late 60s, and my recollection of those few years is pretty hazy. Obviously the two things aren't connected, I just have a crap memory.

HorseSea

45 years ago and remember it well!! At least I remember first day at Infants and Secondary, don't remember 1st day at Primary though - weird.

Infants was not too bad the head was a nun Mother Consulata and she took a shine to me for some reason, I was let home an hour before everyone else for the first few weeks. Being overheard telling my mother that she had "sh!te shiskers" meaning white whiskers to describe her beard didn't seem to cause any lasting problems :-) but I remember a few parents laughing and my mother going scarlet!

123654789

Not specific to Day 1 but I remember shiny greaseproof paper as bogroll.
It'd take the arse off ya

Arghus

Arghus wrote: »

Terrifying.

Why?

It's a little bit disconcerting that many people (not everyone, but a lot of people) seem to have negative memories of their first day in a place of education. If a child is frightened and crying going to school, something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong.

paleoperson

phutyle wrote: »

First day of Junior Infants was in 1978. I remember it because I was put into the wrong class, then taken out half way through the day and put into the right one. I was 4 (almost 5), but I remember thinking “if they can’t get my class right, how the hell can I trust them with teaching me anything?”. I was put sitting beside a kid called Alan who became my friend but tragically died of a brain haemorrhage in 1st class.

Ms Roper was my teacher. She was old and kind. Retired at the end of that year.

I'm gonna call bs. There is no way a person 4 or 5 thinks like that at that time. At that age your biggest concerns are if other children will accept you and your parents will come to collect you, if you can do the work you're given. You're not sitting back and critiquing the teachers.

A Tyrant Named Miltiades!

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Why?

It's a little bit disconcerting that many people (not everyone, but a lot of people) seem to have negative memories of their first day in a place of education. If a child is frightened and crying going to school, something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong.

Some kids just develop that separation from their parents later than others, it's not a bad thing it's just that everyone develops at their own rate. I wasn't particularly independent, but other kids were running in every day.

It's not necessarily a sign that somethings gone wrong.

paleoperson

paleoperson wrote: »

I'm gonna call bs. There is no way a person 4 or 5 thinks like that at that time. At that age your biggest concerns are if other children will accept you and your parents will remember to collect you, if you can do the work you're given.

That's simply not true and very unfair on that poster.

Just this morning, my daughter (aged 19 months) looked up from her Times Literary Review, swirled her spectacles in her fingers and, with her other hand, drummed her fingers impatiently on the bureau. "Daddy!" she enquired with her most refined Mid-atlantic accent, "Daddy is it part of the human condition to glorify one's past achievements, or to live vicariously through one's own children, to compensate for a failure of responsibility in one's own life, ie resort to 'bad faith', if we must invoke Sartre?"

I gotta admit the little tyke had a point.

Athdara

Only Remember getting on the big yellow school bus on my 1st day in Primary school, don’t remember anything else.

Will never forget my 1st day of Secondary school- my Mum collected me as it was a half day and told me in the car that my friend had died that day of meningitis. I idolised him & to this day I get a lump in my throat when i think of him 32 years later.

People don't remember things in detail from before the age of four and clear memories aren't formed until later. Usually what we think is a memory is a visualization of something we were told, and all memories of early childhood are unreliable as when we remember something, we are thinking of how we thought of it the last time we remembered. It's a sort of Chinese whisper situation.

It does seem unlikely that a four year old was assessing the future teaching ability of unknown persons based on a misdirection on their first day in a strange place, but who knows.

BuboBubo

It was in 1978 and I remember I couldn't wait to go home because I hated it!