Did you.....

[englishangel]

I agree with everything you say, Mary!

Don't - she'll get big headed!

Why is it when I make a typo that it gets picked up and quoted in large font and colour?

Sod's law?

Too late.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

I believe Peter is 4 years older than Katharine which would make him 9 when she was 5, and John would have been 6.

Also I think the school was spread through Hertfordshire, Ware and Hoddesdon ring bells, not just in Hertford.

I agree with everything you say, Mary!

Why is it when I make a typo that it gets picked up and quoted in large font and colour?

Hi Katharine

I didn't even notice your typo: I was pointing out that you had written that your brother started at CH when YOU were five, not when he was five.

Caroline

[Katharine]

I didn't even notice your typo: I was pointing out that you had written that your brother started at CH when YOU were five, not when he was five.

I KNEW I had written that, I couldn't undedrstand David's reaction, so I tried to ignore it!

I think that I was also trying to say that CH was the norm in our family, so it did not come like a bolt from the blue, unlike some of you.

[blondie95]

as i came in at 6th form i chose that, my parents when we moved to CH never htought about sending us there which would have meant me joining in my LE and younger brother and sister going straight in at 2nd form.

My parents always when dad made a decision about moving schools took into account our education and picked schools in places that had good state schools. Which is probably one of the biggest reasons we left Dulwich Village (dad was head of design at James Allen Girls School) because the local state schools were not too good.

I wouldnt have wanted it any other way, by not going to the boarding schools my dad taught at i had friends in that place that were around all holidays and not if i went to the public school friends who went miles away at holidays!

I have to admit even now when i see the new 2nd form turn up in september i wonder how people can do it! i cant help but think people end up missing huge chunks of their childs development into an adult.

I understand that for many kids its the best option for them. But in my opinion I think 11 is far too young to be sent away from home.

[midget]

But Amy, when you have been evacuated from the age of 6 (just) and only seen your parents a couple of times a year until you are 10, you don,t worry too much about being away from home. I spent 2 terms at a local primary school, not knowing anyone and feeling a total outsider, we lived outside the town, so I didn't meet any of them outside school. CH came as a relief- there were plenty mor in the same boat. BUT I never really felt at home with my parents afterwards.

[sejintenej]

But Amy, when you have been evacuated from the age of 6 (just) and only seen your parents a couple of times a year until you are 10, you don,t worry too much about being away from home. I spent 2 terms at a local primary school, not knowing anyone and feeling a total outsider, we lived outside the town, so I didn't meet any of them outside school. CH came as a relief- there were plenty mor in the same boat. BUT I never really felt at home with my parents afterwards.

Amy,
Just remember that there are those for whom "home" hardly or didn't exist. No, I wasn't evacuated but during the war there were many kids who survived by their own wits - parents missing, dead - who knows, inhabiting anywhere with a roof, nicking food wherever they could. In those day a good roof, perhaps some warm clothes, and regular meals was a dream for many. Even where a parent was living often that parent was trying to make ends meet so the kids ran wild. OK so I wasn't wild but by the time I left CH I'd got through 2 sets of legal and one set of non-legalised parents - a bit like wearing out socks I suppose; certainly didn't feel any different. I did meet my father - for perhaps 5 minutes on a railway station - between his jobs. Parents had their lives - I simply looked after myself from term end to term start. CH was just exchanging one set of circumstances for another though it was constricting - that and the other people was what I hated about it. I simply could not understand this concept of "missing" parents - what in blazes did they do for kids?

Just think yourself lucky / abused - whichever suits you.

[Great Plum]

I think I always wanted to go - it just happened that Dad got a job at the school 2 terms before I went to CH so that sealed it really!

[J.R.]

I think I always wanted to go - it just happened that Dad got a job at the school 2 terms before I went to CH so that sealed it really!

........ and even without a promise of Piccolo lessons ???

[Great Plum]

Indeed...

[blondie95]

But Amy, when you have been evacuated from the age of 6 (just) and only seen your parents a couple of times a year until you are 10, you don,t worry too much about being away from home. I spent 2 terms at a local primary school, not knowing anyone and feeling a total outsider, we lived outside the town, so I didn't meet any of them outside school. CH came as a relief- there were plenty mor in the same boat. BUT I never really felt at home with my parents afterwards.

Amy,
Just remember that there are those for whom "home" hardly or didn't exist. No, I wasn't evacuated but during the war there were many kids who survived by their own wits - parents missing, dead - who knows, inhabiting anywhere with a roof, nicking food wherever they could. In those day a good roof, perhaps some warm clothes, and regular meals was a dream for many. Even where a parent was living often that parent was trying to make ends meet so the kids ran wild. OK so I wasn't wild but by the time I left CH I'd got through 2 sets of legal and one set of non-legalised parents - a bit like wearing out socks I suppose; certainly didn't feel any different. I did meet my father - for perhaps 5 minutes on a railway station - between his jobs. Parents had their lives - I simply looked after myself from term end to term start. CH was just exchanging one set of circumstances for another though it was constricting - that and the other people was what I hated about it. I simply could not understand this concept of "missing" parents - what in blazes did they do for kids?

Just think yourself lucky / abused - whichever suits you.

I understand all you have said and know that there are many reasons to why it is the best situation. I have been lucky enough to have a Mum who stayed at home and didnt go back to work until i was praticaly a teenager and a dad whoose Job was on our doorstep.

[TPA]

Did I want to go ? NO

Hated every day every hour and every minute of my time there. Well almost.

What is the point of having children if you get rid of them asap ?

Very proud to have been there however.

[Great Plum]

TPA - when were you at CH?

[TPA]

1968 ? UNTIL 1974. Seen the film " The Great Escape " ? After the Chapel Service I was changed and in a car within 15 minutes. My " revenge " on the school was tipping over my bed and leaving all my uniforn in a heap. Naughty naughty.

[englishangel]

I wanted to go desperately, it wasn't a matter of being sent. The only homesickness I felt was going back for my second year, but by the end of fifth form (after O Levels) I felt I had outgrown the school. I stayed until the bitter end tho', said goodbye with nairy a flutter and never went back to Hertford.

I might have gone for the great sell-off in 1985 if I hadn't been heavily pregnant with my first.

[Great Plum]

You are a near contemporary of my Dad - what house(s) were you in?