There is an old saying that our school days are the best days of our lives.
Mine certainly weren't. By the age of 13 I was in school number 6. Do others here have similar experiences.
Here's a short history of my early school life.
In fact problems started before I went to school. Both my parents were non English speakers with mental health problems. Who relied upon family and friends helping them with day to day tasks just to survive.
School 1, Cowper street junior school. This was an old Victorian red brick school with no grass, just a tarmac play ground. And the most violent school I ever went to. I was physically punished daily by the teachers. Sometimes twice or three times a day. My crime. I was both mute, (Autistic, before autism was known) and I didn't understand a word of spoken English. I was also deaf in one ear. So I didn't do as I was told and I never answered when spoken to. So I stayed at home for weeks at a time.
School 2, After thee years of struggling in a nightmare I was sent to a special school for children with language difficulties. This school turned out to be a waste of time and a fiasco. I was the only white kid in the school among fifty Asians and one black boy. The teachers had no idea what to do with me. I spent most of my time alone being ignored. After four weeks I was sent to.
School 3, Lovell road junior school. Similar to school 1. Except less violent and I was starting to pick up the English language from children around me and I wasn't mute anymore.
School 4,. Scott hall middle school. A modern school built in the 1960s. After about a month I couldn't cope with a new school environment and I stopped going. I stayed home for around 3 months and social agencies became involved.
School 5, A special school for children with behavioural difficulties. No idea what it was called. Last time I checked the building is still there but derelict. I spent a full year here and it's the only one I felt relaxed in. Best thing about the place was no violence. Worst aspect was no academic teaching at all. I was years behind my peers academically when I arrived here and even further behind when I left.
I actually enjoyed this school and forty years later look back on it with nostalgia. When I arrived I was given responsibility for looking after tomato plants in a grow bag. I learnt basket weaving, becoming quite skilled. Every fortnight we were taken to a proper indoor swimming and I almost learnt to swim. Mornings were group sessions in the school. In the afternoons we were assigned in small groups or individually to staff members and we went out.
They arranged medical treatment for my one ear deafness. The afternoon travelling enabled me to see not only different parts of the city but the countryside.
It wasn't all rosy. Dodgy things were going on. And I was interviewed by the police about certain members of staff.
After a year back to school 4 for another year of relative normality.
School 6. A secondary school. A long grind, struggling to fit in and failing. Academically I was average overall. Brilliant at maths, awful at sports and English. Socially a total failure,. Lonely and suicidal.
Rant over. Need sleep.