School was a routine we were subjected to for so many of our formative years.

Was it a fair system? Was it fun? How I can on answer that? The rules were set and applied by the paid employees of the education department. Such individuals came from all walks of life. They had many different personal standards and values. Like with all things in life, luck played a part in deciding who the controllers of our days were. However one thing was certain, the power was with the teachers.

I attended the first two years of high school at Elwood Central School, as the new high school buildings could only accommodate Form 3 to Form 6. Some years later the Central School became a Primary School and Elwood High School was the home to Form 1 to Form 6 students.

On the whole, I was fortunate. Yet there were a few teachers, who had strange values. I recall the Form 5 maths teacher, who told the class about his marking rules of our exam papers and “work done”. Without any embarrassment, he said, “Boys get a scale of marks, girls either get ten out of ten, or zero out of ten”. I accepted that. Looking back I think he was preparing me for life. Yes, I did go on to do pure mathematics at University and passed it, but I always knew I had to do that bit extra. Eat your heart out supporters of STEM! No, I did not go on to be a mathematician. The science stream classes were mainly made up of boys. The science subjects were taught by men in the High School. The classes were large even in Form 6.

The younger teachers were fun. They were fresh from college and they also wanted to enjoy themselves. Often they found the curriculum they had to teach as much of a mystery as the students did. My school mates were usually of middle class and European background. There were many Jewish students. They were permitted to have leave from school for the Jewish Holy Days.

Unpleasant things were kept under wraps. Only a few years ago I found out that two girls I was friendly with at that time, left the school at the end of Form 5, at the request of the headmaster. I never knew about it. Their privacy was protected.

I look back now at the diversity of teachers we had and cannot but think that the atmosphere in the staff must have been tense at times. Some of the older teachers were “fuddy-duddies”. No doubt about that. I recall one, older, female teacher calling me out of a queue of students waiting to volunteer for the basketball team, to tell me that the rubber bands in my pony tails were of different colours. I agreed with her and asked to be excused. When I returned to my spot in the queue, the others wanted to know what I was in trouble for. A senior, female teacher used to get us to kneel on the concrete and with a ruler measured the distance between our hemline and the ground. For some, rules were rules after all.

I never argued with any of them. My instructions from home were clear, though unspoken. They were that my parents had better things to do then to argue with teachers. My duties at school were to do well in my work and to not cause trouble. I managed that and life on the whole was just fine.

We had School Assembly each Monday morning. There the headmaster or senior teacher told us of school events and concerns. We all had to say the Oath of Allegiance, which went like this...

I love God and my country

I honour the flag

I shall serve the Queen and

Cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the law.

We then sung the National Anthem, which at that time was, “God Save the Queen.”

Did we question that? I certainly did not. On the whole Assembly was fairly short and we all trooped off to classes.

The head was Mr Wade and in my last year at the school, it was Mr Powell. Both were shadowy figures, who like good eggs did not interfere in any obvious ways. Mr Wade had a habit that unnerved some teachers. From time to time, he quietly prowled the corridors and peered into classrooms through the narrow windows that looked into the rooms. I think they, both, were good at their job, as the school ran smoothly and most teachers remained for several years. I remember Mr Crabtree. Mr Field, Mr Will, Mr Taylor, Mr Clift, Miss Wedd, Mr Fugedi, Miss Purves, Mr Pittock, Miss Earl (Roberts), Miss Rowan, Mr Black, Miss Orpin, Mr Jobling, Mrs Stent, Madam Lewulis, and Mrs Turner.

Each student had a locker to store their school possessions in. They were located in two large rooms, one for girls and one for boys, in the middle of the building, which ran along Goldsmith St.

The girls and boys had certain sections of the yard assigned to them. As it was a new school the grounds were large. The hockey and softball fields were in the grounds, as were the basketball courts. We were bus'ed to Middle Brighton Baths for swimming in summer. This was a salt water pool and was part of Port Phillip Bay. It was very cold on some days. The facilities there were ghastly. The locker rooms were basic. Since then I have always appreciated a good swimming pool. Our sporting competitors in regional competitions were Brighton High, Bon Beach High, Mentone High, to name a few.

The school did not have a great reputation for excellence in sports. It was mainly an academic school.

Of our sporting cries, only one sticks in my memory:

What do we eat?
Mussels!

How do we eat them?
Alive!

and of course there was the war cry Ra Ra Ra: E-L-W-O-O-D H-I-G-H in which we spelled out the name of the school.

In winter term, Form 5 and 6, girls were allowed to make their way to St Moritz in the Esplanade, St Kilda and do ice skating. My close friend Kathy P, and I had the same size feet and I could wear her white skating boots when she could not come to Sport. At other times I used to hire the black boots and skates at the rink. In particular I recall Kathy and I walking back from skating via Acland St, St Kilda, where her mother worked in a well known cake shop. As a treat Mrs P would smuggle us a slice of cake each. It was indeed a great treat after an afternoon of skating.

I think I benefited greatly by attending a multicultural and co educational school. It was close to where I lived. I did not have to waste time in travel, which even then I hated, My friend Tina would pick me up and we would walk along the canal to the school. After school we some times walked back, in a more leisurely way along Mitford St to my home. Then Tina walked on to her home in Ruskin St. Parents did not worry about their children walking home in those days. It was simpler time to live in.

I kept in touch with a few friends from school but have lost touch with Kathy P, Janet, Tina and Marlene. I would love to hear from them again via this web page.

In those days the school uniform was maroon and grey. Gloves and hats were to be worn. There was a grey blazer, grey shirt and grey tunic. A maroon tie was worn by girls and boys with the winter outfit. For summer there was a maroon short-sleeved, checked dress. The winter hat was grey velour and the summer hat was a grey straw boater. Uniforms were bought in Tallents in Glen Huntly Rd or a small shop, Judd's, in Carlisle St. The shoes were black and worn with grey socks. The school logo was a sea horse with its tail on the opposite side to its head. The logo was displayed on the hat bands and on the blazer pocket. The uniform for sport was maroon, with short skirt and matching bloomers and a gold tie belt. The school bag was maroon with a gold trim and the school logo on the sides.

The motto was 'Fide and Diligentia”.

All of these have changed since. There were no school fees, but a fee was collected each year for the new School Hall Building Fund. This eventually was built, but burnt down in 1975. It has been replaced by the Pheonix Theatre.