"Templars School Reunion"   

The Story of "Templars and Whoberley Schools" ...

"THE STORY OF A SCHOOL" Templars Primary School - First Printed 1996

THE AFTERMATH 1946-1960 War had ended, the fighting was over but conditions in the country were still hard. Food rationing still existed, and staff and building help were hard to come by. The logbooks of the time, Infant, Junior and Senior tell of the comings and goings of teachers through these years, unknown before the war. Templars’seemed to be a settled School with few changes of staff but not at this time! A person would arrive, teach for a short time, and then disappear to college under the Emergency Training Scheme. There was still a nucleus of staff who had been at Templars’ for some time and it was around these that the education of the children was focused. Not only this, but the buildings, especially the Infants, had problems. They had been used as a First Aid Centre, an Air Raid Warden’s Post, a temporary Hotel and a Home Guard Base. The playgrounds were unusable. There were trenches across the field, huts scattered everywhere and walls built across every window. The logbook recalls Miss Ward’s struggle to put her School back together again. Mrs. Watkins writes: "With the end of the war, we lost all our ‘neighbours’ - ambulances, balloons, Home Guard, Wardens etc. and the School settled back once more. By now a big housing scheme came into being. Canley Area was extended right to Tile Hill, the other side of the railway line. Tile Hill South replaced the Army Camp and cornfields, and Tile Hill North was built on the other side of farmland. Eventually Tile Hill College was built in the field adjacent to the top School." "Father’s job was made easier by the appointment of an assistant caretaker, and he, no longer cleaned the windows or mowed the lawn, as these were put out to tender." "After the war most Schools had their names changed. As already stated, Windmill Park School was changed to Longford Park. Since there was now a School in the Whoberley District of Coventry, the Corporation decided to call it Whoberley School and our School in Tile Hill was changed in 195!, to Templars. This name, I believe, came from the Knights Templar of Balsall. It did not change names in 1931 as stated in ‘The Evening Telegraph’" "During the 1950’s, the family left home, either to college or through marriage, but Father and Mother remained until Father retired in 1961. They moved to a flat in Gravel Hill where they lived for eighteen years and then moved to Tile Hill North. Father died in 1980 from cancer aged eighty-four years but Mother lived in the area, so filled with memories, until her death, last year, in 1995." Mary Watkins (Nee Morrison) January 1946 saw the huts, now used as classrooms, giving problems. They were too cold, so the classes were moved to the Hall. The coke stoves were barely alight and blocked pipes caused carbon-monoxide poisoning to children and teachers. The weather was severe, snow and hard frosts. There was a shortage of chairs for dinners. March saw some improvement. The blackouts were taken down from the Nursery and the plasterers arrived to repair the ‘Blitz’ damage. In May, the workmen removed the railings around the field and added an extra strip to the playground. Dinners were transferred to the Hall and the first Dinner Ladies appointed. Miss Porter recalls: "A hut was built in the playground and I offered to take, and was allowed, a class of ‘backward children’but as the ages ranged from five to seven years and there were forty of them, it was a difficult task. The next year I asked for just the youngest ones and that was better. "One of the little boys went on to a Special School and I asked permission to visit and see how he was getting on. I was warned that the Head would offer me a job. I didn’t believe it. Well, it happened. Teaching Infants and also needlework to Senior Girls. I declined, saying that I would never leave my own class without a teacher. "As we had a car, I had to collect the salaries at Lloyds Bank in town, parking the car in a very narrow road. Once I couldn’t get it on to the pavement to pass traffic, a man offered to help, and suddenly I had a horrible dread that he might drive off with all that money. He was honest, but in future someone always came with me. "Recently I have made contact with a sister and brother who both had learning difficulties at Whoberley Infants’ School. They are both pensioners, but go to Literacy Class at Tile Hill College of Further Education. I used to attend an Art Class there and met a young man who couldn’t get a job as he couldn’t read. I have been giving him reading lessons ever since and was surprised when he told me that the brother and sister had joined the Literacy Class and knew me. "When we moved into the new Infant School, we got rid of the rubble (builders) at the side of the School and the back of the gardens on Tile Hill Lane, and made an allotment. It was hard work in the dinner hours, but we had a wonderful crop of potatoes and beans etc. Most useful in wartime! "I stayed at Whoberley until my mother became ill with asthma and I couldn’t leave her alone all day. So as soon as the bulldozers appeared on the Manor Park site, I applied for a transfer, and was told by the Office that I couldn’t be appointed to a School that didn’t exist. I spent one term at Black Prince Community Centre, two classes in the Hall and then was transferred to the new Manor Park School, another happy School. If this family trouble had not occurred, I am sure that I would have stayed at Whoberley until I retired." Miss Porter 1947 began badly. A portion of the ceiling in the Hall corridor fell down. February was very cold with twenty-five degrees of frost. No coal fires were allowed owing to Domestic Cuts. The only fire was in the Nursery. No electric light could be used in daylight hours. It was impossible to use the playgrounds. The outdoor lavatories were frozen, their approach a sheet of ice. The whole School used the Nursery toilets. This lasted throughout February. The snow was still heavy and everywhere was solid ice. The thaw started on the 26th. There were pools of water along the corridors, running down and seeping through the walls. In the Junior School, a burst pipe soaked the Head’s office and damaged stock. The period of bad weather ended with a gale, which blew slates off the roof, blew a hut down and brought down telephone wires. This was in March. On returning to School in September of this year, two Civil Defence huts had been reconditioned during the holidays and were ready for use by four classes. In October, the demolition of blast walls began and by November it was possible to use the doors to the Nursery, for the first time in three years. By December, demolition work was finished. Fiona Jean Crosbie provides us with these reminiscences: "My earliest recollections of School was when my Mum took me to Whoberley School to put my name on the register. Fiona Jean Crosbie, 50 Westcotes, Tile Hill, Coventry. That was the entry in the Register. I started School in September 1947, when I was just five years old. I cannot ever remember my Mum taking me to School or collecting me in the evening. But it is most likely that I went out at the same time as my brother and we walked the short distance from Westcotes up Standard Avenue, crossed Templar Avenue, over the waste ground and in through the School gate. In those days there were no houses on the School side of Templar Avenue only a grassy waste area where we would sometimes go and play." "My first teacher’s name was Miss Rose, a lady with a round face and a beaming smile. The room was quite large and had a bay window with doors that opened out on to a lawn facing Templar Avenue. There .was a Headmistress called Miss Ward, she looked large and formidable to a small child but she was a kind lady though she did annoy me a little bit as she would insist on calling me Fiona and I was always called by my second name Jean. She couldn’t understand how anyone could use the name Jean when they had a pretty one like Fiona. I do not remember the teacher I had in the second year but I was in Mrs Walker’s class in my third year. Mrs Walker had grey hair and was very strict. If we were caught talking when she had said not to, we were smacked for it. There was another teacher called Mrs Steane, she seemed old and bent and she had a gruff voice, she taught us how to knit. I can remember knitting a dishcloth from cotton using plain and cabbage stitches." "Some of my fondest memories were of the School assembly. Every morning we would gather in the large School Hall. We would read out of a children’s Bible, a slim green book that had selected readings from the Bible. It was here that I learned ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, the Twenty Third Psalm and Psalm 1. I have never forgotten these Psalms. Those things we learn in childhood often stay with us longer than some things we learned yesterday." "In September, 1950, I moved up to the Junior School. I was in lB and our teacher’s name was Mr. Strongman. Our class was housed in the pink huts at the bottom end of the playground. We all sat in rows facing the teacher and the blackboard, which was our focal point, and each one had their own desk. In our desk we kept our text and exercise books, pens and pencils. We respected each other’s desk and it was thought a crime to go into someone else’s desk. In the Infants we had only written in pencil, now we were introduced to pen and ink. It was very messy. We often got our hands covered in ink. Each desk had an ink well that had to be filled in the morning. The classroom was very light with windows on both sides. If I gazed out to the right there were fields, the Senior School Allotments and an open sky with white clouds drifting by. It was easy to daydream and watch the changing pictures in the sky while the teacher droned on. I got caught several times. Mr. Strongman left the School at the end of term and went to live in Australia. We were very sad because we liked him." "It was about this time that they were talking about changing the name of the School because we were being confused with Whoberley Hall School in Wildcroft Rd Broad Lane area. I can remember being taught all about the Knights Templar who lived in a Monastery in Temple Balsall. It was believed that the land the School was built on once belonged to the Monastery and so we became Templars’ Junior Mixed School. No more ‘Wobberly School’ as we nicknamed it." "My second year I was in Mr Wood’s class, that was the middle one of the three classrooms that bordered Capel’s Lane. That was the lane that ran between the Infant and Junior Schools and came out in Torrington Avenue. I can remember little about that year except that I had a happy year and I liked Mr. Wood." "My third year in the Junior School was in the second class down from the Headmaster’s Office and I was in Mr. Walker’s class. I got on well with Mr. Walker but not with all of my classmates and I wanted to join my best friend who was in the ‘B’ stream. We hadn’t been parted before, but they wouldn’t let me. In Junior School we were graded A, B, C, D, F. If you were very bright and expected to pass your 11+ exam and go on to Grammar School, you were in the ‘A’stream. B and C were average but D and E were not so clever and were given more practical work to do. I failed the 11+ and so I was sent up to the Senior School." "Other teachers I remember were Mr Hopkins, he took 4A1 and Mr Scrivener who took 4B. We also had a Mrs Aldridge. She used to take us for reading and English. And I must mention Mr. Smith, the Headmaster. He was a kindly man, as long as you were good but stern if you were a troublemaker. It was his job to administer the cane to naughty boys. Well that’s what it seemed like to us." "At playtime, which was halfway through the morning, we were all given a bottle of milk to drink. Everyday the milkman came with crates of mini-bottles, one third of a pint. In summer it was warm and inclined to go sour and in winter, it was frozen solid and difficult to get the straw into. But we loved it. If you were chosen for Milk Monitor you felt quite special. The tarmac playground was divided by a footpath and boys played in the lower half and the girls in the upper. We played skipping, ball games and singing games, hopscotch and five stones. Most games were communal, children didn’t play alone. The boys played marbles, cigarette cards and football. On a winter’s morning there were always slides in the playground. The division could not be seen and the boys would start at the top and slide right down to the bottom of the playground and of course, we girls would join in but by playtime Mr Morrison, the caretaker had made sure the slides were broken up. Somehow we were never late on winter’s mornings because we would cross on to the left hand side of Standard Avenue and run and slide all the way to School." "1953 and I was in the Senior School. By this time the child population had grown because there were new housing estates being built. There had been nothing but fields and woods once you passed the School in Tile Hill Lane but now there were two council housing estates, the Wimpey Estate on Tile Hill North, and the Lovett Estate on Tile Hill South. Canley had also expanded and children from all over that area came to Templars. Becaus.~ it was so bad they were building a new Comprehensive School for boys on Broad Lane and one for girls on Tile Hill Lane. As these new Schools were not ready, we had to be annexed. My first year at Senior School was spent moving back and forth from the Annexe that was in the Methodist Church grounds in Elm Tree Avenue Mr Matins, the Headmaster, was close to retiring so he stayed on till things were sorted out. Mr Malins was an old soldier and we children were very adept at side tracking him into talking about his war experiences when he should have been teaching something else" "My first teacher was Mrs Sidford, I liked her and got on well, even coming top of the class which meant the following year I went into Miss Diamond’s class, a teacher I did not like for some reason. She was a very good teacher and she soon won me round. Unfortunately she left us before the end of term and was replaced by another teacher who had no control over the class at all. It was during this year that we were given a second chance to go to Grammar School and those who wanted were allowed to sit for the 13+ exam. I passed the written exam but there were more children than places and we had an oral exam which I did not pass. By now, 1954, we were a girls only School as all the boys had been sent to Woodlands, the new Comprehensive. Mr Matins stayed with us until his retirement in 1956. The next year we were put in Miss MaIm’s class. She was the Headmaster’s daughter and very much in control, she was stern but she could be very gentle. I admired her very much." "My final year was in Miss Naughton-Jones’class, she was a very strict teacher and most girls were afraid of her. Our new Headmistress had arrived too. Miss Ayleward was very gentle but also very firm and soon stablished herself." "1957 was the year I was due to leave School but I was allowed to stay on for an extra year and study for my G.C.E. I did part-time at School and part-time at Coventry Technical College." "Other Teachers I remember: Miss Hill was our Needlework Teacher and she expected a very high standard. Miss Sparks had been our Music Teacher. She was a great influence on my& wanting to play the piano. Miss Edgington then became our Music Teacher. Mrs. Radciffe was the Domestic Science Teacher. We were all expected to learn how to run a house, to cook, to wash and iron. The irons were gas irons that had to be heated on a gas jet then carefully tested to make sure they were not too hot. Miss Batchelor was the Science Teacher. I did well in her lessons but I did not like the subject. Miss Kraus taught Religious Knowledge. Miss Kraus used to ride a scooter and she gave Miss Batchelor a lift. One was round and the other thin. We called them, aˆ?Bottle and Barrelaˆ™. Miss Conway was a Music Teacher. Miss Minectaler, Mm for short taught us Dancing." "General Things I remember." "Right through the School we were each given a place to hang our outdoor clothes and a place to put our P.T. kit. P.T. was Physical Training." "We always had our own desk where we kept our things. Our desk was like a refuge to us, a place that we called our own. Mostly teachers came to us in our classrooms rather than us moving around the School." "I remember the field next to our huts where in the summer we could see the farmer harvesting his corn and standing the sheaves up in a shock." "I was made Vice Head Prefect in my last year at School." "We kept rabbits up near the Science Lab and I often looked after them at weekends." "There were some tennis courts built on the land where the allotments had been." "All in all, I think my Schooldays were good days. I have many happy memories." Fiona Jean Crosbie The new School year began on August 31st 1948, and saw the opening of an Annexe to the Infant School in the Methodist Hall on Elm Tree Avenue. Thirty-five children were admitted on the first day. The full capacity was eighty with two teachers. This quickly became full. 1949 saw the foundations for new huts. The number on roll in May in the Infants was Five hundred and forty-six. The 9th May brought a site chosen for the new canteen. September saw the building of a new lavatory block. May 1950 brought the appointment of Traffic Wardens outside the main School and the Annexe. The front playground was useable by June and had a sandpit! 1951 saw a change of name to Templars’ for all parts of the School. Mr. C. C. Howes recollects: "I started Templars School at the age of five in September, 1950. I used to live in Benton Green Lane, Berkeswell, and used to walk from home to Tile Hilt Village and catch a bus (costing 2d) to School. Sometimes on the way home, I would get off the bus at Gravel Hill (which only cost Id) walk down to the village so that I could have id worth of sweets, then walk the rest f the way home." "My first teacher was Miss Suiter and the Headmistress was Miss Ward. My clearest memory of the Infant School is of the time that I raised the fire alarm. I was about seven years old, when, one lunchtime, some cardboard boxes fell on the tortoise stove in one of the outside classrooms and caught fire. I noticed the smoke coming out under the eaves of the classroom and raised the alarm by telling the dinner lady. I remember the fire engine coming quickly and the fire was quickly put out" "While in class the next day, the dinner lady to whom I had spoken came looking for the boy who had told her about the fire. As a result, I had a commendation from a man, unknown to me, who donated his sweet ration to me and I had several large blocks of chocolate." "My memories of the Junior School are that Mr Smith was the Headmaster. Some of the teachers were Mr. Loxton, Mr Radford and Mr Gibbons" "In one of the lessons, probably English, we used to write to an acting seaman called Mr Physick. The best letter (letters) in the class were sent, copied onto airmail paper and Mr. Physick would reply, telling of his life at sea. The stamps were taken off the letters and kept in the School stamp collection." C. G. Howes (Mr.) In 1947 the School joined the British Ship Adoption Society and a ship was allocated to the School, the ’Port Park Royal’. The Head, Mr Smith was in correspondence with Captain Johnstone, the ship’s Master, who sent him details of the ship and her voyages. In 1950 the ship’s name was changed to the ‘Fernhurst’ with a new Captain, R. R. Watson. She was bound for the West Indies. Other memories of this correspondence come from Mr. John Martin. He writes: "I started at Whoberley School in 1949 at the age of six. I appeared in the Infants’ Christmas Play as Santa Claus. My teacher’s name was Mrs. Radford." "Then in 1951 1 moved into the juniors, I can’t remember the name of my teacher, but I do remember the School having correspondence with a Captain of a Merchant Ship, who wrote often to the School and I remember the School changing to Templars. I also played a part in the School Play, called ‘Aladdin’." Mr. John Martin Captain Watson and his wife travelled from Cardiff on November 7th, 1952, to the School. The Captain was presented with a leather briefcase, from both staff and children. They stayed with the Head over the weekend and saw places of local interest. On the 10th February 1955, Mr E. R. Physick, Second Officer on the ‘Fernhursta’, visited School. He was shown around, presented with a leather briefcase and stayed for two days. He wrote to say how much he had enjoyed the experience and hoped to return. He returned on the 13th July 1956 and presented prizes won on Sports Day. Mrs. Moore (Nee Rexworthy) remembers: "When I was about nine, a Sea Captain came to Templars. I can’t remember which ship, but it appeared to be connected with the School. He brought some sugar cane with him and everyone in the Junior School had a piece. I took a photograph of him in the playground and one copy was sent to him and another copy hung in the Head’s Study." The Junior School enjoyed some success in Sport. In 1950 the boys’ Rounders team won the Inter-Schools Rounders Competition 6-2. The girls’ Relay Team won the final in both the Area and Combined School Sports, each girl receiving a medal and a certificate. The Football Team reached the final of the Junior Schools Football Shield but lost to Binley in 1951. The Cricket Team reached the final but lost to Holbrooks. The Football team reached the final again in 1955 and again lost. In 1956, they made it, beating Hill Farm 2 - 0." Mrs. Jessie Hardy writes: "1 attended Whoberley School in the late 40’s, early 50’s. My maiden name was Johnston and I remember Mrs. Goodall being one of my teachers. "I also played netball for the School Team and still have a photograph taken of the team.” In 1957 Mr. Smith writes that: ‘The small playing field had been cleared, ploughed, levelled and seeded - fit for cricket next summer’. Swimming lessons began again at Livingstone Baths. Until 1950 there were very few outings for the juniors and these were within walking distance. Classes went to Tile Hill Nature Reserve to study the flora and fauna. There was a visit to London by twenty-five children and staff. They travelled by train to Euston and had a sightseeing tour of the City by coach. After lunch on Tower Hill, they went to Greenwich Pier and were taken by tender to the ‘Artemisia, a ten thousand-ton tramp ship, -Captain -: Mr Kirkwood, where they were shown round the ship. They had tea in the Captain’s Mess and gave the ship a present from the School. In May 1951 there was a visit to the Avon Valley, Guy’s Cliff, Warwick, Evesham and Tewkesbury. The children walked to the confluence of the Severn and the Avon, visited Tewkesbury Abbey, then Broadway, then home through the Cotswolds, passing the Rollwright Stone. On June 24th 1953, the School again visited London and followed the route of the Coronation Procession. Then a river trip from Tower Pier to Greenwich and back landing at Westminster Pier and so on to Regent’s Park Zoo. A visit to Windsor took place in 1954. Train to Windsor, then by coach to London Airport to watch the arrivals and departures of long distance planes, helped by a talk from the Control Tower, over a loud speaker, back by way of Windsor Great Park and river steamer to Windsor. July 1955 saw an outing to Whipsnade Zoo and later in the year to the Imperial Institute Empire Exhibition, Science Museum, Geological Museum and the Natural History Museum. This visit concluded with a tour of the H.M.S. Wellington, moored at Victoria Embankment, Headquarters of the British Ship Adoption Society, by courtesy of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. Again in July, visits to Cirencester to study the Romans or to Bagington Airport for a ten minute flight over the City. The children began to study local history, especially associated with the name of the School, with visits to Temple Balsall and Old Coventry. Excursions in 1958 were to Woburn Abbey, by train to Abingdon, steamer to Oxford and coach to Woburn. There was also a visit to Brinklow, Chesterton, Offchurch and Kenilworth. 1959 had visits to Charlecote, Dudley and Whipsnade Zoo. Visits for the Senior School were more adventurous. They had a visit in 1947 to London to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the South Kensington Science Museum. In 1949, again there was a visit to London by the girls. Miss Elaine Burton, the Member of Parliament, showed them around the Houses of Parliament for Coventry South. In 1951, they visited London: this time Whitehall, Westminister Abbey and the Kensington Museum. One important visit the children made in 1952 was to the Royal Academy, London to see an Exhibition. Mr. Oakes, a member of& staff at the School, had his Etching accepted by the Academy, and some children were taken to see it. In 1956 air flights were arranged for one hundred and sixty girls and their teachers from Bagington Airport. These were short flights over Coventry. During the summer vacation of 1956, two excursions were arranged. The first to Endelburg in Austria, where their Hotel was next door to a Church and they were woken early every morning by the pealing bells - a memory from Sylvia Barnes. The second tour was to Killarney in Ireland. The Senior School had grown after the war. On September 2nd, 1947, there were Five hundred boys and girls on roll. They too, played their part in the life of the City. On the 29th January 1945, they helped in the celebrations to mark the Six Hundredth Anniversary of the granting of a Charter to the City on the 25th January 1344. A year late perhaps, but you can understand why. There was a History Pageant in which the School took part. Looking through the logbooks, it is easy to see how important the School thought it was to prepare its pupils for their working life, especially the boys. In 1945, there were visits to Coventry Technical College. In 1946, they visited the Coventry Evening Telegraph and the GEC works. A telephone project Lectures on Australia was running throughout the Senior School and there were and Coal Mining. 1948 brought a visit to Massey Ferguson, and to the Locomotive Works in Derby, in March. Photograph 5 - ‘The Ghost of Fletchampstead Hall’ In 1951 the boys went to the Armstrong Siddeley Works and the Youth Employment Bureau came into School to speak to the leavers. They visited the Cadbury Works in 1952, and in 1953, went to Coventry Colliery and the Dunlop Rim and Wheel Company. At last the girls had a chance, with a Lecture on a Career in Nursing. In 1954, the girls took part in a training week at G.T.C. they were recruiting for the new Canley Branch. Sylvia Barnes and her cousin Iris Carr described the School to me. "The classrooms were much the same as they are today. The& biggest differences were in the rooms around the central garden. Where the Gymnasium is today, there were Woodwork and Metalwork rooms and on the other side where the main Staffroom and Parents’ Room are, there was a flat, which was made up of a Bathroom and Toilet, a Kitchen arid the Teachers’ Dining Room. Here the girls were taught Housewifery and Cookery. At the entrance to the School nearest to the College, there was a nurses room." Lesley Moore (Nee Rexworthy) says that the nurse was on duty every day. At about two p.m., a prefect would visit every class to see if anyone needed to see the nurse. The School still celebrated Empire Day in May, Armistice Day became Remembrance Day with two minutes silence. The Infants held an annual& Harvest Festival, Sports Day and Carol Concert with Punch and Judy at their Christmas Parties. The Senior School seems to have been a very musical place. There were Theatre visits in 1.946, to hear the Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1948 to ‘Die Fledermaus’. In June, Mr. Ayes and the Choir went to the Music Festival in Leamington and in July put on ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ for three nights. Sylvia Barnes (nee Smith) and Iris Carr remember the music and their teacher. They recall that Joyce Smith was the lead singer and had a beautiful voice. Again in 1950, the School took part in the Music Festival and in July performed ‘The Crimson Coconut‘and ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’. December brought a service in St. James’ Church, of Nine Carols and Lessons. The 15th of June, 1951, was Festival of Britain School Display Week . The School put on a Display of Dancing, PE and the School Choir, performed for parents, and took part in a Display of Physical Training and Dancing at the Butts Stadium. On the 15th July, the School celebrated its Coming of Age with an Exhibition of Children’s Work, Folk and National Dancing, Verse Speaking and Puppetry. This culminated on the Saturday with Sports’ Day. In the evening there was a Social and Dance for old students and former teachers. Two hundred and fifty to three hundred people attended. The Mayor and Mayoress came, and the Mayoress cut a Birthday Cake. It says in the logbook that among the guests was a distinguished Old Boy, Dr. John Jacques. In 1955, all the senior boys were transferred to the new Comprehensive School recently built. Mr. Malins, the Head of the Senior School at Templars’ must have felt justly proud, as one of the new Houses, into which the School was divided, was named after him, and still is today. Mr. W. E. Lee, a master at Templars’, was appointed the first House Master of Malins, whilst Mr. Malins, himself remained as Head of the Senior Girls at Templars. Mr Malins gave the Cross Country Shield to the Woodlands School and he had presented a Trophy to the new School to be known as the Malins Trophy. The Social and Dances for former students and teachers became an annual event, culminating in October 1956,with a Social Occasion to say farewell to Mr Malins who was retiring in December. This was attended by the Governors, Members of the Education Office Staff, including the Director of Education himself, as well as many old Students and former teachers. Miss B Aylward was appointed to succeed Mr Malins and the usual changes followed. In 1957, the Metalwork and Woodwork Rooms were converted into the present Gymnasium. A School uniform was agreed upon, blue and white in Winter and yellow and white check in Summer. The Christmas Term ended with a Carol Service and a Netball match between the Staff and Pupils. Although Mr. Ayes left to teach at Woodlands, the tradition of music continued, with visits to a Philharmonic Concert in February. The performance of ‘The Princess and the Swineherd’ in March 1956 and in 1957, ‘The Gondoliers’. In March 1958, there was a Festival of Dance and Drama held at the School. Out side events that affected the School were the Wedding of our present Queen on November 20th, 1947, for which every School in Britain had a day’s holiday. On the 26th of April 1948 there was another holiday to celebrate the Silver Wedding of the King and Queen. On the 22nd May, Princess Elizabeth paid a visit to Coventry to open the new Broadgate. Twenty-five boys and girls from Templars’ were in the Precinct to welcome her. The saddest event was the Death of King George VI on the 6th February 1952. References were made to the sad event in Morning Service and the hymn, ‘The King of Love,’ one of the King’s favourites was sung. On the 8th, the School assembled to hear the Proclamation of the new Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II. The 15th, was the funeral of the King. There was a service in School and the Head stressed the King’s high sense of duty and service, his courage under every difficulty and danger and how he was loved by his people. Then they listened to a broadcast of the funeral. The School had three days holiday to celebrate the Coronation of Elizabeth II and there was a display of Dancing and PE at the Butts Stadium. Again the School was closed for the visit of the Queen to lay the Foundation Stone of the new Cathedral in 1957 there was a day’s holiday for the visit of Princess Margaret to the City St Oswald’s Church in Jardine Crescent was dedicated on the 6th of June 1957. The Headmistress of the Senior Girls School records her visit to the Service in the logbook. There were great events afoot within the School too. Performances of ‘A-Lad-in-Trouble’ in 1952, the Ali Baba Story in 1954 and in 1956, the best performance yet, ‘Snow White’. This was followed by ‘Robin Hood’ in 1957. Miss Kirk retired in 1955, the last of the original staff of the June. Then in 1959, Mr. Smith, after twenty years with the School, retired. To end this chapter, we have the memories of a pupil at School between 1940 and 1950. "My first Junior Teacher was Miss Varney, more elderly than my Infant Teachers, strict but kind, she taught us a lot. We always had Prayers in the morning, sums and reading, not much writing, but always our names every day. Miss Varney read to us a lot. We had beanbags to throw in the Hall and dancing. Maypole dancing and rolling over the big mats. I suppose that was our P.E at that time. It was a lovely year, a good year." "Mr Smith was our Headmaster, white hair, very strict, smiles a lot and kind. We had free milk every day and we had two biscuits for a penny. We were also given boxes of sweets, which were shared out amongst the children. We had about five each. They were sent from America for School children during the war." "This was the worst year of my life. We had a teacher we were afraid of. When marking your books, she always thumped them back on your chest. I was so afraid of this teacher, that one day I never had my book marked. Then, woe is me, I had an attack of Asthma, so was off School for a week. First day back, she called me out to bring my books. Not only did she shout at me, she also caned me on both hands, so hard that I could not hold a pencil. Two young boys even cried behind my seat that day. That year was one that caused me nightmares. I never told anyone in my family. I do agree that children should be punished and learn right from wrong, it’s the way to teach respect, but someone must have reported her later on, because some parents came to see Mr. Smith and he called her out of the classroom. She later went to Hearsall School and we were all happy again. I was nearly ten. I often saw this teacher after I was married and I nearly stopped to tell her how she made me have nightmares. But still, one unhappy year from ten is not bad." "1945, happy days! I’m in Miss Bennett’s class, second to top. What a lovely lady, so gentle, so kind, she made my last year in Junior School so happy. We all respected her and she taught us lots, and as it was nearly the end of the war, things were getting better, day by day. Happy days, lovely teacher and good Headmaster." "1946 brought Senior School. I hoped and prayed that the man teacher called my name. I’ve never had a man as a teacher. Mr A. S. Walker was his name, the teacher who always said, ‘Think before you ink, each morning, and I always do, to this very day. He was strict, kind and so fair to everyone. This man set me on the road to a wonderful School life; we had Drama, Sports, Religious Knowledge, Maths, English, History, and every activity available. I was lucky enough to stay in Mr. Walker’s class for two years. It gets better. We have Prayers every morning, a new PE teacher and we now stay to School dinners. Heaven!" "1947. I have, moved up to the ‘A’ class, as I came third in the exams. Mrs Barfield is our teacher. She is a lady with auburn hair, a bubbly personality and strict. We are all girls in the class now. It’s a new idea for boys and girls to be separate. We even have half the playground. We also go to other teachers’ etc. Cookery, Science, Sewing, Art, Games, PE, Religious Knowledge, Current Affairs, Singing and Music, each with its own teacher. It’s new and nice. A variety of lessons and teachers. I love it!" "There is a Metalwork and Woodwork class with Mr. Allan and Mr. Scott for the boys. Our Cookery teacher is Mrs Radcliffe. She taught us so much. We were even sent shopping for the goods we needed, how to always hang white clothes in the sun and colours in the shade. How to set tables, make beds, and light fires. My first prize, which was presented on the stage in the Hall, by our Headmaster, Mr. Malins, a good man, (we were all a little afraid of him, but only out of respect.) was for Cookery and Needlework." "We had a nurse’s and a Doctor’s room. The caretaker lived on& the premises, a Mr. Morrison." "Our PE teacher was Mrs. Minectaler. It was great fun and we had Netball. I was Captain of Rounders, Hockey and Sports’ Day. I loved all of that. Mr Walker told me, years later, that Schools would never again have the Education we had, as things were going Comprehensive." "We put on Operas and Plays. We all did Art because we had a beautiful young Art teacher, Miss Burbage. All the young men teachers opened doors for her, she was so lovely. I learned such a lot. I lived for School, it was so good. Most children behaved; only a handful were naughty, but they were soon corrected. Only a few never seemed to learn from their mistakes." "We have an Activity Day on Thursdays now, where you choose one subject for a whole day, a chance to do your favourite thing. It is very successful. I did French lessons." "1949 - 1950, top of the School, top class, vice Head-girl, life is perfect. We had School trips to Paris for ?15 and to London for ?1-2s-6d. I managed London twice. The Ideal Home Exhibition was as much a wonder to me, as the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliament with a guided tour by our local MP, Elaine Burton." "Miss Jeans was our teacher. She was regarded with the greatest respect by each and every one of us. Deputy Head, was an elderly lady with such grace and charm, that everything she taught we wanted to do with pride." "Miss Jeans not only taught us most main subjects, we were shown how to sit straight, walk tall, have clean nails and shiny hair. She always told us to wear a little colour as it attracts butterflies, always said with a smile. What a wonderful lady to have in our last year in School, what a privilege to be in her form. Miss Jeans always gave praise when it was due, very stern when wrong, but always offered to show us time and time again, if we didn’t understand. She made it so easy. This lady gave us a wonderful start to adult life. She loved her job, she did it so well." "I never wanted to leave School, but we have to. It was very sad to say ‘Goodbye’. Such a good School. Heated cloakrooms, playing fields, its own kitchens, Science room we had everything. This School should not be pulled down, renovated-yes, destroyed-no. Boys and girls alike were taught so well in my time. With all the children in lines in desks facing the front, this way the teacher could always see all of us and tell if we needed help or were not being attentive. Everyone could or should learn from the blackboard this way. A wonderful School, happy memories and a great start to a working life. Jennifer Mary Routledge. "I thought to end this Chapter with this letter but two other pieces of information came my way." The first was of a member of staff. Mr. Malins records in the logbook for October 3rd, 1955, the Death of Miss W. E. Barber. She was killed in a motor car collision between Oxford and Banbury on her way to School after a weekend with her family. The second I could not resist. In 1957 a Safety First Team of Girls from the Senior School of Templars‘ beat a team from Henry VIII. In the second round they played teams from Bremond College and Woodlands.

[click here] ... continued Chapter Five

Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the old pupils and staff who have helped in the production of this history.
Thank you to Mrs. Clay who has put this History together.

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