Thetownend.com

Just remember folks that Being slandered is serious and unless you're prepared to put up and shut them up in court when they sue you best say nothing.

You can't slander the dead BTW.

I'll start the ball rolling. The old woodwork teacher from Walcot.  Nasty piece of work if ever there was one.

I'm not that old and many of my old teachers are still alive and some are still teaching so in the interests of not wanting to put them in an awkward position I won't name names but many (mainly the older ones) used their position to bully and ridicule the pupils.

I was hit by a former head teacher as late as 1989 but I didn't report it (it wasn't deserved btw), he retired a couple of years later under a bit of a cloud.

You remember the bad ones of course but I also think we can name those teachers that were great. Some of the most firm teachers who were fair in their discipline were also some of the best.

I'll kick off with two from Park School.  Mr Prothero - Tech drawing (was a long time ago).  Probably one of the toughest teachers in the school and definitely the most respected - had a great sense of humour, took the piss out of all of his pupils but was funny rather than nasty.  Mr Ayers - chemistry teacher, about 7 feet tall, again pretty tough, but a really good laugh and every single person in the class breezed through their O level - no mean feat for Park School.  Sadly he died a few years after I left.

Went to Dorcan school, mr wickins the PE teacher was a cunt, mr brothwell the music teacher was a right nasty cunt,
Whilst attempting to play the recorder and failing, a recorder from said cunt would be hurled at you

My food tech teacher at Greendown was a right cunt to me and told me in front of the class that I'd never amount to anything.  :smugfu:

I didn't have many, if any, horrible teachers. I had one teacher who was terrifying and had a terrible reputation but in hindsight he was just a dour Welshman whose reputation alone scared us all witless.

I did have some excellent teachers but I can't remember any names and I never went to school in Swindon.

Deputy head at St Joes was a right hard bastard, but was OK when I met him a few years later in Old Town. Bought me a pint.
Can't remember his name, he was from Belfast and fair play to the old boy.

I had John Ateyo of Bristol City fame as maths teacher....excellent.

Also had a bloke called Martinovic ......old school....boys called by surname and girls first name....if anybody fucked about they got nailed. Also took the piss and would make you want to laugh but you just daren't!

He was right wasn't he?

Mr Bird the maths teacher, he got fired for hitting a year 7. Only teacher in the school who stuck to a chalkboard, the senile bastard.

Mr Gibbs (The old music teacher at Bradon) was the sole and only cause that I ever heard my late, highly religious grandmother swear.

She referred to him, quite out of the blue over dinner as "that prick"

Maybe they were an item once?

Yeah I remember him,she was right about that.

I was fortunate enough that corporal punishment was abolished just before I was old enough to get it administered.

Went to primary school at Powells Ciren, in the top two classes the male teachers could be a bit handy with the slipper. One retired and the other we were his last class. Still got a bit of chalk flung in your general direction mind, but nothing serious.

The one that retired, Mr Johnson was the worst. Was fearing his class!  Will never forget the 45 minute guessing game when he covered both top classes where we were supposed to know Bobby Moore was the greatest footballer who ever lived. Every other suggestion was scoffed at and ridiculed. We were 10 FFS. Most of us didn't even know who Bobby More was!

You still don't know how to spell his name now!

That and my laptp keybard is crap ;)

Just checked, it appears corporal punishment was abolished after I left primary school, must have been school policy to remove it.

That was Wadsworth and he was actually a good bloke - got my expulsion lifted from the Welsh cunt Williams who gave it to me.
The biggest cunt at Joes though was Webb.

He was a bit of an obnoxious prick though. One of those who cared more about the subject than the success his students.

Can't say that being forced to learn musical theory & history from the age of 11 has ever really helped me in life.

Not sure if it was any sort of record, but I got thick ears from three different teachers on one day.

Park Grammar, either 2W or 3X, 1962-63. History teacher Mister Nettlefold was the first. His first lesson with our class, trying to set an example. Linda Warren was sat behind me making some sort of mischief, it was me who got the back-hander though. The class was quiet after that. Never that keen on history at that time anyway.   About 20 years later Linda (by then Mrs Drayton) moved in next door, in Bridge End Road.

The other two teachers on that day were Ken Tyler (Art) and Ian Miller (Geography), neither normally known for their violent tendencies. Just my unlucky day...

I know it's a generational thing but I still can't imagine how it was widely considered acceptable to be hit by a teacher. I'd have ended up hitting a few back I suspect.

Looking back now, I think it was more a motivational tool. Got great grades in my exams and great grades at college.

But you wouldn't hit back in those days as there was a thing called respect

A one-way thing, it would seem.

Good one Daily Mail!

Good teachers get plenty of respect without needing to raise their voice, let alone hit someone. Allowing some jumped up twat with major issues to hit children for imagined crimes is mental.

That was him, Wadsworth! Caught me smoking, confiscated them and made me go down the shops to buy him some more. :D

Ahahahaha!

You're right about respect though, a good teacher gets it and a bad one doesn't.

That doesn't account for kids who are cunts though, plenty of those.

Spent half my life getting smacked round the head by Wadsworth and Webb. The other half being bellowed at by Camish, Ryan or Stratford.

<insert appropriate gif here>

Mark Lamarr (or Jones as he was then) used to do an eerily accurate impression of Mr Bird, in all his odd, finger-licking, chalk smeared insanity.

What year was that?

I went to Dorcan and the PE teacher was Mr Knight 1993-98. The man was a grade A cunt and I remember having a wee chuckle to myself when getting told he had caught pneumonia.

First PE lesson he walked in said 3 of us would be dead before we hit 40, then the cunt pointed at me!!

Camish rings a bell. Nasty bully with a tache who thought he was a bit of a hardman?

Stratford smacked me when I was 11. When I bumped into him at Tescos a few years back he declined my offer to try and smack me again. Most of the teachers at Joes were cunts. Fucking hated it there. Camish was indeed another one.

Miss Moore @ Walcot circa 1972-74 pulled me up out of my seat by my side burns which if you look at a 12 year kid they don't have, spiteful religeous midget extremist cow. 

Les Ayers was an absolute top bloke and one of my best mates. I don't doubt he was a great teacher too. His height was caused by something called Marplan Syndrome, ironically the chromazone (sp?) error has now been identified. He had a wicked sense of humor - when he was about to have an op where 1 in 4 don't make it, he could still make a joke about it.

He was a big Town fan too and would have been a major contributor to the TEF had he lived, I feel sure. Fortunately he saw the '69 Wembley win, we went up on one of the trains. I've said it before, when we had that 32k record attendance (Leeds?) we stood on the Shrivvy terrace as usual. The bloke behind said '32,000 people to choose from and you have to stand in front of me'. He was actually 6 ft 8 ins and a bit.

Worst teachers for me had to be the nuns, all of them seemed to take their obvious frustrations out on the kids, mostly the boys.

Mr Cobb from Commonweal was an absolute legend. Pretty old school but still, made me enjoy English more than any other teacher

Sorry to say I am a little bit older than the majority on here - same era as Reg I guess - and went to Malmesbury Grammar, the biology teacher was a right sadistic bastard called Ken Gray.  He loved to dissect animals but made you watch them being killed first!!  Any excuse to give anyone a slippering, he even persuaded the headmaster to allow him to carry out any caning that needed doing in the head's study!!  The bastard died in a car crash during a summer holiday, nobody mourned his loss!!

We also had a Mr Lester who was a real nice man and a good teacher, geography was his subject.  It took a lot to get him going, but one lad farted in class one day, a right loud one, nobody owned up until he threatened everybody with a punishment, Dickie Scott (he still lives in Purton Stoke) was the perpetrator and he eventually put his hand up - Mr Gray knocked two desks over to get to him, such was his rage.  Overall he was a good teacher and always wanted to visit South Africa, he was always telling us of his excitement when him and his wife had booked the long-awaited trip in a summer holiday.   Sadly he collapsed and died at Victoria railway station whilst travelling to the airport!!!

He was. He got me to actually work hard enough to get a grade B in my chemistry O-level by the simple technique of tellng me that he thought I wasn't up to it and entering me for the CSE instead (making me pay to double enter).

I'm pretty sure he knew exactly what he was doing, just what buttons to push to motivate me.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MsOCN8KvbAE/SfLVCBLLT3I/AAAAAAAAAI0/KYzDzqKCoOM/s320/xp3eau)

I saw my old PE teacher in a nightclub in Oxford once, he called me a cunt and then bought me a pint. Top chap

To this day Mr Camish at St Joes was the best teacher I ever had.Could be a nasty fucker but you always knew where you stood with him. Went on to be a steward at the CG and once had a but of a row with Les Ferdinand when we played them in the prem

Knighty was still there when I was at Dorcan 2004-2009. He was one of my favourite teachers. Think he retired a couple of years ago, though.

He gave me a half hour lecture once on why the guitar wasnt a proper instrument and I couldn't use it for my coursework. He was a tool. Also used to chat on MSN on his laptop, and whenever we walked over he would shut it. Blatantly some dodgy dealings.

The drama teachers at Bradon when I was there were mental. The lady one (McCallum I think?) once literally sat on my head.

What was the bloke drama teacher called? Calder? He was there donkeys when I joined and absolutely raving mad.

Does anyone know what happened to the history teacher Mr Booy?

Yeah, Calder was a bit a wacky.

Mr Booy still lives in Purton. He must be getting on a bit now. I'll bet you can still hear the words "Now, write this down.." in his voice.

He looked about 80 odd when I was there. I'm guessing time wasn't very kind to him, either that or he's pushing 100 now!

I went to Headlands from 94 - 99 and Shaun Williamson was the best teacher anyone could hope to have. He instiled in me a life-long love of science, computing and Star Trek and has probably had the biggest influence on my life of anyone outside my family.

He must be on his last legs.

I used to love that guy, whenever he walked in as a supply teacher you knew you were in for the easiest hour of your life. I felt a bit sorry for him at times as the guy just couldn't control anyone.

Old teachers had funny methods, in one Science lesson Mr Swanston made half the class drink about 3 cans of redbull to show the effects caffeine can have. I'm pretty sure most of us suffered from palpations for the rest of the day!

Was at Chippenham School in the early 70s and had a maths (yes, it's got an S for any yanks reading) teacher called Dan Maskell.

He pulled me up by my sideburns and it was so painful I had to knock his hand away - he then proceeded to punch me in the mouth splitting my lip.

Got the fucker back though. If anyone knows Chippenham School it stands atop a fairly steep hill and Maskell always cycled to and from school. So I removed his brake blocks and watched the twat career down the hill gaining speed all the way.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, he managed to stay on his bike.

Just out of interest where did you go to school as I went to one in Oxfordshire and we had a welshman that everyone was terrified of...

On a similar basis when I was at primary school we had a teacher that used to smack your hand with a ruler if you were bad, she terrified me.

Then ran into her at Carterton Market (living the dream) when I was in my early 20's and she barely came up to my waist in height - amazing to look back and think how scared I was of her when I was a kid.

Went to school in Somerset. A school called Sexey's which is another story! We had an insane Welsh sports master who always stood at the end of the communal showers imploring us boys to "wash our privates" I kid you not!! :doh:

Good read this thread and one that's making me feel a bit younger again due to all the oldies posting in it.
I was at school as hitting kids was being fazed out and it was long gone by the time I went to secondary school.

The majority of my primary school years were spent at Pinehurst. The infants and juniors were 2 seperate schools. I remember kids being grabbed by their ears in the infants and also by the scruffs of their necks by a teachers. The main punishment was for children to stand in the corner of the classroom with their hands on their head. I remember having this punishment for mistaken identity when i was about 7. Only time i had it. Sticks in the memory though.

Kids were smacked on the stage by the head teacher of the junior school Mr Thomas and his deputy Mr Webber. Both quite scary men for young kids. Only saw that done once and that was at the start of my time there.That punishment stopped and i was never hit by a teacher ever.
Greendown was a blast and we drove teachers to tears and often new careers. My results were shit mind.

There was a really high turnaround of teachers at Greendown. Seemed to settle down once they stopped mixed-gender classes.

The place is totally different now, still expect it to look how it was when I occasionally go to vote there.

We also had a teacher nicknamed 'Fitter' Freeman

On more than one occasion he was seen in the boys toilets banging his head against the wall fairly violently.

It turned out he had been in a Japanese PoW camp during the war.

Always think of him when seeing Seymour Skinner on the Simpsons

School was fine. They got rid of the cane when I was about 14ish. The PE teacher used to have one of those old black daps, if required.

Sexey's is still there. We got a load of girls from there come to our sixth form and I can tell you it's quite fittingly named...

Plenty of red-trouser brigade there mind. Always remember playing them in Cricket once - we disembarked from our rusty, breaking schoolbus in a mismatch of cricket whites, bats, grotty old kitbags etc., and they were all had their brand spanking new, expensive kit on, and laughed at us. Our teacher actually took us to one side and told us to "Wipe the smug toff smiles off their bloody faces", which we happily did.

I had one particular harrion called mrs Dawson at middle school. We had a major falling out when I was in year 8- both my tutor and the headmaster were on my side, and I never had to go to one of her classes again. Result.

Glad someone else knows of it. Most believe I made it up! Loved it when it became the middle school and to reduced the smutty innuendo they rebadged it and made the kids wear sweatshirts with " Hugh sexey school" in large letters across the front. However special mention to the sadist who decided us grammar school kids must wait for the bus outside the gates of the secondary school. We had to wear blazers etc .need I say more? :(

I also hate predictive text!

I drive past Sexeys regularly and always chuckle to myself.

Mr Evans? Taught Geography?

This is the best schoolname...

www.hornimanprimary.com

Oooh, a few ex-Braden on here then. At least no-one has mentioned my mum yet.....

Go on, who is it...

I wouldnt want to pre-empt any comment on her, mind you I doubt if all you intelligent people on here were ever taught by her....

Yeah, my ex-wife teaches at Commonweal - surprised nobody has mentioned a fire-breathing dragon yet

Maybe because they've all been eaten?

Quote
Mr Ayers - chemistry teacher, about 7 feet tall, again pretty tough, but a really good laugh and every single person in the class breezed through their O level - no mean feat for Park School.  Sadly he died a few years after I left.

Les Ayers was an absolute top bloke and one of my best mates. I don't doubt he was a great teacher too. His height was caused by something called Marplan Syndrome, ironically the chromazone (sp?) error has now been identified. He had a wicked sense of humor - when he was about to have an op where 1 in 4 don't make it, he could still make a joke about it.

He was a big Town fan too and would have been a major contributor to the TEF had he lived, I feel sure. Fortunately he saw the '69 Wembley win, we went up on one of the trains. I've said it before, when we had that 32k record attendance (Leeds?) we stood on the Shrivvy terrace as usual. The bloke behind said '32,000 people to choose from and you have to stand in front of me'. He was actually 6 ft 8 ins and a bit.

He was one of those teachers who was strict but funny at the same time.  I remember hearing of some of the comments on mates' school reports.  "The sooner xxxxx realises that he is not god's gift to chemistry, the more chance there is he might actually pass his A level" and "zzzzz does have some good qualities, but then again, no doubt the same was said about Atilla the Hun".  A great guy and I hope that I'm remembered as fondly 30 odd years after I've passed away.

Braden Forest.
Tewson would pick you out of your seat using the hair in front of your ears.
Hart hit you with a sword. He was a real prick. God help you if the visiting dentist gave you a filling during his lesson.

Hreod Parkway (When I was there). Nobody that bad, some who were very shit teachers but decent people. All the PE teachers were a laugh, they tended to strike the best balance between 'banter' and respect.

9/11 happened in my first week there, and my tutor went on a massive rant, blaming us for it at some points. She was a white science teacher from middle england who, looking back, i'm fairly certain had depression and a pill problem.

My mate lives next door to my old design tech teacher now. Nice man, knew his subject back to front but couldn't control a class of teenagers to save his life.

I've always thought Hreod is a typo

My History teacher for 'O' level was a Spurs fan, and he told us he would give us a lift to the game if we got him a ticket for the Spurs FA Cup game in 1980.   I remember that it all kicked off in the Town end before the game & he just stood there reading his program with scrapping going on all around him :)

I also remember seeing our Chemistry teacher fairly regularly at the CG for games, he just ignored us when we shouted at him.

As for Corporal punishment, anything was fair game when I was at school, the can, a fucking huge dap with ouch written in biro on the bottom. But the worst was the metal ruler across the knuckles.

I do remember one of the teachers got a bit of a kicking on day, after going too far with one of the younger lads, only to find he had several older brothers who dealt a bit of revenge

You thought wrong bitch

I went to Matravers in Westbury (1995-2000). Despite having to wear light blue ties covered with itty-bitty letter M's, all was fine.

Among the many good memories I have of my time there includes a teacher (Mr. Allison I think) calling a troublesome classmate 'a bag of shit with a ribbon tied around'. She did not and could not argue with that statement.

I went to George Ward in Melksham (97-02). Closed now, although they opened a brand new school across town called Melksham Oak.

Mr Wallace taught me IT, Canadian and about 6"7, he was a good bloke, good laugh. Has also taught my younger brother and hasn't changed much from what I can gather.

Miss Hall my Geography teacher was pretty cool, caught me taking a swing at a classmate once (I missed - swinging for people wasn't something I made a habit of!) and basically let me off.

Back on Bradon, Mr Booy was mentioned- he was indeed a brilliant supply.

A lot of the best teachers there were getting on for retirement- Mr Scott, Mr Kirkland etc. so wouldn't surprise me if it's all a bit shit now.

One for Tails though possibly- remember Miss Miller the art teacher? Unusually fit (and not just fit for a teacher, properly) and fond of low cut tops. Sadly, she left after my first year, I suspect I may have taken more interest in art if she'd stayed...

ExiledEric, Les Ayers had a hidden talent in that he could write gags based on experiences - he actually co-wrote a book (unpublished) with a fellow teacher at Park who you might know, Dave Churchill, who was another great guy. in fact the ones I knew socially were all decent drinking, sociable, genuine people who had the kids interests at heart despite having to put up with Coggin etc. They were appalled at the fact the careers guy could keep a job there despite being absolutely useless. Can't recall his name.

Final anecdote about Les. One Christmas morning he knocked on our front door and just said 'guess what I had for Christmas?'

He was wearing 3 neatly knotted ties around his neck.

Mr. Churchill my old english teacher, nice bloke. Mr. Bell was a decent egg too. Headmaster Coggins was a drip and couldn't wait to emigrate to the antipedes, overall our gain their loss!

Did you go to school in a yellow bus?

Some kids used to go to Kingdown and then catch such vehicle to Matravers 'special unit'.

We called them 'the A level kids'....

Cruel.......

What about fellow pupils in this analogy? There used to be jockeying (known as wedging now?). On your birthday, you were thrown down the bank on the sports field (one big bump). One kid got jockeyed and hung by his pants on the coat hooks.

I didn't condone any of this and never took part!

Haha I was slightly in love with her mate!

You would have missed out on Miss Bolitho as well, who I believed moved on to Bassett after my first year. She was mint!

The only reason that I took an interest in Religious Studies.

St. Augustines in Trowbridge..

Drama teacher was 10/10. The Graphics Teacher was decent to look at too.. that's about it. My Form teacher Mr. O'Mahony was a top bloke!

I went to Warneford in Highworth, I was never taught by any  particularly bad teachers, there was one, Mr Potter who would fly off the handle at the smallest things but I never had him in my 5 years there. He used to chuck chairs and desks around at his worst and was generally shouty as fuck. There were a couple of female teachers that couldn't handle us at our worst, breaking down and being locked in cupboards... Not that I had any part in that!

My mum taught at Commonweal, and she breathed fire.  Dad, is this you?

We had a geography teacher who could hit anyone square between the eyes with his chalk whom he thought was not paying attention! His other trick was to bang the board rubber on your head if you got a question wrong the class could prematurely age in one lesson from spotty teens with black heads to grey heads  :no:

my biology teacher (Mr H R Pufnstuf) killed me,dissected me, turned me into a frog, brought me back to life and got me a pint of light and bitter - all in one day !!! Kelsey Grammar was a hard school.

No Jan, I am your father.

In a special way ?

I'm ex St Joes, had one or two nuns teaching us. One once told my mate who being bored out of his skull during the mandatory RK / RI lesson that if he didn't stop looking out of the window (open to let some air in) she'd shut it !

Thought pretty much all the teachers we had were OK. I also just remember Wadsworth being the hard man - good bloke though.

Crispy the catholic boy!

I liked all my teachers at Greendown. Some were better than others, but I got a good bunch in general. New College had some idiots, but again, nothing too bad. In my experience, all my history teachers over both institutions were ace, with special mention to Mr Denley at Greendown and Michael Law at New College. Probably a big part of why I just did it at Uni.

That's quite an anecdote. Thanks for sharing.  ;)

Mr Denley was a brilliant teacher and a town fan as well.

The bloke was/is an absolute legend. As was Mr Larter

Dick Mattick was my History teacher - Now a published official Swindon Town historian.  I didn't know he was a fan at the time though.

My old maths teacher and former referee John New now works at Asda Wallmart, or did the last time I saw him.  His Mrs used to be a teacher at our school too.

I had an English teacher who supplemented his measly teachers income by being a bodybuilder & stripogram in his spare time. Was a terrible teacher, couldnt control the class despite having biceps bigger than my head, and took literally months to mark anything, probably cos he was too busy getting his kit off.

My sons primary school teacher looks like she's about to make the list on this page.....

My old man is currently a teacher at Churchfields. I have no idea what the school is like however as I went to school in Maidenhead.