BRUM SCHOOL SOUNDS: A NEW POEM...

Brum School Sounds: 

How It Used To Be…

2nd FROM LEFT, BACK ROW, YEAR 6 AT HILLSTONE PRIMARY SCHOOL...

The school corridor in the middle of the day

Echoes with sounds as I make my way

To my classroom, wondering at the cause 

And thus I choose to listen, think and pause: 

Teachers’ voices

Making choices,

Spelling words

Of kinds of birds;

Children’s feet

Rapped a beat

Along the floors,

Then banging doors;

Scraping chairs

And “Sir, it’s not fair…”

A desk lid slams

During class exams,

As children concentrate…

 Running taps,

Odd loud claps,

To clear up neatly

Or sit up sweetly;

Chattering lips

As class-fool trips

But Sir’s loud shout

Results in a clout

On idiot’s leg,

 Brightening it red:

Which means the class sits up straight… 

Pencils scribbling,

Sandwich-nibbling,

Girls a-giggling,

Restless wriggling;

Brushes shifting,

Furniture lifting,

Gymnasts obeying,

Buyers paying

For daily lunch

Of Crunchy Munch;

White straws draining

Milk, but it’s raining;

Doors are slammed

And cupboards are jammed

With too much classroom junk…

Squelchy wiping,

Secretary typing

Words galore:

A repetitive chore.

Plates a-rattling,

Stereo crackling,

Pages flapping, 

Rulers tapping;

Words of warning,

Hidden yawning,

Unkind teasing,

Coughing, sneezing

And “Please can I go to the toilet?”

Balls hitting walls,

“Be quiet!” teacher calls;

A whistle is blown, 

Methods are shown,

Hockey stick is flying,

Bruises appear and crying

Out “Teacher’s insane,

Doing games in the rain…”

Then a sigh of relief as the bell rings…

Then they all go home

And the place falls short 

Of a noisy zoo:

Now a silent court,

With chairs on desks and lights struck out…

Rooms of darkness with sawdust smell,

Cleanliness, loneliness and much to tell

Of sounds they had held during the day,

Of bellowing children with too much to say;

But the school’s now empty and silent lies,

Where sound curls up and quietly dies….

Pete Ray

READY FOR SCHOOL, SLADEFIELD INFANTS...

Having been taught in Birmingham schools  (Sladefield Road Infants, Hillstone J&I, then King Edward’s Aston)

those sounds were normal to me.

FIRST DAY AT KING EDWARD'S, ASTON...

DAUNTING BUILDINGS AT K.E. ASTON...

They returned to my life when I taught in Birmingham schools as an adult…

...DISMAL SURROUNDINGS TOO...