Does anyone, boys or girls, have memories to share of the strict school uniform at Grangefield? I remember, for the girls, having both indoor and outdoor shoes. Skirts had to touch the ground when kneeling down. Very different from the school uniform of today.
Details courtesy of Patricia Rendall nee Lyon. Photo kindly given by Mike Baker.
School Rules and Customs From Grangefield School in the 1950’s.
I have seen on this site the ‘boys’ rules but I think the girls rules are even more draconian. In Section One Rule H ‘No girl may ride a cycle in the school Grounds’ is bizarre but my favourite has to be Section 2 Line F ‘Girls may not eat in the street to and from school’.
Courtesy of Anne Bellerby nee Watson.
Picture Stockton Archive 
It is all very well being proud of the school uniform, but just remember this. Whether done conciously, or unconciously strict rules, on school uniforms, and I think Grangefield was tighter than most, were a way of squeezing out the poorer members of the working class. Parents having to buy the uniform at a designated shop didn’t keep down the cost.
Certainly my grandfather had to forgo the opportunity, before the First World War of a place in one of Stockton’s higher schools, and my mother had to leave Richard Hind in the 1930s partly because of the expense. For this reason I am glad I never made it to Grangefield and had to make do with Richard Hind, where the uniform rules were not so tight.
I also remember my mother being so relieved at getting a grant of £70 a year, when I joined Stockton Grammar in 1961 as a Sixth Former towards the cost of a uniform. And recognition that most 17 year olds were in a job. Probably equivalent to about £1500 today. The previous year my mother went along to Mr Rosser at Richard Hind to see if she could get some help, but there was nothing he could do.
There is letter along these lines in today’s Guardian, 14th Feb 2023.
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I was reported to the headmistress for leaving 1 and a half pence in my coat pocket as it should have been in my Peggy purse. This was also mentioned on my school report.
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We left Nelson Terrace and went to Grangefield in, I think, 1950. Nice place but greater distance to travel from Billingham.
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Such a difference compared with today. Didn’t the girls start 10 minutes before the boys to help reduce the chance to mix?
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That’s correct there was a 10 minute difference in starting and leaving times. And if I remember correctly the windows to the girls school (which as you know the boys had to pass to get to their school) had wire mesh on them (certainly up the rear drive that led to the language laboratory) – to bar any communication between the two genders??
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Fringes had to be quite short as well. Can recall the numerous uniform inspections as well, also the girls finishing earlier than the boys. Grangefield was definitely very strict.
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That’s me on the left and Peter Thompson on the right taken at his house in Commondale Avenue Stockton in 1958. Just before our first year at Grangefield Grammar School in 1W and thankfully without our school caps which were green with a blue band around the crown to signify Cleveland House which were also around the tops of our socks. Other houses were Oxbridge red, Dunelm yellow and Tees green. Looking back it was a bit like the Masons without the funny hand shake but at least our trousers didn’t need rolling up as they were short already. The blazers etc were ditched in 4th year and replaced by grey long trousers and sports jackets but we still had to wear a school tie.
The wearing of a tie continued until my retirement and now, thankfully, I live in jeans.
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honi soit qui mal y pense . Yes, a strict school, but it got the best out of almost all its pupils.
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I’m the “boy” on the left, Peter Thompson with me.
Do you mean “pas a pas en va bien loin” step by step one goes a long way”
Your quote is for the Order of the Garter!
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You are right. I also remember how the motto was crudely mangled!
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What years would that be? When I started at Henry Smith’s in 1958 there was a rule that skirts had to be 2″ above the knee when kneeling, apparently introduced to counteract the long skirts of the ‘New Look’, even though by 1958 nobody wore skirts just skimming their ankles.
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Oh yes, Patricia: did you move up at the same time as I did from Newtown to Grangefield in 1959? I recall Angela Wareham, Julia Boswell and Sheila Cliff and yourself about that time, not to mention all the lads, Brian Waller, Archie Foulds, Bill Mann, Eric Harris, etc. I was not concerned about skirt length then: just the rigmarole at the Co-op in Wellington Street to buy all the uniform items including sports kit. That must have been a bumper “divi” year for my Mum.
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Yes I did move from Newtown school at the same time as you, Ian. I put the country dance team photo on this site when the trophy was won by them. I was just the reserve! You were on that photo. Jill Thompson was my friend then. You remember the other names well. Lovely to be in touch.
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I was told not to wear my summer dress because the green stripe was the wrong colour!! Miss Stevens once made me kneel down in the corridor to check the length of my skirt. We still used to turn the waistband over once out of sight of school. Berets went in haversacks too.
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I was told off too for having a slight pattern in white on my white shirt socks. I had forgotten about the staggered starting and finishing times which others mentioned. I had a bottle green hand knitted cardigan for the first few years as the uniform was so expensive to buy.
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great…I remember my uniform for Stockton Grammar
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The school uniform consisted of three items if I remember correctly – the cap, the tie, and the blazer. First years had to wear all three items but this reduced with seniority. If I remember correctly, fifth years had to wear only one item so some in my year decided that the cap was the thing because it wasn’t required in school nor one outside the school gates. This meant that (effectively) they didn’t wear any school uniform!
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I wonder what year that was? From 1954 – 1959 uniform was cap, blazer and green tie with one diagonal coloured stripe to indicate your house, and in 4th year the tie changed to one with two parallel diagonal stripes. Short grey trousers until, I think sometime in 3rd year when long trousers were okay. Also, I think you could wear a sports jacket in year 4 onwards. Cap was always compulsory, as was tie. If wearing school uniform [away from school hours], say on Saturdays or Sundays, full correct uniform had to be worn.
Girls school came out at 1530 and boys at 1550. The Headmistress, Miss ???, would ride her bike, with a straw basket on front, up and down Oxbridge Avenue to ensure girls did not loiter. Girls walked slow so boys they were interested in could catch them up. Jennifer Wilson & Jean Currey from Oxbridge come to mind.
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I was there from 1961 to 1966. You may be right about the shorts versus long trousers – it’s been a long time and my brain seems to have been filled with other stuff!
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I remember it well, also, if you had a fringe it had to be above your eyebrows and you could not eat sweets in school uniform in or out of school!
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I lived in Mary Street and started Grangefield Grammar in September 1964 after attending Oxbridge Lane Junior School. The first day I was petrified – I was the only one from Oxbridge to go to Grangefield so knew no one – and this terror was magnified when I saw the teachers in their gowns! I found the uniform ok even to the extent of the mandatory school cap and was proud to wear the house tie which I think I recall was Dunelm House.
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Thanks for dating the photo. I was there from 1954 – 1959. Classes were 1R, 1A, and 1 Alpha, then no. changed each year up to year 5. I was in Oxbridge house [Red], blue was Cleveland, green was Tees, and yellow was Dunhelm. R class was the class which potential university pupils were in, and they had to study Latin with Deputy Headmaster, Mr. Munday. I think they also had to study Biology, whilst we got extra Chemistry & Physics with Mr Durrant & Mr. White respectively. The A and Alpha classes were identical. I was in Alpha every year. During woodwork with Mr. Taylor I made an oak picture frame for the 1956 photograph of the whole school [about 4 feet long and 9 inches wide – it hangs in my study. I believe another was taken after that, possibly 1958, and wondering if anyone has a copy.
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Those teachers names bring back memories – not all of them happy ones!… along with Whitfield, Tiesling, Hudson, Darcy and others – with Bradshaw at the helm.
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Ken Whitfield and his obsession with
Dux pencil sharpeners
Shading in Geography had to be horizontal, bit of a job when doing a map of Australian food production
Tiesling….? double of Dracula
Hudson…..”Rock” naturally
Whose idea of corporal punishment was the use of a rugby boot on your nether regions
Darcy….did he really have the right to continue the use of the Captain title?
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Probably not. Unless the regs have changed, army officers only major and above are allowed to retain their titles after retirement. (Captain is one below major.) Don’t know about the other forces.
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Any one got any pictures of form 1 1966 – 1967 Grangefield Grammar Girls School
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Horrible bottle green skirts, must have six panels. blue blouses. Bottle green stockings, mouldy legs according to the boys. Green beret pinned with numerous clips to the back of the head to make sure badge shown. Peggy purse for dinner money and of course a handkerchief. Being made to kneel in the corridor by Miss Stevens to make sure skirt was correct length. Summer dress green and white Egyptian cotton. Nightmare for creases.
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The colour of the uniform was the reason I didn’t want to go there despite my best friend, who still lived in Eaglescliffe, going there. Living in Billingham we had a choice because the Campus wasn’t fully open in 1958. I didn’t want to go to Queen Vic either (direct grant) so went to Henry Smith’s in Hartlepool, along with most of my classmates. I recall only one girl (Judith Allison) going to Queen Vic even though her brother David was already at Henry Smith’s and Philip Hunt went to Stockton Grammar. Doubtless if we’d stayed in Eaglescliffe I too would have been condemned to wear blue and green.
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I too turned down a scholarship to Queen Vic (broke my mothers heart) cos they were so snobby. I did go to Grangefield and got a great education although Miss Stevens terrorized me
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Photo would have been taken and uniforms acquired for beginning of the ‘bulge school year’ 1958-9. Class 1w for the boy on the left.
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I thoughf this may be a little earlier as would boys still have been in short trousers in 1958/59.? I was there
from 1953. It was a very good school mainly apart from one teacher who delighted in corporal punishment. Luckily I wasn’t taught by him often.
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Nice to see the uniform which I used to wear. Any idea of year the photo was taken.
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Taken in 1958
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I knew the date because we were in the same class (I think we also did the same day-release classes at Billingham Tech for a while). Who is the boy on the right?
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Hi Brian. The boy on my left was Peter Thompson.
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