Memories of St Andrew's
By Frank Foulds
This photo is of Margaret Smith. She was the headteacher of St Andrew's in the 1930's. She was approachable but very strict. She must have had a difficult time during the war because she had to accommodate evacuees, which meant great disruption to the timetable, etc. This meant there had to be part time schooling for all pupils.
I attended the school from approximately 1934 to 1940. To me it was a very happy school - we had prizes at the end of the year for achievement of which I still have two, and each child, I remember, had a Christmas present which were given out in the form of a treasure hunt. They were individually wrapped and named. In my opinion we had an excellent education in difficult times - Munich Crisis (1938); War (1939).
We had new, individual, desks around 1937, and we had to take a tin of polish and a duster to school to keep in the desk and clean it weekly!
Mr Guy Wilkes took the top class (Form 4). Other teachers were Miss Parker (First year infants); Miss Senechal (2nd Year); Miss Cattell (Form 1); Miss Wiseman (Form 2); Miss Sharp (Form 3).
The war had made big changes for us - evacuees arrived so we had long mornings and short afternoons, or short mornings and long afternoons.
The short periods were spent at the St. Andrew's Institute, which stood at the top of Northall - we would have nature walks, etc.
The school had an air raid shelter - it was underground and was located in the allotment area next to the school. We took bars of chocolate to put in sealed tins, and water was changed daily for drinking purposes. I found myself made shelter monitor along with Sheila Toseland.
We had lots of sport - a good football team -, and we played cricket in the playground.
1938 was the year when Kettering was made a Borough and there were to be huge celebrations on the Agriculture Field - now the Pytchley Road Estate. We practised PT displays for weeks, whitened our shoes and we had to wear white shorts. Unfortunately, it was all cancelled and we collected our gas masks instead!
Winters always seemed colder, frostier and snowier. We were encouraged to have slides on frosty days - they were always good slides because all, or most, of the boys wore boots with studs.