Part 1

FEES
Should I commence with something so sordid? Perhaps I should, as money had to be a serious matter to JHM. A bill in the archives shows that in 1959 fees for Boarding and Tuition for a Fifth Former were £99.10s per term, with Extras nearly £14. A 1963 Schools Directory in my possession shows annual fees at Public Schools ranging from £400 to £500. There was a suspicion that parents of boys from abroad received larger bills and we surmised that some of these were paid into what are now known as off-shore accounts!

Before going to University I did a "gap year" at JHM's accountants in Cheltenham. JHM fixed it up for me and care was taken to ensure I had nothing to do with the K.S. account. I was paid £2 a week and only now have begun to wonder if JHM got a commission from my employers! I remember the chief clerk being wryly impressed by the way in which at Sherborne all string on parcels had to be untied (not cut) by the recipients to be collected for re-use. This next bit you will not believe. Whilst I was with the firm one of the two partners got into serious trouble for endorsing fraudulent tax returns and some months after I left the other did too. It's a long time ago but I think both went to gaol!

ACADEMIC
On the academic side the school had serious failings, some of which may have been remedied after I left. In particular science provision was deplorable. I remember very little equipment not even a microscope, in the so-called laboratory. Only General Science was taken at "O" level. The exam required no practicals and hardly anyone regarded it seriously so that even a borderline pass was a rarity. In most other subjects our education did not compare too unfavourably with what the State offered in the smaller grammar schools and many secondary moderns.

At that time audio-visual equipment was unheard of and printed books and source material very unattractive so that successful learning depended almost entirely on the skills and input of our teachers. In that regard we were not ill-served. With relatively few exceptions they were adequately qualified and competent. Geoff Perry, of course, became something of a national, perhaps international, celebrity with his establishing of the Sixth Form satellite-tracking group at Kettering Grammar School in the early days of the space race. Mr. Thomson (History) did stay with us for about five years but that seems to have been the record. Some staff showed conspicuous dedication and could be inspiring, but rapid turnover (eg. In French where in one term we had three teachers) and poor classroom discipline could be problems.

It was difficult to understand why the school, which at times trembled under the stern rule of the Head, could have such uproar in lessons. One would have thought that the mere threat to send a miscreant to the Headmaster would have quelled indiscipline immediately. I can only conclude that JHM's regard for firmness and independence extended to the staff and that he expected no one but themselves to maintain classroom control and so forbade them the easy option of appealing to his formidable powers of repression. The result was that lessons with certain unfortunate teachers became relished opportunities to let off the safety valve and chaos regularly developed on a grand scale.

There was too a lack of academic ambition and of intellectual stimulation, and little encouragement to think any further ahead than scraping together a few "O" levels. The library, such as it was, consisted of a couple of shelves of books, mainly modern fiction, the most popular being books in the Hornblower, Swallows and Amazon and Just William series, with a few war memories such as The Cruel Sea. There was no reference section and very little non-fiction. The school had no Sixth Form, though to be fair (and that's another story) I was able to pass some "A" levels whilst still at Kings. A few other students after leaving at 16 did go on to higher education, in at least one other case (BM) with considerable distinction.

Another difficulty was the presence of boys from abroad in normal classes. The "foreigners" as we called them (with none of the prejudicial over-tones that the present PC crowd would abominate) probably got a very good deal at the school. Thrown into a disorderly mob of British school kids, they very soon picked up the language, even though some arrived with a very scanty knowledge of it. Needless to say, the first terms they picked up were the swearing and coarseness of schoolboy argot but in the course of three or four terms they mostly became good speakers of English, though I don't know how far this extended to their command of written English. The small size of classes (about 20) should have been beneficial to all pupils but the presence in the more senior forms of several foreign boys who for the most part were not taking "O" levels could pose problems for teachers of focus and control.

One curiosity worthy of mention was how a few boys over the years seemed to be able to please themselves as to whether they attended lessons. These were the pupils who were entrusted with looking after the chickens or operating the Allen's auto-scythe or Ferguson tractor in the absence of any Health and Safety considerations! I remember two classroom choruses, as the tractor passed the window; "Hats off to Fergie!" and, in answer to the teacher's vexed question as to a pupil's whereabouts: " 'E's veeding the vowls, sur!"