This is a photo of my old School, taken in 1957 on the fiftieth Anniversary for the School history which was written by my old History master, Mr WJ Roberts , who was a great inspiration to me and to many other pupils at the time.
You can see the gated entrance to the boys playground that I entered on my first day in September 1955. When you entered these gates on your first day you were greeted by the older boys and called a “scud”. This was part of the tradition of the School: it certainly kept us in our place and in my mind was one of the regrettable features of life at that School.The School had no playing fields on site and we had to go to Seaclose or to the other recreation grounds that existed at the time to play football, cricket or swimming.
The School closed in 1958 and we moved to Mountbatten Drive ( as it is now called), where we formed Carisbrooke Grammar School by merging with East Cowes Technical School. I lived Carisbrooke which was new,bright and had excellent facilities. We kept most of the teachers we had had at Newport but I got to know others who improved my work and performance. I also thought that Carisbrooke was free from mindless traditions which I did not appreciate, although others may disagree.
What we had at both sites was the presence of the Headmaster, Mr SGWard, who kept us in our place.
