Year groups, Academia etc.

The Goring senior school was for boys of 13-18 years old. Thus there were 5 year groups:

First years (aged 13-14)
Second years (aged 14-15)
Third years (aged 15-16), sometimes known as fifth form - doing O-levels / GCSEs
Fourth years (aged 16-17), known as Lower Sixth Form
Fifth years (aged 17-18), known as Upper sixth form - doing A-Levels

Academically the system was as follows:

• The pupil came in as first year and followed all subjects on the curriculum, including less "essential" subjects such as Music, Design, Computer studies, PE.
• At the end of the year he was to choose (with the help of appropriate advice from teachers,, tutors, parents etc.) the subjects he was to study for O-level / GCSE. There were certain compulsory subjects - English, Maths, 1 x modern language, 2 of the 3 sciences, Religious Studies.
• Most boys studied 10 Subjects. The scholars might do 11 or even 12 (by taking on Greek, ancient history, hebrew etc.). The "less academic" might take on 9 (eg miss out Latin and do extra English). I think I recall the system correctly.
• Those subjects that were obligatory (eg Maths) could be taken 1 year early (at the end of the second year), enabling the "scholar" to taken on extra O-Levels / GCSEs or to do an advanced module of the same subject somewhere between the O and A Level.

The above was my case. I was a scholar, having gained an academic scholarship to the school.

At the end of the third year was the moment to choose the A levels one was to study. The Pupil had to study 3 A levels at the time. This represented a vast reduction in subjects versus the previous years - so much thought and consultation was supposed to go into the choice. This was also the moment when the "career choice" seemed to come into things. Thus if the pupil wanted to become a doctor one day it was advised to take three science subjects usually.

More to follow on academia

Head Dorm Pig

I travelled up with a friend of mine, Giles, who was in the same house as that for which I was bound. He had come to the school two years before and had lots to tell me. Much of it was not reassuring. he told me of the widespread physical bullying and the commonplace practice of heavy swearing.

I learnt from him some of the terminology of the school. For example Dormitory Captains were called Dorm Pigs.

I was to be in the 'First Year' and it was the third year boys who were the Dorm Pigs. It became clear to me that this year was where the chief bullies came from.

An amusing story is that my friend, Giles, told me that the "Head Dorm Pig" was a really great guy and that this was the single bright spot ahead of me. I assumed that he meant the head dorm pig of my dorm (there were 3 dorm pigs for my 20 -boy dorm). In fact he had meant the "head dorm pig" of the (third) year (and of all the dormitory dwellers) - who was in the other 20-boy dorm.

That day, when I entered my dorm and saw that the head dorm pig was in his bed-space, I greeted him very warmly. he looked surprised. His name was Rich Lascard and he was, in fact, to be one of the nastiest bullies. But at that moment I saw some happiness / kindness in his face - because, so it seems, of my warm greeting. I can never remember him singling me out for bullying or indeed being unkind to me.

I remember that first coach journey from the train station to the school. There was an atmosphere. The boys on the caoch had a manner, a way that was some sort of code. Listening to them I felt fear and unhappiness. I felt very shy. I felt alone.

The journey to Hell

I went up to Goring by train. I remember it as a cold grim afternoon in early September.

The train had many other boys bound for the same end within it. I remember that their presence made me afraid. Their manner was quite different to what I had known. Their dress was often slovenly, their hair long. They were loud. Their voices had an arrogant and mocking tone.

I felt sick at heart.

The positive sides of public school

Originally I used to feel the negative-positive very powerfully. The very fact of having got through made me feel that I had achieved a great deal. I do not say this lightly. I left happy to have survived.

Developing this point further I have often found myself since leaving Goring in a sticky situation. Once I found myself in a very humiliating situation. I resigned my job and told every one I was leaving the company to start a new enterprise. Next day I found that due to unforeseen circumstances my scheme had a significant flaw and so two days after saying goodbye I went back to the same office and begged for my job back. My co-workers were all saying to me – “what are you doing back”. It was a serious egg on my face ordeal. But I found it quite easy to go through because in my mind I said to myself – this is nothing compared to being at Goring.

And indeed so it has proved. Worse things have happened to me and each time I find I can “roll with the punches” because the bad experience has been so much less emotionally damaging than my experiences at Goring.

It was an enormous achievement on the part of my struggling father to have put me and my siblings through the English Public School system. He was a teacher but he knew his teaching income could not provide the funding for the public school education that he wanted for his Children. So he set up a small teaching business on his own to try to make a greater income. We were nearly removed from our schools because of his inability to pay at certain moments. Finally his business became more successful and he was able to pay his way for us. He had 12 years of private school fees for his children. In total he paid for 99 child terms before he was finished (including both prep school and public school)

In addition the public school network exists – and will continue to do so. Getting my first step on to the job ladder was made through meeting an old boy (Hannington) of my school who knew a friend of mine of the generation above (Lozer). The latter had also been to the same school and recommended me to him. This meeting earned me an interview with a salesman at the organistation where Hannington worked. The salesman grilled me and got me to do certain assignments. I got the job. It earned me very little (just above the minimum wage) but it got my foot on the ladder into the world of banking. A year later I was on the graduate scheme and my salary had more than doubled.

Introduction

It has been some years since I left public school now (more than 10, let us say). The memory of that 5 year experience is not now as clear as I would like. And yet I feel that there is value in writing up what I can remember.

In many ways I have benefited from my experience of having been to one of the great English public schools.

Where one went to school still seems to be a matter of “identity” amongst the more pretentious classes of the UK. If I say “I went to Goring” – I can see that many of my interlocutors can place me and it gives them a comfort – “ah, you are an Grovian”. Even to me, hypocritically as it may seem from reading my memoirs, I often feel that stirring of vanity and pride that such an identity statement gives.