Story Chapter 46 ~ God Bless you Miss Robertson

I started school in October 1978. That's me there rocking the loopy plaits and Green Glow Bag! I suspect my white plastic old school Winnie the Pooh Lunch box is in there and if you could see my feet I'm probably be wearing Charlie Browns.

I was in room one of George Street Normal School- or as my grandfather liked to say George St ABnormal school. My teacher was Miss Irwin. I was so excited to go to school. More than ready I was already reading.

It was awful! I mean SO bad. Miss Irwin was OLD and GRUMPY. And she had pointy old lady glasses which just served to make her look almost as mean as she was.

I'm not kidding she was so mean I would rather stay on the mat and wet my pants than put my hand up and ask if I could go to the loo. (This made her even meaner- she didn't like stinky wet patches on her mat. Or stinky wet kids either.)

But almost as bad as mean Miss Irwin it was BORING!! I got made to read all through the 'red' books and then the 'green' books and then the 'yellow'..... and so on YAWN! Lady I know how to read!!

Lucky for me my mum was staunch (at 21 no less) she went into school and the next year had me moved to the other side of the road in the 'big school'. That year I started in heaven.... I mean model 2b in room 16 with Miss Robertson.  The worlds most coolest, nicest teacher that ever was and ever will be.

As an aside when I found out I got into teachers college (13 years later) the first person I called to tell was Miss Robertson.

Here's me looking HAPPY (because I was) in Miss Robertson's class....

 

And still happy the next year ( I had her three years in a row!!!!)  with my friends Tamara Shapira (left) and Alex Dodd (right). I'm using the Cuisenaire Rods- by far the worlds most fun piece of Maths equipment ever- I'd love to get some for my kids.... but then they have computers so they'd probably say.... yawn!

See those pictures up on the top of the wall behind me. Mine was called Leopard Walking in the Jungle (the jungle had one tree). My Dad has it now- framed!

Here's what I remember from primary school.....

The back of our school was divided into two halves on the southern side of the hall was a HUGE wall topped by a big copse of Sycamore trees in season they would drop their seeds- you know the ones- you throw them high enough and they spiral down like helicopters- super fun.

The other half of the back of the school was the adventure playground- amazing!! Well I thought it was back then anyway. All sorts of paths and rope trails and climbing stuff and a huge slide that it felt like you had to wait forever to get a turn on!

I remember when I was in Miss Robertson's class someone from our class had a connection to TV- I think it might have been Tamara's mum. And that ended up being super cool for us because they came and filmed some clips for play school- you know like the stuff you see 'through the arched window'. My role was to come and sit down beside my friend (I think his name was Rowan) and say "Hi my name is Gypsy what's your name?" And then he said his name- it doesn't sound like much but it was pretty exciting stuff. I can tell you I wasn't a very good actress. When they had made the tape of all our things they brought it to school so we could watch it- because hardly anyone had a video recorder back then and of course we were all at school when Play School was on. As an aside Play School was one of my favourites as a child (as it is for Tama now). My favourite presenters were Rawiri Paratene and Pauline Nitis. When I was at High School I went out with one of Pauline's sons- it was still a thrill to meet her even though I was 17 and long past my Play School days by that point.

Our school library was upstairs in the big school- it wasn't huge but I loved it. We had these big sheets of some sort of board- like formica or something and each one had a number. You used them as a place holder on the spot where you pulled a book from until you decided if you were borrowing it or not. At one end of the library there was a door that lead out onto a deck. And to the right of the door as you looked out was the senior fiction. That's where I found Rumer Godden- bless the librarian who brought all her books for our school library I LOVED them: The Dolls House (1947), The Story of Holly and Ivy (1958), Miss Happiness and Miss Flower (1961) and Little Plum (1963). Oh how I wanted a Japanese styled dolls house with Japanese dolls just like in the story!

After I finished in Miss Robertson's room I went into Mr Lucas' in Model 2a. Oh my was I scared.  He was one scary big mean man teacher- and after having such a lovely teacher it was quite a shock. I was really miserable and I remember spending my lunch times hiding in a little cubby hole behind a bush beside the gate. In the warmer months the bush got flowers on it and they smelled awesome! I had a really hard time in Mr Lucas' class and eventually my mum got me moved out of the models and into Miss Andersons room- that was much better- I'm not sure how she managed that I don't think it would happen now days. The only fun thing about being in Mr Lucas' class was that he loved cricket- so we played a LOT of tip and run.

Our school had a film room which was stepped up from the floor to the back of the room- sitting up the back was very popular but I preferred to sit right down the front as close to the projector as I could. The films came to the school from the National Library- I think we got new ones every month. It was totally fascinating to sit there and look at the strips of almost identical pictures in a row. And always a little exciting at the end when the film flicked off the end of the reel.

Eventually this room was also set up as the computer room. Our school was one of the first in Dunedin to get computers- we had two Apple IIe computers- I remember doing the tutorial to learn how to do it. Pictures came across the screen and when you saw the apple come across you had to hit the 'apple' button. This was really pretty exciting stuff- I don't think I knew any one that actually owned a computer then- I'm not even sure if my Dad had one at work.

Next door to the school was a Fish and Chip shop (it's a Thai restaurant now). If you were lucky enough to buy lunch you but your name, room number, and order on an envelope with your money in it and slipped it under the door on the way to school. I think we had monitors who delivered it to the classroom- but we also got to go there and order as well. And one of the best things was going towards the end of lunch time and for 20 cents you could get a bag of the crispy bits that fell off the battered stuff and small chips- that sounds terrible but it tasted great!

When I was very little my Mum walked me up to George Street and dropped me at the bus stop. But it wasn't long before I could do it myself. Then when I got my Healing 5 I was allowed to ride it up to the museum and then walk to the bus stop from there. Eventually I was allowed to bike all the way to school I think I had my BMX by then. We had a big long bike shed on the side of the school. It got looked up at night and I think during the day. I remember coming to school early and waiting on the steps for the door to be open. Back then we had trolley buses and there was a stop right outside the school (on the big school side). When it was frosty you could see sparks on the line when the bus connectors rolled along them- it was like blue lightning.

I liked to be at school as early as I could be. I'm not sure if my mum knew how early I was getting there. But I think the school did because eventually I got a (unpaid) job doing office duty before school. That meant sitting in the secretary's office and answering the phones and taking messages until she got to school. Sometimes I got to do stapling and folding the newsletters as well. I loved being at school early it was so quiet and peaceful and there was lots to do. Plus I got to see the caretaker and the cleaners Sue and her mum were just the most lovely people. I knew where to find the stuff I wanted and how to put it back properly too- like school journals in the book room- which was like a HUGE treasure trove of one of the things I loved best- reading material!!

In 1984 - my last year at George Street (Standard 4/Year 6) the movie Break Dance came out- and we all loved it. The boys liked to dress up all break dance style. We had a big common room where we went on wet lunch times. Sue and her mum had done such a great job of polishing the lino it was the best place for practising our 'break dancing moves'. Spinning around on our backs and doing the dolphin and robot type stuff. We had a few boys at our school who were refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia and I think they must have practised at home all the time because they were absolutely the best at it!

While my time in Miss Robertson's class was undoubtedly the best I had a school a close second was my final year (Standard 4/Year 6) with Mrs Kapa. Being the top of the school is always the best especially when you have a teacher like Mrs Kapa. She was really incredible! Probably the best memory was going to Camp Armstrong with Mrs Kapa and her husband Aki- and getting to go Eeling late at night. There are so many things though she was a truly gifted teacher and the way Maoritanga and Te Reo Maori just flowed through our class is something I'll be eternally grateful for. While I knew I had Maori Heritage it was Mrs Kapa that taught me to care about it.

In 2004 we visited Dunedin and I took the kids in to see my school- I was totally blown away that the murals my class  painted in Standard 4 were still on the walls. In fact in the middle of the second section of the ramp railing there's a girl with a top on with no sleeves and she's got long hair- that's totally me! 22 years and going strong- not bad! Funny story I took the lid off one of the paint pots to stir it up and I guess didn't put it back on properly. My teacher Mrs Kapa picked it up a short while later and started to give it a shake..... MESS everywhere! She was seriously, seriously, seriously mad. I'm pretty sure she asked who opened it.... and I have a feeling I didn't own up. That's how mad she was.

We helped with this one too- worked with a local artist if I recall correctly.

♥