For Dundee pupils school will be out for summer this week. However, for most of us school is already out forever, and has been for a while.
So to celebrate the incoming holidays – although for some parents the celebrating will happen in August when schools reopen – join us as we take a trip through the decades with nostalgic images from around the city and see if you can spot any familiar faces or even yourself back in your younger years.
School in the swinging sixties
Giggling girls look on as a photographer takes a young pupil’s picture outside Glebelands School on Baffin Street in November 1962.
There was no fear from the Lawside Academy girls as they clambered up the climbing frames during a gym class in May 1966.
Pupils looked very smart and focussed inside a classroom at Forthill Primary School in Broughty Ferry in May 1964.
Pupils of Kirkton High School leave after a hard day’s graft in February 1960. I wonder if they all looked that cheery when they were going the opposite way and just about to start the school day?
Young students at Grove Primary School line up in the playground to head back in to classes although the boy in the foreground looks far more interested in what the press photographer is up to in May 1962.
Fun in flares during the seventies
Lollipop man Alfred Lever directs a group of children and parents over the busy road at Eastern School in Broughty Ferry in September 1974. I am sure many pupils of the era will remember Alfred at the corner of Monifieth Road.
Pupils from the Logie Secondary school were waiting patiently at the quay side, ready to board the Uganda cruise ship as they embarked on a two week summer holiday in June 1973 – not bad for some.
Pupils in Eastern Primary School’s P3 class were happy as they learned all about life on the farm as they hatched some chicks as part of a project. The cute chicks hatched just a day before this picture was taken in Mach 1978.
Grove Academy pupils Graham Milne, McCallum Murray and Ewen Cameron were proving home economics wasn’t just for the girls as they learned some cookery skills in October 1976. Although it is great to see them interested judging by the spotless aprons I am not sure if there really is food in those bowls or if they being used solely as props.
It was Menzieshill High School Swimming Gala at the Dundee Central Baths in June 1974. Crowds took to the stands as they watched on during the third year girls backstroke heat.
I wasn’t kidding about the flares as you can see in the image below which shows pupils of Craigie High School taking a short cut through a wire fence leading to Arbroath Road in August 1978. Hands up who got their jacket caught on the fence and had to face the wrath of their mother when they got home?
Over 100 Dundee school children queued outside the Department of Employment Careers Office in Reform Street in May 1977 as they registered for unemployment benefit ahead of leaving school for the final time.
Budding young scientists James Smith, Derek Bell, Roger Strachan and Thomas Schofield made up the Morgan Academy Science Team who had been recording programmes for the BBC TV series “Young Scientist of the Year” in January 1973.
I think I have my answer to the question a few images above, real food or just props? Definitely just props. Here the Morgan Home Economics Class show off what they would do if they really were cooking in October 1976.
Exams and extreme hairstyles in the eighties
Now this is the epitome of joy as the first day back at school was finally over at Glebelands Primary School in August 1986. The caption at the time said pupils had said they first day back was “just great”.
Gilburn Primary School classes were out on the playing fields as they received a demonstration from police dog handlers Sgt William Hunter, PC Ronald Anderson and PC Gordon Morris in May 1988.
Pupils from Kirkton High School were ready to sponge their teacher at the schools fun day in June 1989. The teacher is much braver than I am and I am sure a few pupils will have taken a lot of pleasure in giving him a soaking.
Children from Craigie High School smile for the camera as they make use of the under-pass under Arbroath Road in May 1985.
Food glorious food at Grove Academy as pupils and stuff tuck in to their grub in the Grove Academy Canteen in November 1989.
Life of nineties kids
If you went to prom in the nineties and your prom dress didn’t look like any of the below, are you sure you are a true nineties kid? Rockwell Fashion Show. Here pupils participated in the Rockwell High School Fashion Show in December 1993.
Ancrum Road Primary School P5 pupils pose beside a mural in the school’s subway in November 1993 which featured Dundee’s most famous kid, Dennis the Menace.
Pupils of Craigie High School decided to open up and run a soup kitchen to raise money for Children in Need in November 1994. You can’t beat a good pot of homemade soup.
Lawside Academy were doing the entertainment in December 1992 as they put on a show for some of the elderly in Dundee and even presented them with some lovely Christmas presents.
And finally, it was all over for the pupils of Rockwell High School in June 1997 not just for those moving on to pastures new after completing their studies but for all the pupils and staff at the school as the bell rang for the final time and the school closed for good.
