Academically Sound, But Manner and Deportment Need Improvement

Sir James Smith’s Grammar School, located on the eastern edge of the town of Camelford in North Cornwall, offered quality education to pupils drawn from village Primary Schools scattered over a large rural catchment area. In the 1950s rural North Cornwall was marked by relative isolation and social deprivation, but right of attendance at Grammar School had come no longer to depend on class and social status, and was vested both in an annual cull of primary school pupils known as the eleven-plus examination and, more indispensably, in a little bit of luck. Many were called but few were chosen. Those who succeeded generally made decent academic material, but were raw in terms of worldliness. A grammar school road of seven years leading from the First through to the Sixth Form and ultimate examination at A Level beckoned the victors, only to have the wayside claim far too many prior to the Sixth being reached. This book tells the personal story of one who walked the full road, delighting in its wonders and humour, failing to avoid many of its pitfalls, scoring low marks on one occasion in manner and deportment, regretting things now and then, revelling in School traditions while pushing at the boundaries a bit, coping with the peculiarities, taking the rough with the smooth, and above all benefitting from, and all too often battling with, the foibles and attention of a Great Headmaster and his dedicated team of teachers.