Raunds County Infants School

County Infants School c1955
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This photograph shows the Raunds County Infants School - the County Modern School was behind the Infants school and the two were joined by some flat-roofed shelters.

I started at the County Infants school on my 4th birthday in 1948 and my father started work there in the same year as the caretaker of both the Infants and the County Modern School (or 'the big school' as we knew it then).  Teachers at the Infants school included Miss Eady, Mrs Bull and Mrs Whittam and in the summer, when the weather was good, we would have lessons in the open-air classroom that can be seen on the right of the building.  There was also a Miss Knighton, who was like a nurse, who used to regularly tip spoonsful of cod liver oil down our throats. I soon got to know my way round 'the big school' because if any child had an accident (?) or there was some other problem, I was often asked to go and find my father so he could come through and clean up.   

School holidays were usually spent at school!  As my parents were the caretakers of the two schools, most of their days were spent cleaning so I had to go along as well. It wasn't all bad. In Mrs Whittam's room, which was the top class, there was a cupboard full of toys, books and puzzles which only came out at certain times during the school week, but during the school holidays I had free access to this cupboard and would spend many happy hours playing with the various toys. That was until, however, one day during one of the holidays, when Miss Eady, the Headmistress, came into school and found me in Mrs Whittams's room totally surrounded by toys, books, puzzles etc.

The Headmaster of the County Modern School was Mr Speight. On his retirement he moved to North Wales and Mr Wheale took over. Mr Wheale taught gardening and the school boasted some excellent gardens full of vegetables, flowers and shrubs.