Bexley Lane School
A Memory of Sidcup.
Well now, my name is John Earl and I think I was at this School (having transferred from Alma Road) from about 1958/9. I shall keep this short in case I'm wasting my time, if I get a response then we'll go from there. I shall just list some names of students/teachers that I can remember...here goes...Head teacher Mr Rankin. Deputy Head "Bomb Head" Strong-man Carter. Peg-Leg . Dad-Law. Mr Moss. Mr Bentley (English teacher). Mr. Shadwell (he of the bicycle clips) Head Prefect "Scabby Abbey" who drove to school in an MG Midget???? he was odd. Students (I use the word loosely) Ken Billiss Barry newman Jenkins William Skinner Ron Whittle Dave Thompson Roger Hopgood Nick Stenning Peter Jennings Roy Farmer. That's it for now, I hope this gets somewhere, bye for now.
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LOWER SCHOOL (Alma Road)
Mr E.J. Rankin MC MA (Hons) was then headmaster with Mr Jones as deputy. I recall the following teachers: Mr McCaulliffe (Class 1A), Mr Dunmall (Class 2A), Mr Hawker (Geography / Games), Mr Roberts (History/ Games), Mr Stone, later Mr Cook (French), Mr Jones (Music-singing), Mr Bentley (Music-recorders), Mr Carter (PE), Mr. Lawe (Woodwork), Mr White (Metalwork), Mr Glass (Biology). Alas I cannot recall the name of the teacher who took us for Physics.
Dear old Mr Clark was an ancient supernumerary who occasionally took us for metalwork or if a master was absent.
He encouraged the boys to do interesting projects at lunchtimes such as making prisms and crystal radio sets. He had his own little room which was packed with interesting gear.
For a while we had an attractive young lady who took us for Art but whose name escapes me.
UPPER SCHOOL (Bexley Lane)
After the mandatory two years at Alma Road I transferred to the Upper School at Bexley Lane.
Mr Rankin left the school c 1964 and was replaced by his erstwhile deputy My Jones with a Mr Atwell coming in as deputy head.
The teachers that I recall were: Mr Cannon (Class 3G, Geography), Mr Shadwell (Class 4G, Maths and RI), Mr Thomas (Class 5G, English), Mr Jones (Music and later History), Mr Carter (Physics), Mr Cook (French), Mr Setchell (Eng Drawing), Mr Carter (PE), Mr McGuire (Art, Games), MM White and Griffiths (Metalwork), Mr Lawe (Woodwork).
Being in the 'G' stream - for 'GCE' - I took 3 subjects at 'O' level in the 5th year: Maths, Physics and Engineering Drawing. As I stayed on into the 6th year I did a further 6 subjects: English Language, English Literature, French, Geography and History. A few of us also took Art.
I left in 1967 and have only fond memories of the school and staff.
Almost all of the teachers were firm, fair and conscientious in giving us a good education and start in our working careers.