Was This Selsdon Primary?

Yes I lived down the street at Ingham Close and attended the school. The Head Mistress at the time as Miss Beyouk...cannot remember the right spelling. I remember her running that school like a well-oiled machine plus one would never want to make her angry.My mother was a cleaner there and I often helped her especially when school was out.

Yes, this was definitely the primary school..I dont know why it is referred to as the secondary modern. When I started there in 1964, there were still 'seniors' upstairs, who apparently then went on to Riddlesdown. I remember once, the canteen burned down and we had to eat in the school hall for a while until they put up another one. We were lucky to have our own playing field..with a fab hill that you could roll down! Do you remember the' Spartan Buildings'? They were overspill classrooms, situated outside. I got my first kiss from a boy there... Julian Henthorn - where are you now you naughty boy! He also bought me some perfume, so that was ok! The toilets were outside and had no doors on them!! Cold and horrid they were.

Miss Bork was headmistress

Miss Bjork spelt her name like the pop singer.
Deborah, being from Ingham Close, did you know Justin and Jackie Smith? Justin, although in the States, is still in touch with a mutual friend as far as I know, and Jackie is married to an old classmate of mine from Selsdon School, Brian Cast. I met up with her again last summer at a reunion which consisted mainly of Old Selsdonians.
And Clare, according to your comment above, you must have been a very close contemporary of MINE. I was one of the oldest in my year, which means I think I joined in Sept.1965, a year behind you. My very great friend (still), Julia Broadhurst, would have been in your year (if not class).
I definitely remember having to eat in the upstairs hall, where, if it was running out, they used to eke out the rice pudding with cold milk - disgusting. (I found out in recent years which pupil it was who set fire to the canteen!) Do you remember the climbing frame, and the railings around the walkway above the playground where we would all do 'turnovers'? Sitting on the bar, sliding down to hook your knees, and then swinging backwards under the bar to land on your feet. (Easier than I've made it sound.)
During 'kiss chase', one of the boys was running away from me so hard (!) that he fell down the steps by the Spartan Buildings
and cracked his head open. And I think it was in one of these that the very buxom, motherly figure, Mrs Carr, presided over my first 'reception' class.
My young suitor, Robin Nash, upon asking me to marry him (in the Maths marking queue), also presented me with perfume (Soir de Paris), which I shared liberally with all my little friends that day, and which I later discovered he'd taken from his mother without permission when she 'introduced herself' to me at an Open Day. Naughty boy. (And where are YOU, Robin?)
My worst dreams, still to this day, involve blocked toilets, messy toilets, doorless toilets, fully occupied toilets, outside toilets ... NOW I realise why! Psychologically scarred for life!

Selsdon Primary kept children who had only just failed their 11+ til they could take their 13+ when I started. I remember the playgrounds being divided up, infants, juniors, and senior boys and girls being separated . Clare do you remember ringing the doorbell for Miss Bjork and running away? This of course was after the seniors had moved away and the railings that separated everybody had been removed.T Kent, you must have been a year or 2 behind us,I was 6 in '65, and one of the 'middle of the year 'children .
Who burnt down the dining rooms?We were in the 4th year when it went up. I remember having sewing lessons in one of the rooms in the dining prefab, as it looked like.

T. Kent, yes although I did not play too much with the Smiths my Mum was a great friend of their mother. After my mother moved to California Jackie or Jacklyn as her mother called her came out to visit her in Redwood City while I lived there. Such a small world. Did you know the Mattens? Four girls, one of which Paula was my best friend. Also the Browns they lived opposite my aunt Pratt at the top of Ingham Road. She taught me how to spell on a small chalk board.I remember Miss Bjork taking an assembly when the police had come to see if any of us had seen a man acting peculiar. Quite the scandal for that time.

I started in the reception class at Selsdon Primary School in 1960. The "Senior School" was upstairs at that time. The infants and juniors were downstairs.
My first teacher was Miss Dixon ( she later became Mrs Corsiaire). Mrs Galloway was my next teacher.... I remember her for her very 1950s glasses with big coloured "wings" above the lenses!
My mother, Mrs Everitt, taught upstairs at the secondary school. She moved to the Atwood Primary School in Sanderstead when the senior school closed. I was moved to the Atwood for a while but hated it and returned to Selsdon in about 1964 or 65, rejoining in Mr Russell's class.
Reading the other memories has wound back the years. I had completely forgotten Mrs Carr. A lot of the names are familiar. Does anybody remember David Nelms? He arrived from Stepney and could barely be understood due to his extreme cockney accent. We are still friends 50 odd years later. There are so many other people I remember but have lost touch with...Andrew and Sandra Dyble from Kingswood Avenue, Alan Barnes, Clifford Smith, Michael Ferris....he had the same birthday as me, Marion Davis, Paul Meredith, Trevor Smith, Debra Clarke, Jill Rawlings.....the list goes on and on!
When the senior school closed the primary school took over the whole building. It must have been one of the only primary schools with a woodwork room, a domestic science room and a chemistry lab. I remember Mrs Uzell trying to teach us French in there (to no avail in my case!).
I remember the school field which seemed absolutely huge at the time, the steep slope from up by the canteen down to the playground below. A girl in my year, Nicola Bailey, fell off the railings when she was hanging on by her knees and broke her arm.
We used to play various games of chase in the playgrounds below. I fell over during a game of British Bulldog and grazed my knees very badly. There is still some grit in them; a permanent reminder of happy times at Selsdon.
Other memories which have come back are Miss Bjork taking photos with a camera and huge old fashioned single shot flash gun. We used to get a day off when there was an election as the school was used as a Polling Station. Super Balls and Power Balls were invented during my time at Selson. They were soon banned due to broken windows. Sekiden guns met the same fate. They could fire clay balls or dried peas with Somme force.
My memories are of a relatively small school (Forestdale hadn't been built then) and on the whole, happy times there.

Hello RJE,
I have just read your long and detailed story of your time at Selsdon School.
Unfortunately your time there and my time were far enough apart for us to have little common experiences at Selsdon Primary. The reason that I am contacting you is because your entry on the Frith memories pages, is the most recent (May 2018). I have only recently, by chance, come across this
reservoir of memories of old Selsdon.
I started at Selsdon Primary in 1944 and moved away from Selsdon in1963 when I got married, not to far from the time that you were starting school at Selsdon! The only name that rings a bell with me is your teacher, Mr Russell. He joined Selsdon Primary whilst I was there and taught me in Class A or B. Did they still use letters or was it numbers when you were there?
Like you, I have many happy memories of my time in Selsdon, and since discovering these (Frith) tales from the past I have contacted several of the writers, some of whom I knew, or who had friends/aquaintances in common with me. Unfortunately these stories were put on the web site over 10 years ago and I have not had replies from the writers. You seem to have had more luck!
By chance a couple of months back I met someone who now lives in Selsdon. He told me that there was to be a reunion of ex Selsdon School pupils who were there during the war, which of course I was!
I told him a couple of things, like having lessons in the school air raid shelters whilst doolebugs flew over. As a result of this chance conversation I was asked to write an article for the Selsdon Gazette. I managed to make it 2 articles. But once I got thinking, memories flooded back and I am now upto chapter 7 in the Selsdon Gazette, which is now on line. You will find the Gazette here https://selsdon-residents.co.uk/selsdon-gazette.php.
You obviously have good memories of your times in Selsdon and I would be interested to know more about your's.
Des Donohoe, ex Abbey Rd, Selsdon

Well some names I remember well Jacqueline and Justin also lesley Smith Mrs Bjork with moustache.. Clive Kemp was my best friend but I remember Debra Clarke Rosemary west ..I lived in Ingham Rd. My 1st teacher was Mrs azell but I remember most of the teachers ..I remember Mrs Carr and her showing to the class a boomerang she brought back from her trip from oz .I also remember her putting Christopher Rann over her lap and spanking him ...God rest his soul.my brother Pete was 2 years above and my sister was one of the 1st to go to riddlesdown .she is 10 yes older .Mrs Galloway and her glasses and on her door she had mind your p'S and q's Mr ivatt Mr Musgrave..do any of you remember the record we made at Fairfield halls with Mr Worth playing piano and Mr Musgrave conducting ...love to hear your stories

I attended Selsdon primary school circa 1967 and my sister also went there 4 years later. Miss Bjork the headmistress was a lady to respect and Miss Carr deputy head too. The Maypole in summer and Tin hut dining hall which burned down and the dreaded outside toilets are long memories.I think the school was originally opened as being Secondary modern prior to Riddlesdown high school being built and Selsdon High being Monks Hill school. Music becoming a passion and Mr Younghusband showing us World Wildlife films weekly after school club formed a good underpinning appreciation of the natural world. The delight of watching in the hall men landing on the moon and harvest festivals were special times and the teacher Mrs Walker who told us Magic chair and carpet stories and Miss Grout who always had lovely long painted nails! The head changed to Mr Richardson while I was there. Performance of Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat with our music teacher Mr Worth are memories of mine. I drive past the school now most days and still feel proud I went there.