ORIGINAL MESSAGE

NAME: John Paine

DATE: 23 December 2008

CONNECTION WITH QE: 1946-53

have only just found this site, although I have been back to QE on many occasions.  I have many memories of the teachers of my period - including Pierce, Winter, Wingfield, Smith, Timson, and obviously, the great man himself, Jenkins - and would be happy to share them with others who were up at Barnet at the time.

1st REPLY

NAME: Mike Cottrell  

DATE: 13th January 2009

CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil Pupil 1957-64

It’s always good to hear from a new former pupil and the view of Jenkins just after WW2.  By the time I was at school, I don’t think that I would describe him as a great man.  Perhaps a rather tired old man from a generation of yesteryear might be more appropriate.

2nd reply

NAME: John Paine

DATE: 25 January 2009

CONNECTION WITH QE: 1946-53

Perhaps I should have put my reference to E.H.J. as 'the Great Man' in italics because most of us in the era of the early '50s, although we still respected him, did not share many of his views.  He was indeed a stern disciplinarian and I often tell me friends of an incident when I was 17.  I had returned to school after a pleasant mid term which included a trip to London to see a play with the girl friend of the time.  After the usual school assembly I was summoned into his study by E.H.J.

"Paine, were you in London on Saturday?"
"Yes sir"
"Were you wearing your school cap?"
"No sir"
"You know the school rules - wear your school cap when in public from the beginning of term to the end - bend over that chair".

After 3 brisk strokes of the cane I was dismissed to my first class - which if my memory serves correctly was 'European History' with E.H.J.  The temporary smart has been amply compensated by the reaction of my audiences over the years.

3rd reply

NAME: Stephen Giles  

DATE: 26 January 2009

CONNECTION WITH QE: 1957-64

That's worth a letter to the Barnet Press !

4th reply

NAME: Stephen Giles  

DATE: 06 January 2009

CONNECTION WITH QE: 1957-64

Actually, it confirms my view for the past 50 years that Jenkins was a nasty sadistic piece of work. He clearly put more importance on the wearing of a school cap, than preparing boys for a decent number of O level exams - 5 I think was the limit in the early 1960s.  And what preparation does the school now provide, I wonder for coping with redundancy??

5th reply

NAME: John Paine

DATE: 16 February 2009

CONNECTION WITH QE: 1946-53

I could not agree more about the necessity to abolish corporal punishment in schools - I retired a few years ago after teaching for 41 years in an American school very similar in some aspects to Q.E. but where discipline was enforced without beating - but some others may remember Eric Shearly's stories of E.H.J's early years at Q.E.  Apparently the school was a shambles when he arrived (1931?) and he basically beat it into higher standards.  Teachers were told that if they had any trouble with their classes they should place the offending student in the corridor.  E.H.J. would patrol the corridors at the end of each period and any student found there tailed along behind him to his study where he was given 'three of the best' without any discussion.  Eric told us that on one occasion he was in the corridor for a perfectly legitimate reason but followed along and received the ususual punishment without trying to argue - he believed that any such attempt would have increased the punishment.