“I Suppose She just loves School?”
…. said a kindly neighbor to my mother, smiling down at me. I was five at the time. We were living at Bristol then, and I had
just started at the Infants’ School. I didn’t
say so but she was quite mistaken. In
fact I didn’t like it at all.
They must have been old-fashioned
in method, and I was terribly afraid of my successive teachers. They shouted when angry, and they seemed to
be angry a great deal of the time. The
worst punishment was being made to stand on your chair for a whole lesion. I don’t think this ever happened to me, but I
always feared it might. ‘Handwork’ looms
large as an unpleasant lesion – I was very slow to learn how to lace those
horrible piece of black materials. I
don’t remember learn-to read, but I must have done. Presumably it was less of an ordeal!
After two years we moved to
Trowbridge, and that has been my home ever since. It is a small country town in
Wiltshire. Life there is peaceful and
quiet compared with life in Hong Kong.
Things seem to change very little, though in fact the town has grown
considerably in recent years. I think
the population is probably about 25,000 now.
Everyone has a garden, and there are open fields nearby. It is this I miss most when in Hong Kong.
Junior school days were pleasant
there. Not all the teachers shouted,
and somehow I managed to stay out of the forms where they did. Lessons are a vague memory, but I do remember
that I was by now a voracious reader of anything I happened to lay my hand
on. At home my favourite gam was ‘cowboys
and Indians’ – no doubt as a result of having just one big brother. War years came, with air raid warnings,
gas-mask drill, blackout – that is strict control of any lighting outside which
might reveal the presence of a town to aircraft, very few sweets, dull food,
and a great deal of fun with my cousins who came to live with us.
The great day came when I started
at the High School. How proud I was to
wear a uniform at last! It was a navy-blue gym-slip, with a green girdle, a
white square-necked blouse, and in winter a black wide-brimmed hat with a green
and yellow band round, or in summer the same thing in straw. Student here don’t know how lucky they are
not to have to wear hats. The novelty
soon wore off – and the hats soon came off, when we thought no-one would see
us!
I was very happy for my eight
years there. What stands out in my
memory? My form was fond of drama, and
we entered the annual competition with vast enthusiasm during our whole
progress through school. Promotion was
automatic, so we all stayed together.
The role I most enjoyed was Dr. Chasuble in “the Importance of being
Ernest’. This was a Sixth Form
production and the climax of our dramatic career! We had a school orchestra jointly with our
neighbouring Boys’ School, and I graduated slowly via drum and triangle to the
piano. Playing in an orchestra is a most
valuable experience. We had spacious
playing fields for tennis, rounders, hockey and netball. We also learned to swim.
I think I particularly enjoyed
the Sixth Form. For some lessons there
were only three or four of us – by now very close friends – and I was studying only
subjects I liked: English, French and History with a little Latin and German.
From the High School I went to
St. Anne’s College, Oxford. If you ever
go to England you must visit this wonderful city, and see the centuries old
colleges, the Parks, and the river. Life
was a mixtures of strenuous work – though we never admitted it – and all sorts
of spare-time activities. Work centres
on the weekly essay, for which you have to find all the material yourself, by
reading. The libraries of course are as good
as any in the world. The essay is then
read aloud to your tutor in an uncomfortably close interview – your tutorial. Uncomfortably close because you are either
alone with this expert, or accompanied by just one other undergraduate for
support. It is thus impossible to avoid the
searching question, or to disguise your ignorance! Spare time – and all your time is your own to
organize as you will – can be spent punting on the river, walking in the Parks,
in endless tea or coffee-parties, in every kind of sport, or in activities of
Societies. These cover every kind of
interest – from archery to railways.
Those days were wonderful.
Oxford is a life apart.
From there I went to Leicester
and was in charge of History at Collegiate Girls’ School for about 400 girls,
and a happy friendly place with high standards in every way. The first time I went on leave I visit them
and talk to the Sixth Form about Ying Wa Girls’ School. They found you very interesting! I have of
course concentrated on my ‘educational life’ in this very brief autobiography
but it is true that in the story of my life I have been closely connected with
schools, in one way or another, throughout.
I feel at this moment that in my
story an episode has ended, and I look forward eagerly to starting this new
chapter as Headmistress of Ying Wa Girls’ School.
Evelyn Jenkins
