South Tyneside school was '˜first class'

Photos of children enjoying themselves at the school prompted a number of Facebook comments, one from a reader who went there two decades ago, and whose son is now on the register.

Nicola Ternent posted: “Loved my time at this school, the lovely Mr Coyne, and Mrs Judd was my teacher.

“The school secretary used to always have her little black Scottie dog with her, and we used to walk him round the field some lunchtimes. Happy memories xx.”

Donna Marie Foord went online to say: “Best school there is” something which Sarah Redman agreed with, describing it as “fab”.

Joanne Rachael Hansen also described Monkon as “fab” adding: “I went there all those years ago (21 years ago). Now my son, aged seven, attends there, brilliant school. My old teacher is now his headteacher x.”

Kenny Martin revealed that he “went there the day it opened, transferred from Simonside juniors 1964”.

School days, though not necessarily Monkton School days, were also the subject of a number of other postings prompted by the appearance of an old photo on Facebook, showing youngsters paying money into the school bank in 1976.

Bill Boldon remembered doing just that, saying: “Yes Ocean Road School, I used to save penny postage stamps on a card and when you saved a shilling’s worth it went into a Post Office book. Then once a pound had been saved it went into the Trustees Bank book.”

Hannah McAlister also recalled the old school bank days by posting: “Yes, on Monday mornings. We paid it to our teacher who then, later on, read out to the class who had how much in their account.

“Once a week, at assembly, the head announced how much each class had saved that week.

“It was meant to encourage savings but just embarrassed those who hadn’t saved or who had the least!”

What are your memories of saving with the school bank?

Talking of school days, who remembers what seemed to be regular visits from the school nurse?

We all used to line-up outside the secretary’s office and, in the case of the boys, had to cough while she examined certain parts of our anatomy.

Then, of course, there was the “nitty nurse” who was another regular at schools.

Again, we would line-up ready for inspection, and oh the shame of leaving the office with the dreaded bit of paper which indicated that you were carrying little passengers in your hair.

Mind you, the way children mix together, rubbing heads and what have you, once one of us had lice, the rest weren’t too far behind.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Hynes got in touch after seeing a photo of the royal yacht Britannia, carrying the Queen and Prince Philip as they visited the Tyne, on Facebook.

She posted: “I was there. I pushed my daughter Hellen in her pram down to South Shields. The atmosphere was amazing.”