May 19, 2014 - I was shocked when I found out that they practised at South Croydon train station! This is because the ma
Edition No. 80 Day: Monday, May 19th Theme: The Quiet Achiever Writer: David Hayes, Year 10 This is the motto of 450 squadron ATC of which I am a member. When I was asked by Mr Parrish to take part in the public launch of the Tenison’s history book by meeting the author and asking him some questions about the former ATC squadron which was based at Tenison’s and commanded by Mr F Pratt I was delighted to do so, because it felt like I had something in common with past pupils at the school who had been involved with the ATC. Questioning the author about the book was a new experience for me, which I was proud to have the chance to do. When talking to the author it gave me an insight into the school’s history which is incredible. Whilst walking around the exhibition I was able to meet with the two oldest surviving Tenisonians and find out about what life was like at Tenison’s during the war, they were also intrigued to find out what life is like at Tension’s now. At the exhibition we were able to see some old and interesting artefacts linked with the school such as the school ties and, projects from the old metal work class, pictures of past Tenison’s sports teams and some of the old awards which pupils had won. After viewing the exhibition Mr Parrish gave an inspirational speech to fuel us for the next coming year to makes sure Tenison’s continues to burn as brightly as it has been. He enlightened us about the school’s colourful past and how it has shaped the school to be what it is today The amazing experience of being at Tenison’s in the tercentenary year and being able to have a part in it has contributed to my wonderful schooling career at Tenison’s so far.
Edition No. 81 Day: Tuesday, May 20th Theme: Fond Memories… Writer: Abigail Naumenko, 10B Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to go to the Tercentenary Exhibition. It was fascinating to see photos of past pupils and the uniform worn by the students themselves. I love social history and especially when I can relate to it, it’s like going back in time! I had the privilege to talk to a pupil from 1929, Yvonne, who is 96 years old! Her memories were delightful to hear because they made me realise that the times that she had at Tenisons, she happily recalls as good memories, which made an impact on her, and I believe the school continues to have an impact on not only the students and staff of the past but of the present day also. Her fond memories included how she and a friend had once, in order to clean the head teacher’s office as quickly as possible, tied cloth dusters to their feet and skated around, cleaning the floor! She also recalled that the girls and boys, who were still taught separately at that time, had very different lessons which were gender exclusive. For example, girls were taught embroidery, cooking and even cleaning! The boys, however, would learn sports and woodwork, making tools from whatever materials they could find! As enjoyable as it was to hear her memories, I’m grateful that now, girls and boys have equal chances to study all subjects! On the other hand, the pupils learnt important things in these lessons and valuable life skills. The girls would learn essential tips to prepare them for when they would become mothers, and boys would learn DIY! (The pupils were even given fabrics to make their own uniform!) Tenisons has done a good job of educating pupils and creating a positive school experience for 300 years and I pray it will continue to do so for future generations of Tenisonians!
Edition No. 82 Day: Wednesday, May 21th Theme: Combining Two to Make One Writer: Marie Agyare Wiseborn, 10T The exhibition had a large effect on everyone who attended, noted from the interviews of David Smith who wrote “Archbishop Tenison’s: A History” to the personal conversation with Yvonne who attended the separate girls’ school in 1935. The question I asked was how the teachers coped when the two separate schools combined and became the mixed school it is today. David explained that it was challenging to get the children to mix because at first they saw the other gender as strange. However, after a while they no longer felt hostile towards each other which then made it easier for the teachers to progress with the lesson. Another key feature of the exhibition was having a conversation with Yvonne. She had several interesting stories to tell like how the teachers gave an extravagant name to having to clean the offices themselves because “domestic cleaning” sounded like a chore. The fact that struck me the most was where they trained for athletics. Being an athlete myself, I took particular interest in this story. I was shocked when I found out that they practised at South Croydon train station! This is because the material on the platform was similar to that of the athletics track; they only trained there because they had nowhere else to practise and the platforms were the closest they could get. This made me realise how far the school had actually come in 300 years. From having no place to train to now having the West Courts where we can do a variety of sports such as hockey, football, netball and basketball. This made me feel grateful for having a place to play sport because having to go to South Croydon train station to practise for athletics would have been hard and dangerous work.
Edition No. 83 Day: Thursday, May 22nd Theme: Limited Resources Writer: Carys Toko, 10B On Tuesday 13th May I took part in the Tercentenary Exhibition as part of a team of GCSE History students. Beforehand, we were given the task of researching a topic from David Smith’s book “Archbishop Tenison’s: A History” so we could ask him a question regarding the book. I was given the task of researching sports at Tenison’s and how far it has come. The question I asked the author was “How did WW2 affect sports in general, especially with the supply of sports equipment?”. David then responded by giving me quite a bizarre answer in which he said a boy at the school at that time recalls that the school only possessed one pair of cricket pads, which were to be shared between the two batsmen. The wicket keeper would also have no adequate protection so would have to stand quite far back. This really opened my eyes to the major effect of WW2 and how the resources they had were limited. We are privileged to have so much more than what we had in 1945: we can now practise on the grounds of Addiscombe Cricket Club and we have all the sports supplies we need. A highlight of the exhibition (which has been glowingly endorsed by the other GCSE History students who wrote 300 Words) was the talk with 96-year-old Yvonne. She was part of the girl’s school before they were amalgamated. She was a long distance runner and one thing that I remember from our talk with her was how she recalls having to use the side of the train tracks to hone her athletics skills rather than use an athletics track! It is remarkable how far the school has come and I am thankful for the resources we have despite being such a small school.
Edition No. 84 Day: Friday, May 23rd Theme: Two Places at once Writer: Emmanuella Twumasi, 10T The launch of the book “Archbishop Tenison’s: A History” brought both past and present pupils of Tenison’s together to celebrate the history of the school. I had the opportunity to ask David Smith, the author of the book, a question based on a chapter in the book which I had read. My question for David was: “Why did some of the Tenison’s pupils stay in Croydon instead of evacuating to Crowborough?” David answered my question by talking about how there were false air warnings and how the parents of some of the parents eventually got fed up with having their children evacuated only to be sent back again because the threat of attack was not serious enough. So when the Crowborough evacuation happened some parents thought that it was just another false alarm and they didn’t bother having their children evacuated.
After the interview, I had the honor of meeting one of the oldest surviving pupils from Tenison’s. The pupil’s name was Yvonne. She talked to me about what it was like going to the girls’ school and how she never got to meet any of the boys from the boy’s school even though both schools were on the same site which I found quite strange. Pupils were also given material to make their school uniform and this made me realise how fortunate I am to be living in an era where I can simply go to a shop and buy my school uniform. She also spoke about the lack of facilities like equipment for ball games and space to practice. She used to compete in athletics competitions and she had to train for her competitions on a train track in south Croydon. This goes to show how dedicated and determined pupils were back then when it came to sport.
