Vivien Window (nee Panter) at KHS 1952 to 1958
It was 1956 or 1957 and I was in 5P, our form rooms were in Hillside, as the main school building was packed out. Miss Woodrow, the Headteacher, decided to enforce two of our school rules, which we had blithely ignored for years. One was we MUST wear our school hats from leaving the school until entering our homes, we were never to be seen outside without it. The other was: - No eating in the street. (I must admit that after all these years I still can't bring myself to guzzle my fish and chips in the open air!!). However, we girls ate sweets and any goodies we could lay our hands on with never a thought to our school uniform. Miss Woodrow announced at Prayers that from henceforth, any girl seen eating in the street or devoid of school hat, would be punished with all the severity our school had to offer….. A SATURDAY MORNING DETENTION!!!! Shock! Horror! This detention had only recently been introduced. We got given Nuisance Marks for minor sins like running on the stairs, and I think it was an accumulation of 3 of them that led to an ordinary detention (after school). Only a few of our goody goody form ever had one. You could, if you were very bad indeed, get given a detention outright, but it was a rare event. I cannot imagine why the Saturday Morning detention was brought in. Perhaps darling Miss Woodrow felt she was losing her grip? Anyway, we thought no more about the rules and continued throwing off the hat the minute we got out of Bowling Green Road and stuffing crisps or sweets as we walked home. Inevitably we were reported. Miss Woodrow knew the girls were 5th formers and appeared in our classroom to ask each of us, in turn, whether we had eaten in uniform or not worn our hat. Believe it or not 28 out of 32 girls owned up and were given a Saturday Morning Detention!! I said we were goody goodies. She didn't do as well in 5Q or in 5R, I can tell you, they were smarter than us. I can clearly remember saying, 'Yes Miss Woodrow, I was eating a sweet', but then rather hopefully added 'But I had my school hat on'! I can still see the twinkle in her eyes as she sternly said, 'I rather think that makes it worse’. So, that Saturday morning, we all went back to school to meet our friends and write an essay. My Mother was furious as I could not go to my Saturday job, and she had to give me pocket money that week but we couldn't complain if we'd wanted to. Saturday jobs were also banned! My granddaughter finds it hard to believe this story, but it is absolutely true. How times have changed!
Memorabilia from Kettering High School
The school uniform did not fundamentally change over the life of the school, just slight tweaks to update the uniform as fashions changed. Wearing the correct uniform was always viewed as vital by the school but the pupils’ aim was to ‘adapt’ it to suit the fashion fad of the day.
The School Tunics
The first tunics were navy blue serge with three box pleats at the front and back and a matching girdle around the waist. Those in school teams wore red and white girdles.
Blouses were white square necked, but gradually collars and ties, red and white, became more popular.
Pupils had to have three pairs of shoes, indoor, outdoor and gym shoes which they kept in a red turkey-twill shoe bag on which their full names were embroidered in white.
Outdoor coats had to be navy blue and in summer the girls wore navy blazers with the school badge on the pocket. The summer hat was a Panama, while in winter the pupils had a black velour hat: both of these had a red hatband round the crown.
Tunics continued to be worn by the younger pupils until the 1970s.
The School Ties
The red and white ties were worn in the 1st to 5th years and the plain burgundy tie was worn by the Lower and Upper Sixth students.
Deportment Girdles
Deportment girdles, a red woollen woven belt, later changed to maroon, were issued to those girls who gained 3As. In later years they were awarded to those that were consistently neat and tidy.
A grey games girdle was given to those in the school sports teams with the coloured stripe denoting the specific sport; red for hockey, green for netball and yellow for tennis.
The School Blazer
The blazer badge changed colour slightly over the years.
The earlier version (left) was brighter red. The later one a maroon colour.
The School Scarf
The school scarf made in the Kettering High School colours.
The School Bible
These bibles were given out on joining the school by Northants Education Committee. Yes, I know you all have a copy that is in much better condition than this one, but this particular copy had to do O and A level Scripture, so it has had a hard life!
The School Magazine
There was a school magazine published before the 2nd World War, but we don’t have any copies in our archives. The magazine stopped in 1939 and didn’t recommence until June 1951. The magazine contained articles about events at the school, poems from the pupils and adverts from local businesses. It was professionally printed presumably funded by the advertising.
A new school magazine called "High Times" was published in 1974 but it was short lived as no one seemed willing to contribute articles. "High Times" was an ‘in house’ production by members of the Lower Sixth and was printed on the school duplicator. It was a bit more light-hearted than the previous magazine.
