Sheffield retro: Remembering school uniforms from B&C, heads flushed in toilets and the cane

For many it also means the first day at school filled with excitement and maybe some anxiety.

For mums and dads their children going back to the classroom after the summer off school may be a God send.

When I was a pupil school uniforms were on the wane with many schools abandoned them all together.

But uniforms were brought back to bring a sense of pride, identity, and eradicate the inequality of designer clothing, but it seems the uniforms cost more than the designer clothes now.

I remember getting my uniforms from B&C on Castle Street, you could buy anything from that store.

I was more than ready for school, we’d moved to the area earlier that year, and already made friends locally.

I was going to a new school with new friends. I was keen to go.

So from going from a school of around 300 pupils I went to a school of around 1200.

My older brother took great joy in telling me as many horror stories he could make up about the cane, the slipper or other corporal punishments.

His favourite fable was that new starters got their heads shoved down the toilets and flushed.

It seemed a bit scary and possibly true, I would have stayed clear of the toilets.

As far as I know the flushings never took place, unless this information was kept from me.

Other new things I encountered were pupils smoking, quite a few pupils who smoked, and went to great lengths to smoke on school premises.

The favourite spot in my school was behind the Air Dome.

A large inflatable structure which I was quite proud of as only one of two in Sheffield.

Sheffield Wednesday had the other one.

At the time pupils would huddle up out of view, and light up before the first bell and at break time.

Thankfully smoking never interested me. I wouldn’t have been able to afford it anyway, just like today some things never change.