TrustNews Jun 22
Peter Symonds' School
In the second instalment marking the 125th anniversary of Peter Symonds' School, Phil Yates reflects on his time at the school during the Second World War
I began my time at Peter Symonds’ School in 1937 when Dr PY Freeman (known as ‘Doc') was headmaster. Two years later, on 3rd September 1939, the Second World War began, and this disrupted our education in many ways. Air raid shelters were quickly constructed in the playing fields and we, with the teachers, were trained on what to do in the case of an air raid.
In 1940, the pupils from Portsmouth Grammar School for Boys were evacuated to Winchester, resulting in the re-organisation of school lessons. They took over the school for morning lessons, while we attended lessons in the afternoons. Eighteen months later they found alternative accommodation and we went back to normal.
When we reached the age of 14, Doc encouraged us to join the nightly fire-watching team, which consisted of a teacher and two boys patrolling the school and grounds from 10pm to 7am, keeping an eye out for ?res. This meant we had the following morning off school to catch up on lost sleep!
As we approached the age of 16, plans were made for us to leave school. We were expected to sit for leaving exams – the school certificate. Some of us didn't bother and left school without taking the exams, much to the annoyance of Doc. L remember he called three of us into his study to give us a lecture on how we would get nowhere in life without a school certificate. We left anyway. Many years later at a reunion of Old Symondians, l caught up with the other two. One had become a BT engineer and the other a cinema organist of some renown - he even had a TV programme made about him. And me? I became a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives working for a local ?rm of solicitors for 40 years.
In May 1972 the last 11-plus entry for boys took place, and September 1974 saw the first admissions of boys and girls to the renamed Peter Symonds Sixth Form College.
This is Phil's last article for TrustNews. Now in his mid-90s, he has decided to retire. The Trust would like to thank Phil for the many articles he has written for the newsletter over many years.