The second year at Parsonwood hill was a lot easier than the first (inside the classroom at least). The classes were mixed up again and I would stay with that same group for the next 4 years. I didn’t like Mrs Wilson that much (but then again I didn’t like many teachers!!!!) but compared to Mrs Price the previous year she wasn’t that bad.
By this point it had been firmly established what I was good at and what I wasn’t good at. When it came to Maths I was always top of the class, I learned new concepts far quicker than anyone else and was at least a year in front of average even at the age of 7.
When it came to English and in particular my handwriting and spelling I never scored highly but I was always the first to admit it. As far as I was concerned I was not THAT bad I would say that around 20-30 percent of the class were worse than I was. Despite this I always got slated by every teacher all the way through school. It was always the theme ofschool reports and parents evenings.
I have always felt that I got more criticism than others who were worse than I was. My theory is that everyone else who was in the top 20% at Maths were also in the top 40% at English. There was such a big difference between my Maths and English grades that they probably thought that I was not making an effort.
Outside of the classroom there were two events I clearly remember from this year. The first was when I fell over and hit my head in the school playground. When I went back into the classroom after break time I started feeling dizzy and suffering from blurred vision. I ended up going into hospital and having my head x-rayed but got the all clear and was sent home for the day. At the time of writing this its the closest I have came to breaking anything.
The second involved Dean Hutchinson, we were just messing about play fighting and I somehow caught him in the eye. It was nothing malicious of course because I wasn’t like that but it was seen by a teacher and I ended up in trouble. I was given a ruthless half hour grilling by his teacher Mr Bell.
Then he gave me my punishment, detention every morning and afternoon break time for the whole week. I was allowed out at dinner time but still it seemed shocking and harsh at the time. When you are 7 years old missing your break times for a week feels like a life sentence. That was probably the most trouble I ever got into during the whole time I spent at school.
That was the first year we started getting school reports and mine was as follows.
ENGLISH - Hampered by the inability to present legible writing. He reads reasonably fluently and his spelling is not too bad.
MATHEMATICS - A slow mover on paper. Mentally Matthew is alert, quick and accurate. He is much better with Mathematics.
SPECIAL INTERESTS - Interested in the environment. He contributes well to oral discussions and his general knowledge is good.
ART AND CRAFT - Tries hard and produces satisfactory work
GENERAL REMARKS - Matthew's ability fails to show on paper as he underachieved and presents badly formed letters and figures. I hope he will practice to improve this.
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