On the outside the school looks very much as I remember it. I started in September 1955 when I was five and a half years old, not turning six until December. I attended the school for six years.
Pupils were restricted to which entrances could be used. The girls went in on the right-hand side in the picture above and the boys went in on the left-hand side. We were supposed to go in from the backside of the school. Because Vancouver has a very wet climate, there were two very large open spaces in this basement floor, off which were the toilets and cloakrooms. We were expected to hang up our outdoor clothing in the cloakroom before going to our classroom.
On wet days, we used to play in the basement during recess, the boys on the boys’ side and the girls on the girls’ side. It would have been noisy when everyone was running around, playing games, or just talking with each other. But it was better than being outside and getting soaking wet.
Kerrisdale School always had a very large open area around it and I think it is still in tact. There was a treed area where one could climb trees or run around between them. There were sports fields for playing different games. There was an black-topped area with a hard surface where we could play hopscotch or skip rope. The outside area was at several different elevations so it was easy to find a place for the group one was in that was separate from other groups.
On the few winter days when there was enough snow, one could use a sled and slide down the long slope. However, a more important memory is riding my bike around the school grounds on summer evenings. The paved areas were a favorite and one could ride around the building many times with one’s friends. I only lived a few short blocks away, so the school grounds could also be used in our free time.
In second grade there were too few classrooms for what was needed, so we were housed in “portables”, where we had a hallway where we would hang up our coats and take off our wet boots.
In third grade my class was in the new addition (which was off to the left of the main building in the picture). The new addition had a gymnasium and a lunch room as well as new classrooms.
I lived close enough to the elementary school to go home for lunch every day. We had an hour for lunch and it was good to go home. In the winter months it was often soup and sandwiches. The exercise of going home for lunch was good for young bodies. If my mom was not going to be at home for lunch, I could usually go over to my girlfriend, Kerry’s house. Occasionally I had to take a lunch to school. I didn’t like those days as the time seemed to drag. When most kids went home for lunch, there were few kids at the school and not necessarily the ones that I was used to playing with.
Very interesting post, and surprisingly similar to what I experienced at elementary school. I guess that is because much of what you have mentioned was part of a policy: separate entrances for each gender, toilets in the basements, an hour for lunch etc.
What I think younger readers may not understand, is that mothers during the 1950s typically did not work outside of the home. Thus, there would be an adult at home for the lunch hour.
Personally, I think the social changes since then have been important. Both genders have a need to work outside of the house, for their mental well-being – if nothing else.