Mrs Johnston-Wood looks back at her time as a pupil!
Like many families at Academy Primary School, my links with the school spread through several generations.
My mother, Joan Maxwell, started as a pupil at the school 58 years ago, in the same class as one of our school governors, John Wade.
Her memories of school include learning to write on a slate. I'm glad we've moved on from that, can you imagine carrying home the marking?
I began my education at Academy 33 years ago, aged 4, as a pupil in Mrs Wallace's class. Mr McIlhinney was the headmaster and some of the other teachers I can remember were Miss Cole, Mrs Webb and just before I left Mrs Adamson joined the staff.
Some of the other children in my class were Margaret McGreevy, Gail MacKenzie, Caroline McKelvey, Susan Ann Welch, Betsy Burton, Gloria Pyper, Simon Kells, and Keith Gilchrist, to name but a few.
By the time I was in P7, the 70's were in full swing and platform shoes were all the rage. I can remember being asked by Mr McIlhinney to run up and down the classroom to reassure him that I could actually walk in the shoes I was wearing to school. This makes me feel really old now, when I look at the same fashions coming back again and I find myself wondering how the children manage to walk in them without breaking their ankles!
Lunch times are also a delightful memory. Not because of the school dinners, which were sent up from the High School, as we didn't have our own kitchens, but because we were allowed to go down the street and buy cream cookies from 'Lillian's Home Bakery', whose premises used to be where 'The Tasty Grill' is now, or go further down the street to Johnston's chip shop, now the 'Lucky Boat'.
Only the very bravest children would venture into 'Freddie's' sweet shop. It's this shop, which springs to my mind when I read of some of the strange shops in the Harry Potter novels.
Another poignant memory is of Sports Day, when I won the fancy dress competition with my friend Karen Crockard. We dressed up as Laurel and Hardy and believe it or not, I was Laurel!!
Sports Day was always held down at the playing fields in Saintfield, as we didn't have our own grounds. We used to walk down en masse and make a day of it.
The years have flown past and not only am I forced to admit that I will never look as slim as Stan Laurel again, but I am also reminded daily that I have moved up a generation and the pupils I now teach are the children of my former class mates.
I feel very privileged to be part of the history and also the future of Academy.
At present two of my own children, Amy and Shannon, attend the school in P5 and P2 respectively. Childhood is such a special time in our lives and the experiences we have at school are so important to our development.
Like all of the staff at Academy, I want to make sure that every child in my class can look back on their time at our school with fond memories and know that they have a vital contribution to make to the world.
As a parent, I want to encourage my children to develop their own personalities and grow to be confident, thoughtful adults, who respect other people's opinions and care about the world we live in.
I am happy to entrust their childhood into the hands of my colleagues and feel confident that their lives will be all the richer for their time spent at Academy Primary School.
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