COBURN, GORDON and DICKIE
From 1961 until 1968/9 the school ran under a "House System" this is still
used in some secondary schools.
Simply every pupil was placed in a house with a different colour for each
... like in Harry Potter but we didn't have the "hat". The pupils wore a small round button badge with the House colour. In the VI department
there were three Houses
DICKIE (RED)
COBURN (BLUE)
GORDON (GREEN)
The Houses were named after men who had contributed towards the good of the Visually Impaired. I will get exact details and post them here ASAP. I know there were pictures of the three men on the wall at one time.
Within the House "Marks" were awarded in BLUE for GOOD and RED for BAD.
The marks were added at the end of each year and the winning House received
a cup on Prize Day.
(above) Blue the colour associated with Coburn House.
Each house had a Captain and Vice Captain who were also designated Prefects.
They controlled the members and held meetings when necessary to discuss
matters related to marks. Usually a large number of RED marks was discussed
and the hope was they would deal with their own discipline.
During the Friday Assembly Mr Denmark or Mr Park read out the marks gained that week. Anyone attaining more than five blue marks was invited up onto the stage. The total blue marks were reduced by the number of red to produce a running total.
(above) Red the colour associated with Dickie House.
It was possible to "fix" the system and gain more blue marks ----- usually a contribution to the class Nature Table brought forth a blue markand helping tidy the classroom brought another leaving only three to attain for actual work!
Mr Kearns had a good way of dealing with the system he gave ONE blue mark to one pupil in rotation per week. This meant that actually the best pupils failed to make any big effort thus making a joke of the entire thing.
(above) Green the colour associated with Gordon House.
Other members of staff were especially good at issuing RED marks sometimes at the rate of 5+ per misdemeanor.
In 1968/9 when the Blind and Partially Sighted Department merged the Houses were abolished. I suspect Mr Anderson did not like the system plus it gave more time for actual teaching. This also ended the Prefect system.
I last saw the cup in the main entrance to the school in a glass case. It has not been used sine 1969.
This page was last updated on Thursday February 17, 2005