My life line has always had a big mark in it that indicates the time my mother and I made the move from Scotland to Canada. It sometimes feels like two different lives, my childhood in a land far far away and the life here and now. The people involved feel so different – that child vs the now – two very different experiences and sometimes hard to connect to. The experiences are so different that I sometimes question the veracity of my memories of school in Edinburgh. I have fond memories of elementary school. Despite all the things going on in my personal life; divorce, alcoholism, homelessness, school seemed to be the one solid thing that was there for me. I had a small class and we (as far as I recall) were all fairly close. I was just an average student but I had the subjects that I loved; art, reading, history and was lucky to have teachers who enjoyed those subjects as much as I and infused them with passion and fun.
Sciennes Primary School is a grand Victorian building next to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. It was built in 1882, and the history echoed through its high ceilinged rooms and old desks with stained inkstands still within them. In fact, back in the 70’s we still learned handwriting using nib pens; I don’t think my children even know what that is. They probably assume that would be something made out of a feather. Mrs. Groat and Mr. King were my two favorite teachers. Mrs. Groat was a silver haired granny type who handed out the hugs gladly and kept us all quiet as she enthusiastically read Paddington Bear to us. She was kind and firm and made us feel safe and confident. We wanted to please her because she cared. Mr. King was the total opposite. He was tall and wore tweedy jackets and had the air of a professor about him. He had taught at a private school in Kenya before returning to the UK and we love to distract him during math, getting him to regale us with his many adventures there, including the students leaving a giant dead snake on top of his car. He was like something out of the books we read. He scared us and thrilled us and we all wanted to please him. I don’t think there are many teachers like him around anymore.
Sciennes was probably one of the luckiest schools in Edinburgh. We were in walking distance to both the National Museum of Scotland and the National Gallery of Art. Our projects came alive with trips to take in the Ancient Egyptians or myriad of stuffed animals and birds, and many other artefacts I had visions of painting like the great masters themselves after being inspired by our trips to the Gallery. All that art and history at our fingertips, and we lived and breathed it all in the heart of Edinburgh. This was all so different from the schools closer to my home. Schools surrounded by barbed wire and graffiti, schools that were more like war zones rather than places of inspiration and education. Sciennes was my saving grace. Because my grandmother lived in the catchment area, I was able to attend there instead down at the Council Housing estate in Leith that we resided in. Pilton was a grim place filled with grim people. Its bleak façades were a far cry from the ‘Athens of the North’ that a school like Sciennes represented. I don’t think I would be the person I am today, if I hadn’t been blessed to attend such a great school.
Our early education is so crucial to shaping us as adults. I hate to hear that schools in less fortunate parts of the city and country are unable give to their students the dreams of bigger and better lives that those kids deserve. I hate to hear that one school in a more affluent part of the city holds higher grades than those like the inner city schools. The passion for life, learning and community has to be shared evenly among all types of people. All children deserve to have amazing memories of school, especially if their personal lives are fraught with unhappiness, abuse, and less than stellar home lives. School should be a sanctuary that offers better futures than the life they may be currently enduring. School should signify hope. I hope my children have such profound memories of their schooling as I did.
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Iain Bible says
I have great memories from that school
The swimming pool in the bottom to the long stairs to the classrooms in the top
it’s a great place
Iain