Hardest School in Brighton

[One Love]

I don't think its quite like it used to be for fights but I no Varndean battered Stringer in a snowball fight a couple of years ago

Go back about 30 years & I'll think you'll find that varndean won ALL of the snowball fights! God, am I really that old

I remember one snowball fight between Hove Grammar and Nevill.

A grammar RE teacher intervened by walking between the 2 ranks and shouting "Stop! In the name of God". He got pelted rotten.

 

[desprateseagull]

patcham fawcett seemed to have a 'rep, when i was at dorothy stringer..

 

[PFJ]

Fawcett 1979-83

I remember Miss Dockerill - quite the fantasy figure for us young teenagers!

Granville Wilcox and Chris Taylor were our PE teachers. We had Mr Tomkinson for English (he was also deputy Headmaster - I vaguely recall hearing that he sadly had problems with depression later in life), Mrs Brandwood for French (what a battleaxe!), Mr Ashdown for Science, Biology teacher was Pete Holland, and Bob Shultz was one of the Physics teachers In our first year we had Mr Cox teaching us Chemistry but he left to go to America, I later heard he had been killed in a car crash out there. Oh yes, and Mr Denyer for Physics - his speciality was to chuck a board rubber at any boy caught chatting, his aim was amazing.

Our music teacher was Andy Murray (not that one!) and I think he was in the band that had a hit with Tom Hark, the name of the band escapes me but I'm sure someone will remember.

As for the kids, there were definately some nutters around. One lad who thought he was particularly hard turned up one day with dyed hair and a baseball bat over his shoulder (presumably in case someone took exception to his hair). Anyway, we were all on the school field at break time and it started raining quite heavily. This lad was seen walking into class, soaked, with red/brown streaks down his face. He had apparently used food dye to colour his hair!

There was also a lad that was convicted of knifing a foreign student to death in Brighton, I think I remember his name but I'm not sure so I won't put it on here, just in case its not him!

Mr Hodder was headmaster - didn't have much to do with him but I do recall he had a bit of a twitch when he blinked

I went to Fawcett 72-77 . A lot of the names you mention were there in my day. Gran Wilcox was quality and used to call one the fat kids 'Cripplegate ' .Never get away with that now. One of my best mates there was Choc Rahaman . I remember when we were at Carden juniors , he had just come down from South London and used to wear a Palace shirt (claret and blue pin stripes)during footie practise. This would have been about 1970-71, so we had no idea what was to come.
You are right there were a lot of Fawcett faces in the Albion mob in those days . One particular family were well known for it , going back as far as the sixties .
The music teacher you remember would have been in the Pirhanas , if it was Tom Hark. Have to say didn't know that. My music teacher was Mr Richards . He was battered by a certain Mr R B.The teacher was hit so hard ,the rims of his glsses were embedded in his face.
There were also some sadists who masqueraded as teachers . Mr Griffiths (must be dead now). Looked like a nonce Not only did he have a strap and a cane(which they all did) he had a cabinet full of them !!!! He even gave them names. His favourite strap was caled Horace , so if you mucked about in lesson , you had to meet Horace. My god it stung!!!! He would hit you so hard , it leave a welt on your skin and bruise the bone of your hand.One day , being an all boys school we all took turns to muck about and face Horace . It was a 'who is the hardest competion'. If you didn't muck around and get strapped you would get a kicking from the rest of the class during break.
Now that was a hard school.

 

[PFJ]

patcham fawcett seemed to have a 'rep, when i was at dorothy stringer..

Hate to say it , but Fawcett reguarally went to Stringer during dinner time and chased 'em all over their playing fields .

 

[brightn'ove]

I went to the softest school in Brighton & hove, so I wouldn't have a clue

 

[paul wickens]

Hardest school in Sussex?

I went to the Oakmeeds Academy for the Gifted and Talented in Burgess Hill the early 1980s I remember a particularly 'spicy' cup match against Stanley Deason which was a bit of an 'eye opener' for those of us who went to relatively 'soft' provincial schools. Bishop Bell in Eastbourne weren't too pleasant either...
Most of the schools in Mid Sussex, Horsham, East Grinstead were ok.

 

[The Modfather]

Hate to say it , but Fawcett reguarally went to Stringer during dinner time and chased 'em all over their playing fields .

Happy days

 

[BN9 BHA]

Hate to say it , but Fawcett reguarally went to Stringer during dinner time and chased 'em all over their playing fields .

Even the teachers were hard, do you remember Frank Ingham the maths teacher? he would hit your knuckles with his mini cane for talking, but had a big cane to really wack kids with for just being mouthy, not happy days.
Stringer came up to Fawcett 1981 I think, about 100 of them came up and broke down a fence coming through a garden to get into the school, they turned up just after we had gone back to lessons so it didn't go off, the police turned up and made all the stringer boys sit on the grass in front of the school.
The whole of Fawcett also got banned from the buses when I was there.

 

[Seagull on the wing]

The school of hard knocks was pretty tough...

 

[hitony]

Could try this website... http://www.192.com/people/search/

Thanks, but been there and done that.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Obviously not a very good one. It's "there".

sorry I know this is an old post but this is very funny.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I went to a very soft school (Hove Grammar - not telling which of the two). 1969-1976. There was a great thread on here about one of the schools way back (late 90s - old skool NSC). Maybe we didn't have daily brutality, but we had a laugh. People knock grammar schools, and as a lefty I am supposed to disapprove, but without the opportunity I'd be like my ancestors, uneducated, poor and probably wearing ninja pyjamas and spouting right wing rubbish on NSC . . .

 

[Harry H]

Jesus, you've just taken me back to a place that I thought I'd blacked out. I 'now' remember Steve Hubbard recruiting a team for an impending date with Fawcett on the Balfour football pitch. Unfortunately, being picked for this school team left you puking a little bit in your mouth! That was a bloke who definitely led from the front.

My kids go to Stringer now and it's currently like a Buddhist retreat compared to the legendary tear ups of the mid 70s. Until of course (linking threads) Michael Gove takes us back to the halcyon days of education.

I saw Hubbard dive into a group of West Ham fans in Boyces street and leave at least three with serious injuries.He took out the one armed black Chelsea leader in the Suite and I saw him take down two plod in Pool Valley one night.
Mad as a hatter!
Not many from Stringer in the same mould though.

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

These schools sound like fun.. During my 5 years at my secondary school we had...
1 teacher knocked out and jaw broken
5 people come to the school with bats and crowbars trying to find a student.
Chair thrown at the teacher
A racist **** knocked out in 3 separate occasions(still didn't learn to keep his gob shut)
1 kid having the shit kicked out of him and didn't come back to school for almost 2 months...

School in Aus was great... And I wasn't even at the worst school...

 

[El Sid]

I went to a very soft school (Hove Grammar - not telling which of the two). 1969-1976. There was a great thread on here about one of the schools way back (late 90s - old skool NSC). Maybe we didn't have daily brutality, but we had a laugh. People knock grammar schools, and as a lefty I am supposed to disapprove, but without the opportunity I'd be like my ancestors, uneducated, poor and probably wearing ninja pyjamas and spouting right wing rubbish on NSC . . .

I was there, 67-74. regularly gave the Neville a good slapping. My mate, Big Sid, slapped a couple of teachers as well.

We used to have the odd ruck with Thomas Bennet in Crawley as well when we played them at football and cricket.

 

[churley1]

His 'mouth' was nothing to do with it! It was more to do with the fact that he was needlessly stabbed by some nutcase.

It's very easy to make comments from outside. But the truth is, his brother is a decent kid who had his life torn apart by the horrific death of his older brother. Maybe that would send you 'off the rails' if it were you?

I didn't really know what happened at the time, but some of the stuff Tye got upto was inexcusable, he terrorised people much younger than him at a drop of a hat, I remember simply walking past him and he gave me grief out of nowhere!

I'm happy nobody has mentioned Blatch Mill from what I can see, going to a school full of nutters is nothing to be proud of.

 

[Box of Frogs]

Even the teachers were hard, do you remember Frank Ingham the maths teacher? he would hit your knuckles with his mini cane for talking, but had a big cane to really wack kids with for just being mouthy, not happy days.
Stringer came up to Fawcett 1981 I think, about 100 of them came up and broke down a fence coming through a garden to get into the school, they turned up just after we had gone back to lessons so it didn't go off, the police turned up and made all the stringer boys sit on the grass in front of the school.
The whole of Fawcett also got banned from the buses when I was there.

Yes remember the name of Mr Ingham but can't picture him.. One I forgot was Maurice Packham who taught history, quietly spoken until he lost his rag, which he seemed to with us on a regular basis. One of the jacket with elbow patches brigade.

 

[Box of Frogs]

The Piranhas

That's it - thanks

Hey, same era as me!!! Although I left a bit earlier in the final year than my peers as I was a bit of a silly boy!!

Have some vague recollections of inter school fisticuffs but they never really came to much; as I suspect they were not in fact pre arranged and the other school never knew about it!

I remember all the names you mention - was Mr Gillard before or after Mr Hodder? And I do recollect the very sad foreign student incident which was shocking and also seemed to be most out of character.

As for the OP .... was Fawcett the hardest....... I expect not in reality.....and in truth is any school really hard or is it more that individuals think they are?

Mr Gillard - another name I remember but can't place the face. May have been after Hodder as I think he was just a teacher when I was there.

There was also a Geography teacher (was that Gillard?) and a Tech Drawing teacher whose names escape me - TD teacher had dark hair and a beard, nice fella. Both their classrooms were the portacabins around the back of the school if I remember right.

 

[Rowdey]

Gillard was Head when i was there (82-86) so after Hodder.

Ref Portacabins - The teacher (Another Davis ?) favourite saying was to shout "FILE IT DOWN BOY..."

 

[BuddyBoy]

newman- due to the shear amount of people
tideway- is just full of drugies...not hard

i would have to say varndean top the list alsodue to the fact it is in molscumbe...

Nowhere near Moulscoombe.