Rex French has written about his school days at the old Marks Tey School. It is likely he was born in 1927 so would have attended during the 1930s. He refers to a photograph taken of the pupils at the school.

The photo is of the top class at Marks Tey School taken I think in 1936. There were 3 classes in those days.

Infants 4 1/2 to about 7 - Teacher Miss Moore

Middle Class 7 to 9 - Teacher Miss Syms

Top 9 to 11 - Teacher Miss Malyon(?)

And then Stanway or High School.

The teachers had to divide the class up into sections to teach different standards of the 3 R’s.

I remember one morning a week we had R.I. taken by Canon J. Steele. We had various sports gear which was never used. The footballs were always flat.

At Xmas every pupil had a bag of nuts and an orange from Mr Porter of Bridge Farm for which we all had to write a thank you letter.

School Holidays were Xmas - Easter - 2 weeks for pea picking and Summer 6 weeks.

During the war we had evacuees billeted on us from the East End of London. (Dock area) a real rough lot.

The photo was taken in the playground on Coggeshall Rd side of the school. The building in the background is the old Church Hall demolished at the same time as the school.

Hope this is useful to you, Rex French.