I was a pupil at Stanford road School and can remember the masters mentioned here and also a Mr. Maugham whose son was in my class at one time. Both Mr Manton and Mr Maugham used to live in Cuckmere Way, Hollingbury, and I used to live in Hartfield Avenue which was just a two minute walk away. I also remember not liking school dinners so a friend, Johnny Burton (whose mother was a teacher in the infants) and I used to go down New England Hill via Hamilton Road, to a corner cafe called Divall's. We could get steak pie, peas and potatoes for one shilling and sixpence.  School dinners at that time cost one shilling and were pretty awful. Most surprising of all was that one day we met Mr Manton, Mr Maugham and Mr Smithers - all with the same idea. All in all I had a pretty good schooling and then, like your first contributer, I went to Varndean until it was time to go out into the wide world where I became a self-employed business man.

I, along with my 4 brothers and sisters, was a pupil at Stanford Infants and Juniors from 1957 to 1963 and remember Miss Tinson, Miss Wilson, Mrs Sweet (Infants' secretary cum matron), Mr Manton (the gentle giant whom I adored) and of course Mr Smithers (who I also adored though he was strict and used to rap knuckles with a ruler...not mine however - whew). And who could forget Mr Bevan and his 'friendly ways' or Mr Peckham the headmaster who constantly sucked on a pipe? My dear grandfather, Albert Dungate, was school caretaker for most of his working life and I am sure some people will remember his gentle, helpful ways and wonderful sense of humour. He and his wife Peg lived two doors away from the tuck shop (cider lollies / pepsi lollies and penny humbugs ...oh yeah and lemonade sherbet by the quarter, I reall vividly).  My sister Sue, the baby of the family, was a year below me, my brother Tony a year ahead and Pauline and Paul were 7 and 6 years respectively ahead of me. So I am sure many people will have met one or the other of us.

In its centenary year, 1994, Stanford Junior School published a booklet to commemorate the event. It was edited by Susan Middleton and Sue Wood. I do not know whether copies are still available but perhaps QueenSpark Books, the school itself or the printers (Adelaide Print Services of Henfield) may still have a few in store.

I went to Stamford Road from 1955 - 1961, I remember several of the teachers already mentioned but I especially remember Mrs Collinete, who struggled to teach me my tables. She told me a tale about a girl who had a doll called Sarah Jane, she was told to call her doll '56' because she could not remember 7 x 8, but at an exam on being asked what was 7 x 8, she replied 'Sarah Jane!' It did make me remember what 7x8 was! Mrs Collinete was a really kind, patient teacher who helped me a great deal. It was not until I was in my 20's that I was diagnosed as dyslexic. These were not the happiest days of my childhood as my parents had split up and Mum and I were living in a tiny basement flat in Chatham Place, with a bath under the kitchen table, and a loo outside accross a yard. But I do clearly remember dancing around a Maypole in the playground with all my classmates with parents watching on....and singing in the school choir!

I went here between 1976-78 (family moved from Bevendean, when I was half way through middle school..). used to go to the local shop (end of Coverntry Street) for sweets most days.

I went there from 1970 to 1975 (when we moved to Yorkshire). My grandparents used to live in Park View Terrace (which you could get to from the snicket opposite the corner shop) and I was allowed to walk back there from school .. How times change...

I too attended Stanford Rd School between 1957 and 1960. I then fluffed my 11 plus and went to Patcham Secondary - now that was an education - if only for a year before being moved to the West Midlands area. I remember Messrs Manton, Bevan - whose daughter's name escapes me now, Smithers (ouch) and Mr Peckham and his cellist daughter Jane. We all used to go home up to Withdean on the No 112 Southdown Bus - until it snowed in Jan '58 and the bus stopped at Dyke Road and we all walked home in a blizzard! There was one bus stuck on Bramble Rise for over a week! They did give us the basis of the 3 R's and it obviously stuck because I went on to GCE O and A levels and onwards.

I started at Stanford Road in about 1942, going on to BHS Grammar School in 1948. My sister Pauline was in the school some five years before me. I found my six years passed really quickly, except when it was a case of queuing up for the strap - the wait was interminable. I wasn't really naughty - boys seemed to get the strap as a right of passage, whereas girls were goody two-shoes and it wasn't the done thing to discipline them. Such is the way of life. I must have got through a pair of shoes a month playing football in the playground. It was a very enjoyable time for me, and we were really lucky to have such excellent teachers. It didn't do me any harm at all in later life.

I went to Stanford Road school as an infant (circa 1934/5). Regrettably I don't remember much about it except that were some twins there, two boys, and an elderly white haired teacher, Miss Blunden, who, if you were naughty, would slap your legs behind the knee. Very painfull and she would be had up for assault nowadays. The Headmistress, name unknown, was tall, looked very severe and wore a brown jacket and skirt and always wore a brown jacket and skirt. What I do remember however, is that on the other side of the road, the railway side, there was a house that had a model railway, OO gauge, laid out at the front. I always hoped that we would see it in operation one day but never did, although other children said they had seen it working. Looking back, I suspect it was childish imagination.

Pupil from 1949-1955.
Whilst I would never admit to my school-days being the happiest of my life, I certainly have some fond, if hazy, memories of my days at Stanford Road. I remember, for instance, a concert in the school hall, when a large wooden balancing frame fell over and struck the music teacher on the head, rendering her insensible; but try as I may I cannot remember her name. Although I was never a "bad lad", I can remember on more than one occasion being taken to Mr. Peckham's office where the "strap" was removed from his desk drawer, unwrapped from its tissue-paper and shown to me as a warning against any further misdemeanours. But the best punishment I ever received was for kissing a girl (which I had done for a dare). For this, all the girls in the class were lined up and I was made to kiss them all. I can remember them squealing and protesting, but the female teacher insisted that I had to kiss them all without exception. Even at that young age, I can remember thinking that I had come out of that rather well.
A strange memory is the smell of the free school milk, which was always stacked in crates in front of the radiators and gave off a sickly odour, probably due to spillage.
The "tuck shop", at the Coventry Street entrance, known as "Queenies". was a joy to us all, I would daily spend my penny on four Oxo cubes, which I would suck like sweets, I can remember my horror when the price went up to a penny-farthing and I could no longer afford them.
Does anyone else remember the horrific train crash below the Dyke Road Drive Bridge? For days the railings above the railway were festooned with children from the school, watching the clearance work.
One last memory which even now gives me the shivers, is that of the St.Barnado's kids who would walk along the top of the wall in Highcroft Villas in their leather boots, with instant death on the railway side of the wall in the shape of a hundred foot drop. Thank God nobody ever went over.

Hi Colin, Didn't your dad used to own Pages Garage and ride an Aerial Square Four as a marshal at the speed trials? Did you live at Port Hall Road?

My mother was a pupil at Stanford Road School and I believe she was there from about 1910 - 1916 or later. Is there anyone who might remember her or someone who has a relation who was there? Her name was Lilian Mary MacRae.

My husband is the caretaker of the school now and we are living in the house in Coventry Street that backs onto the playground. I'd love to know if anyone has any memories of the school and the house. I've been trying to find the book that was written about it. No luck yet though!

I started at the school before I had reached the age of four in 1941 and left for the BH&SGS in 1949. Mrs Canton was headmistress. She lived in an a flat on the corner of Bath Street and Buckingham Place. I had the dubious privilege of watching the bomb fall towards her building before my mother pulled me into a nearby front garden and pushing me below the low wall. Fortunately casualties were minimal but our windows and front door were blown when we reached home.
Teachers I remember are Ms Baker who coached me for hurdles and I am forever in her debt the discipline she instilled in me. Mr Sid Challis, administrator of Percy the short stick, who was deeply involved in schoolboy boxing programs. Mr Avery, Mrs Furner (music), Miss Wilson, Miss Parks and Miss Burgess. The war was on. School windows were blown in. But the school functioned well and provided many happy experiences as well as a good elementary education. Some of my contemporaries during my last year 1948/ 1949 with no particular reason for the following order: Ronald Parker, Ian Rice, Michael Greenhow, Brian Thomas, Deirdre Fisher, Peter Lynn, Colin Young, Rosemary Richardson, Clifford West, Lillian Bailey, Rita Harvey, Michael Irish, Billy Hollingsworth, Bobby Blount and Pamela Hill.

I attended Stanford Road School in July 1950 and left in March 1955 for Australia. I noted with interest Colin Page, October 24 2007 memories, in particular that of the large wooden balancing frame falling and stiking the music teacher on the head. Mr Pechhams strap I remember well, I had a number of close encounters with his strap as punishment for rolling oranges down from the high side of the playground to the girls sitting on the ground with their legs open. I thought it was fun, Mr Pecham obviously thought other wise The boys walking on the wall at Highcroft Villas in their leather boots were most probably Dr Barnardo's Boys from Furze Court, Dyke Road Hove. I have fond memories of my early school days at Stanford Road, specially those memories of Maureen.

Hello from Canada, I attended Stanford road school, as did my two older brothers, Brynmor and Euan Bowyer, and my youngers brothers John and Roy. I was there approximately 1939-1945. Mrs Canton was my head mistress and by a strange coincidence I was showing my grandchildren some of my school reports, just the other week. It was good to see a familiar name on the board, I do remember the Bates family. We lived at 125, Compton Road, on the corner looking over Black Hill, and yes I remember the bombshelters and the unfortunate incident when the boy fell down one. I also remember the shop at the back entrance. I went to school with the Wedge boys Allan and Colin and Richard Duplock from Kingsley Road. Although we have been in Canada over forty years my husband, children and I have been back many times to visist my parents. The house on Compton Road was sold after my mother died, she lived there until she was 92. My brother John died soon after. I hear that the council gave permission to split the property and now a modern structure sits on what used to be our garden. Well we are visiting again this year I shall have to go to Compton Road and see. Thanks for the memories.

I would have been at Stanford Road in 1950/52. I was one of those Barnardo Boys Robert Whiteman mentions. We were always known as the home boys. We would run in a crocodile to school in the morning, accompanied by our house master, from the home, Furze Court, Dyke Road Avenue. Grey clothes and boots in winter and khaki and sandals in summer. I was the first boy from the home to pass the 11plus. Went on to B and H Grammar School, and then to Lewes Grammar. The sixpence provide for the mushy school lunch was just sufficient for a currant loaf at the "tuck shop."

I left Stanford Middle (as it was known) in 1979, and have a lot of fond memories of being there. My brother Karl and sister Joanna were also pupils. I remember my form teacher Mrs Sawicka, and the head master Mr Jackson, and I think I also remember a Mr Grimes? We once managed to take a peek at the underground cellars which were quite spooky. I also remember the swimming pool, and that it was tiny, and the lovely clock tower past the library. My friends at the time were Samantha Skinner, Yomi Williams, Joanne Gunn, Sharon and Penny Cater (still in touch with Sharon and Joanne).

My name at school was Jon Howard Isaacs. I was at Stanford Road Infants and my sister was at the Middle School, her name is Melissa. We lived two houses away from the school. Miss Wright was my teacher and we were given cod liver oil each day.

Well I must say that I have read all your comments with great interest. I too went to Stamford Road School and my very first day in the infants was a monday, the very monday that they gave every pupil either a commemorative class or mug 1952. I also remember the little house over the road from the school where the owner used to have a model railway in his front garden, someone also mentioned Porthall Road that's where my uncle used to live, Mr Allan Killick. Whilst still in the infants we moved to South Woodingdean so I went to Woodingdean infants/juniors, and then on to Whitehawk Seniors. Unfortunately I do not remember any of my fellow pupils of that time, apart from the odd ones from Woodingdean where we lived for many years, eventually moving to Wilson Avenue, where I eventually left home to join the RAF for the next 24 years, the NHS for 15 years, and now live in Southern France. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.

Does anyone know what the origins of the swan logo for the school are? I know it was introduced in 1950 but have no idea what a school by a railway line has to do with a swan. Thanks.