My mother, Rachel Bullen (neé Rodgers), attended this school from Fall 1941 to Spring 1943. She learned short-hand, typing, and other things related to being secretary. She was living in Sutton-in-Ashfield with Bill and Annie Hopkinson. Mr. Hopkinson was a coal miner. They had two sons. My mother was living with them after having been evacuated from Southend-On-Sea. She attended the school when she was fourteen and fifteen on a scholarship after passing (at a certain level). According to Rachel, in England, at age 11 children would take the “eleven plus exam.” If you passed, you went to grammar school till 18. If you didn’t pass, you went to ordinary school until 14. Then you took a scholarship test. If you passed that test, you went to a “technical college.” If you did not pass that test, your schooling was over. It seems her training there came in very useful in the years that followed, it allowed her to make a living as a young woman. She ended up in Vancouver, B.C. Canada, after having married a student from Cambridge visiting Sheffield, who went on to be a professor (my father).
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My mother, Rachel Bullen (neé Rodgers), attended this school from Fall 1941 to Spring 1943. She learned short-hand, typing, and other things related to being secretary. She was living in Sutton-in-Ashfield with Bill and Annie Hopkinson. Mr. Hopkinson was a coal miner. They had two sons. My mother was living with them after having been evacuated from Southend-On-Sea. She attended the school when she was fourteen and fifteen on a scholarship after passing (at a certain level).
According to Rachel, in England, at age 11 children would take the “eleven plus exam.” If you passed, you went to grammar school till 18. If you didn’t pass, you went to ordinary school until 14. Then you took a scholarship test. If you passed that test, you went to a “technical college.” If you did not pass that test, your schooling was over.
It seems her training there came in very useful in the years that followed, it allowed her to make a living as a young woman. She ended up in Vancouver, B.C. Canada, after having married a student from Cambridge visiting Sheffield, who went on to be a professor (my father).
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