Thoughts on leaving Junior school

This is being written while I recover from a damaged ankle which is very painful but this time of year often sees me thinking back in time to past events not least my past boyhood.

I recently saw this picture one presumes taken late summer last year of a "Year Six) or to me J4 leavers service of the sort we had as part of the process of transition that had included visiting for a day a secondary school the majority of the year group would transfer to, writing up about the subjects we'd taken in Junior school and a service.

Actually, to tell you the truth when I saw this picture I did feel a bit sad actually because for me, Jacqueline and a few others it was the point we realized  we would be at the margins of the group because we wouldn't transfer with them and as you countless know, daytime school groups transfer over to things like sports groups, the "Youth Club" and so on resulting us being marginalized.

For me it was near total because I was going to boarding school so daily after school contact in a pre-internet age was non existent so the few I did manage to keep in contact with through things like the Methodist Chapel do matter and some those contacts have been maintained through 'adult' positions in the community like being a Council Chairman or involved in other groups that paradoxically put me in positions of some real stature in this community that the others didn't get around to.

On Monday, I was about when I called over a friend l know who was living at his fathers old house here and to which I'd know backward from the days we'd call on each other to play and we got talking about how each other was and that.

He was one of six I had regular contact with over the years and that was when I realized that as unfortunate as that break was as a J4 leaver, actually I hadn't really lost anything of value because those friendships still remain right now. It is a part of how we relate to each other.