Burnley Grammar School

Did anyone have a PE teacher like this one, Mr Foster, shown throughout the second ever episode of BBC's Grange Hill in 1978. I did. Notice the casual physical smacking, pulling and slapping at the boys all the while. Funny how when most people didn't have the right PE kit they had to do without, like Neal said with his sanction meaning boys had to be shirtless, yet this PE teacher here in the late 70s forbids going shirtless for not having the right kit and even forbids no footwear as well. That kit bit perhaps the least realistic. It shows a group of reluctant boys not wanting to shower too.

https://youtu.be/oXt0Kfsc6wU?si=xLpix3O9PLjSUZeg

Yours Truly commented - I really did once read, though, that when he started at Gordonstoun Prince Charles suffered the particularly cruel initiation of being stripped naked and locked in a cage which was then hung out the first-floor window of his dormitory and left there overnight. If that's true then no wonder he grew into the kind of man who was more at ease talking to pot plants than people.




I don't believe a word of this. It reminds me more of the vile nazi experiments they did in the concentration camps during the war when they wanted to find out the effects of cold and freezing on the body and placed naked prisoners outside in cages all night long in temperatures of -10c or lower and also threw cold water on them for good measure. Wicked. Gordonstoun may have been many things, noted for it's cold showers I believe, but that's a far cry from the kind of sadistic behaviour described here and I'm quite certain that school wasn't taking influence from the worst excesses of the nazi regime against its pupils, and certainly not against the heir to the throne. A quick two minute prank maybe, but not as written here, no way. That would actually be torture.

Hi Danny C,

I just meant to add, in my opinion anyway it wouldn't have been unreasonable of you to have requested the poster to take that photo down, although of course there would have been no obligation on her part to do so, and I expect I'll get ridicule for even suggesting such a thing.

Hi Terry,

I am neither Ash nor Samuel. And I'm still not Alan either so don't even go there. A level of anonymity just seems like basic caution after the way Nathan Hind, who had made several salient and insightful points drawn from his own teaching experience, ended up being hounded off this board by that creepy Dando character. Although I agree with you that multiple aliases seems a bit dubious.

There is no guarantee that anybody else on here is using their real name just because they are using a normal name. Your real name could be Aloysius, Denzil or Lt Colonel Kojack Slaphead III and none of the rest of us would be any the wiser.


Hi Russell B,

I have no idea, I just made it up to be honest, but it is just the kind of thing that would likely happen at any bog-standard state school, let alone one of England's most prestigious public schools. I really did once read, though, that when he started at Gordonstoun Prince Charles suffered the particularly cruel initiation of being stripped naked and locked in a cage which was then hung out the first-floor window of his dormitory and left there overnight. If that's true then no wonder he grew into the kind of man who was more at ease talking to pot plants than people.


Hi Greg2,

I have always thought red hair was pretty cool. In fact I used to have fine ginger strands in my very dark hair which you could only see close up. I used to say, only half-jokingly, to a very good female friend of mine, that I was very proud of my ginger ancestors. Used to, because nowadays I'm going grey and the first bits to go seem to have been the ginger bits.

Was that photo you were referring to the black-and-white one of the school cross-country team with both boys and girls? I examined it for any signs of unease in the boys and they all looked fine and relaxed about being bare-chested which I would not have been. The girls, in their t-shirts, skirts and knee socks, were as covered up as if they were still wearing their uniforms, which was totally unfair and insensitive to the boys. The girls at my school certainly didn't get to do PE dressed like that.

I think Deborah was a very new teacher at the stage she mentioned. As in any career, when you are new you dare not rock the boat. That childish mischief from her male colleague sounds like the kind of typical prank that would be perpetrated on the 'new girl' (or 'new boy') in any career back then.

Why didn't your PE teacher make that woman teacher leave and go through the proper door? He should have made it plain to her that the boys' changing room was a no-go area for her. What was wrong with all these people? As I have said before, the more I read on here the more I realise how comparatively lucky we were at my school. Even our own male teachers didn't stand watching us shower and no woman teacher ever entered our changing room, which is exactly how it should be.

If you are going to draw emphasis to how unhappy many boys were being made to do PE topless on this thread you will have to be prepared for the odd condescending barb from certain other male respondents who will tell you you're just being silly and unreasonable, and that just because they didn't mind it therefore nobody else can have done either.


Hi Danny C,

Re your post on 15 February, I don't think you were unreasonable at all to feel unhappy that that photo of you had been posted without your consent. You had every right to feel uneasy at being made to do PE half-naked. You say that most of the Facebook comments were from women. Well they would be, wouldn't they? People speak more easily and readily about the things that were not traumatic for them and the girls at your school were not the victims of this practice.

Greg2, I too have often thought red to be an attractive hair colour. Several members of my extended family are or were red-haired.

Your comment about you and your classmates' heights being measured when you were twelve reminded me of an intriguing titbit. Please excuse a digression.

William Cecil, later Lord Burghley and Elizabeth I's Secretary of State and Lord Treasurer, out of office in Mary Tudor's reign (1553-8), had a "scribbling book" called "Notes of divers kinds", according to his biographer Stephen Alford. An intelligent man, then with little to do, one day, he weighed himself and wrote it down in his little book. He was 9 st 10 lbs. Cecil then proceeded to weigh various members of his family and his household servants, recording their weights in his book.

I can understand the fixation that some boys (and latterly men) have with being bare chested. This used to play on my mind a great deal when I was at school. I first came across a PE teacher telling me to do bare chested PE back in 1995 when we had this teacher for gym who I strongly disliked, Mr Hefferon. He was one of those older style teachers who seemed to prefer PE done by boys that way and for two years (1995-97) when I did the gym under his teaching our shirts were made completely redundant, aged 13 to 15 years old. If you had "The Heff" as he was called for gym you knew you'd be doing it bare chested.

Our school PE expectations and kit required was placed on various noticeboards to read around the school, including right outsde the gym door itself and there was never a mention of bare chested PE on them though. I do remember in black bold block capitals letters it saying YOU MUST SHOWER! Doing that in the mid 90's was mandatory at school and although many of us used to try and slip away without doing so we hardly ever succeeded and "The Heff" was one of those "watchers" who wouldn't let you out of his sight. It's not great feeling eyes on you when you're naked like that. Everyone says much the same don't they.

"The Heff" made boys go bare chested for summer athletics too, but for some reason I found that much easier than in the gym and quite liked the feel of the breeze on my body. There were sometimes 2 classes outside with two teachers doing different things and if you were in "The Heff's" class you were bare chested and if you were in the other class it was most likely you had your shirts on still and it looked like a massive skins and shirts set up.

Danny C, thank you for your interesting 15th February comments in response to what was I suppose, my slightly ruminative post. You certainly understood and were able to relate to my intended meaning. Thanks also for the Carrot Top and Mark mentions that followed on…and just to say Carrot Top and the other red hair posters, I’ve always thought red hair to be an attractive hair colour. There was a boy in my form with very red curly hair. I don't remember any teasing aimed at him in the showers, but do remember him as a lad full of fun. We all know school kids can be tactless and cruel, with anything even slightly different to be ridiculed out of all proportion. But I think with red being the least likely natural hair colour, it should be something you're proud of. My hair was very blond when I was little, then becoming progressively darker as I got older…now it seems to be becoming lighter again!!

Danny C, it’s not easy to scroll back to check older posts on this site, which might be just as well, but if the photo you mention was the one I remember, what struck me about it was how uncomfortable the dark haired lad standing on the left at the end of the line seemed to look, while having to have his photo taken without a shirt. I’ve learnt from this site how so many boys really hated having to be shirtless, especially in front of girls; as previously mentioned it’s something I don't remember ever having to do, apart from school swimming, so perhaps I was lucky.

I can certainly imagine how long submerged and forgotten feelings could become vividly reactivated again when being notified out of the blue that this old photo had been made available for public scrutiny. What did you learn and think about the people’s comments? You went on to say that you felt you might have ‘bared your soul’ with how you described some of your feelings; mentioning how Alan had done so recently. Well, I also felt somewhat like this following my mentioning of some of my younger memories shared for the first time on here some time ago. I wondered several times whether I should have pressed the submit button.

I do think you’re lucky to have written diaries while growing up. Was keeping a diary from childhood suggested to you by your parents? I've always retained vivid memories of my own childhood, which was a mostly very happy time. But I’m sure having personally written accounts from those young ages must be very special to read through again, especially if you’d not read them for several years. I did keep some school class books which I’ve only recently brought down from the loft. Some even go back to junior school, including a childish description of a class visit to a local ‘arable farm’ as I’d written. One other book from my first year at secondary school has all my form pupils' heights written down in a column. It seems we’d all had our heights measured for some reason, so I do know that I was exactly 5 feet tall when I was 12!

Comment by: Deborah on 12th February.
Deborah, I just wondered, why didn't you ask if one of the remaining male teachers could take the boys’ gym lesson, especially when you were asked to make sure they all took showers at the end? How were you expected to do this comfortably anyway? I do remember one female poster (teacher?) on here a few weeks ago stating that female teachers were actually permitted to enter boys ‘very private areas' as she put it. Straight away this struck me as just another annoying double standard that's just wrong, and as usual, it totally disregards any boys’ preference of being granted a little privacy. Why do no female posters on here ever mention what their opinions are/were on things like this? Was it never thought about, or were you all happy for it to stay as it was? Deborah, it does seem that you felt more comfortable staying outside their area, and just listening, before then asking a male colleague to check whether it was okay to enter. Well, what a disregarding idiot he was to throw the door wide open and to then trick you into going in while the boys were still in there. This just proves the routine disregarding culture we've always had which all boys soon learnt they had to put up with at times, as even some male staff had no regard whatsoever for them, probably just thinking it was funny, or even quietly getting a kick out of the possibility of female staff seeing them. How pathetic is this?!

It does seem this female teachers’ ‘right’ was always a known fact for any who might want to take advantage of it. I’ve mentioned before that the girls’ gym teacher at my secondary school would frequently walk right through the boys’ changing room and shower area whenever she wanted, no matter what state of undress we might all be in. She obviously made a conscious decision to do this, and felt comfortable in never being challenged while doing so, even though the girls door was only a few meters away. She was also quite a young teacher, and I got the feeling that she couldn't have been there long, thought I'd only arrived at the Secondary School towards the end of the second term of the first year. Eventually some of the boys would say to those nearest the door to make sure it was locked to keep her out. I can remember seeing her through the frosted glass door window trying the door handle on many occasion, before having to resort to the inconvenience of the few extra steps towards the girls' door. She was thought by us all to be a nuisance.

Here's another current comment posted just 2 days ago on the shirtlessblogspot forum that was linked to a few weeks ago on here.

This site appears to criss cross between American and British comments on the whole subject but someone did ask for more comment from over here.

https://shirtlessbarefoot.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-to-start-shirtless-sports-and.html

"Matt" says the following,

"My boy is ten years old and goes to a UK primary school at the moment. We are only required to provide him with some plain shorts of any colour without a pattern or outward very obvious branding for his PE lesson at school when he is inside. His school appears to have taken boys PE without tops on for as long as anyone can remember who previously went there and school website mentions compulsion on no tops, saying that 'we require boys go bare chests with bare feet and shorts for PE inside'. I found it interesting when I first discovered this because I never did any shirtless PE at that age, although did so later on when I was 12 to 15 for a bit here and there. I'm alright with it as long as everyone is treated the same. When I was at a parent afternoon last year I brought the subject up briefly with a teacher who said most boys have no problems and they think it gives added confidence to them to do PE this way over time and fosters acceptance of themselves and others around them."


Last week, 11th February, there was a comment from "Ben". I wonder if it's the same person Richard said hello to on here? He said,

"For some shy boys, getting used to bare chested PE can actually boost their confidence in the long run. I know this because I was one of them!
As a 13 year-old (early 1990s in the UK) I was quite self conscious about my body so I felt extremely nervous when my PE teacher announced we'd be doing basketball and the teams would be shirts and skins. I remember my heart racing, thinking 'surely he doesn't really mean we've got to do it with no top on?!' Oh yes he did and quite soon I found myself having to take my PE shirt off, leave it by the side of the gym and line up with the other bare chested boys, feeling terribly exposed. At first it felt so weird to be running around the gym in just my shorts, but after a few weeks or so I thought about it less. Growing older, and as my body developed, I felt far more confident, to the point where I actually preferred being a skin."

It's welcome to see another broadly sensible PE teacher comment come along.

I didn't think the questions were relevant to anything Yours Truly if I am honest and aliases are fine if someone wishes to remain more anonymous, like you do for example, but at least stick to one name if you choose to do so.

I'm pleased I had dark brown hair now after reading the ginger comments.

I was a ginger haired school boy and almost everything Russell has just said on here is correct, even down to those most private comments in those PE shower situations when you get seen in all your glory by others. It creates self esteem issues.

It was interesting to read your own approach there Neal Wilkinson. While all teachers struggle to motivate pupils who lack interest in any given subject, PE teachers do face a number of unique challenges others do not, some of which you outlined rather well, and it's informative for those not in the profession, and wider education, to gain a little understanding. Nowadays schools have all kinds of policies to do with behaviour and expectation that did not once exist other than in the most cursory terms. Another misconception is that showering at school was abolished a number of years ago, yet in 2014 when I stopped working for Ofsted our working assumption was that more than half of schools at secondary 11+ level still held such requirements. None have to enforce this by law, but they never had to fifty years ago either to the best of my own knowledge, but working facilities to enable showering are a lawful requirement set out by the Department for Education in all settings for those aged 11 and over and this remains the case right now because anywhere offering physical education like schools have to maintain a basic level of hygiene provision. You will already know that Neal I'm sure but just saying that for others here to understand. I'm pleased your school takes this seriously although I tend to prefer the carrot to the stick approach where possible.

William J, My experience was similar to yours. I wasn't as bold as you but I do remember making the transition from shy and nervous to confident, thanks to the old school gym regime. Like you, I noticed the boys who were bashful, usually using the shirt as cover, and thought it looked silly. I didn't want to be like that.
The more confident boys also followed the tradition of keeping shorts for as long as possible and turning over the waistband to keep them up when the elastic slackened. Since we never wore tops in gym, by the time we were 14 coverage was minimal. No-one ever commented on this, boys or master; it was just something we did.

Hi Andy,

I thought the questions Ash or/and Samuel asked were very relevant ones.

Comment by: Mark on 18th February 2025 at 21:30


"....I'm disappointed with your attitude to judo in school Alan and agree much more with Charles. I think it would be good to have some form of controlled aggression in that way for boys who liked doing that kind of thing....."

That';s OK, Mark - I am used to being disagreed with. I do agree with the last nine words of that sentence of yours . IF some lads want to do it - fine, let them get on with it, but don't force it on anybody who doesn't want to maul others about. Somebody on here last week mentioned that their P.E. teacher openly encouraged boys to be aggressive to each other as a form of punishment, and I imagine such antics would go down with that sort of teacher.

Andy, I will treat your attempt at stirring with the contempt it deserves!

Comment by: Yours Truly on 18th February 2025 at 23:27
Kids will literally zero in on any detail that makes one of their peers stand out, won't they? Personally I have always liked ginger hair
I'm sure the prefects at Eton used to stand around him in a circle in the showers and point at his groin and laugh, the cruelty of Eton prefects has always been legendary.



Tell me about it Yours Truly. :-(

Is that true about Harry by the way? It sounds quite believable to me though. I'm was a blazing red head, really dramatically so as a schoolboy in the 70s and part 80s. I was always getting it in the neck from other kids and teachers right up to the headmaster. There were other ginger kids at school but not in my classes.

There was a time when I was at school, I must have been twelve years old I guess, doing that comprehensive schools shower thing and a kid did look at me in the showers and ask if I would grow the same colour around my willy as on my head. This seemed to cause amusement, as much for my answer as anything else, because I didn't know! Well why would I, aged twelve nothing had shown yet and nobody tells you these things do they. So I began paying a lot of attention to this, I most certainly wasn't going to ask anyone if they knew the answer like a parent, no way. I think the boys at school were looking now and again to see. I guess I must have been around thirteen when something came through and yep, it was the same colour as the hair on my head and at one point the same lad noticed this. He must have been paying a lot of attention to me in the school PE shower that's all I will say, because it wasn't much to notice even in a mirror but this other kid did and felt happy to announce it loudly. I actually went home and grabbed my old man's Wilkinson Sword packet of blades and took one out a packet as it was and attempted to lightly scrape that slight bit of hair off. Not a great idea, I cut my finger doing that and gave myself a red rash I think. I hoped the old man wouldn't notice I'd used the blade and put it back in the packet but he did notice and I said I'd used it for some airfix modelling I did in those days. I had my excuse ready if he asked. I did get the hair off though with a lot of effort and a steady hand and no cuts, just using the basic blade and no handle or anything. My introduction to shaving was not exactly traditional and self learnt the hard way. The things twelve year old do at times eh.

This irritating kid noticed what I'd done and that made it even worse than leaving it. I took a few further hits in the school showers over time as things came along until this kid finally shut up and the joke wore thin and he didn't get the reactions he wanted anymore. I ended up loving the way I looked, everyone else looked boring to me and it's nice to be different in a good way. I told him that, and as I was a nice size I told him ginger boys were bigger boys. I had no idea if it was true but it shut the sods up, they believed me I think, and they couldn't run off to the internet to find out if what I was saying had any basis in fact.

So yes YT, us ginger lads like Harry and others really do get it like that. There's an even bigger fascination with ginger pubic hair than what's on the crown of your head. Being ginger gave them permission to talk about me like that in ways none of them would have done to anyone else with regular coloured more common hair there which might have made them sound weird.

I'll wager a bet right now that at least half of ginger haired boys got at least one comment when teenagers at school in the showers about what they looked like there. I let it get to me briefly but not for long. But if you were a ginger kid at school and going in to share the showers with your classmates after PE you were going to be checked out and likely zoned in on for it by someone. Would it happen nowadays? Do kids change that much, nope. It probably would still.

None of my own kids ended up ginger so history didn't repeat with two sons and a daughter.

I've even had it in the workplace in a number of jobs over the years from people who really should know better. I've heard all the nicknames under the sun, Red Top, Copper Top, Carrot Top, Gingerman/Boy, Goldielocks, Penny, Duracell and the one that stuck at my big school ended up being Rustyhead. In my twenties I shaved my head for charity entirely bald and I felt great not hearing any comments, baldness, even self inflicted at a young age was more accepted than being ginger. I kept the bald look for two years, people kept asking why my hair wasn;t growing back at a time when it wasn't popular to do that and have no hair. I was told it might grow back a bit different after two years but when I started to let it grow again it came back just as blazing ginger as before and comments came back with it, even from total strangers in shops I've overheard before now, nice and horrible comments. They think you can't hear if they whisper behind you. I even heard a three year old in a pushchair tell her mummy one day to look at that man with the funny hair, turned around and she was pointing up at me. What can you do but laugh at that though. The learn very early.

This week 38 years ago I switched schools, ending at one and starting another immediately after half term. It was a big move from one end of the country to the other, south to north. The schools were superficially similar in many ways but vastly different in other ways.

Coming from a school that did not do any shirtless PE lessons and sitting in a new school changing room, getting a shirt out and putting it on but seeing everyone around me taking off their school shirts and suddenly noticing none of them were putting anything back on for PE and it dawning on me that it was going to be a shirtless PE lesson and I would have to do the same as them was one of the most stomach churning moments of my young life at that point, I couldn't believe it and then the boy next to me said they always did it like that. Nerves about going shirtless may be irrational in many ways but the feelings they gave me with a sudden unexpected realisation I was facing it were quite intense, and took a while to subside. My teacher noticed I was not used to it and was quite good about it though, but I wasn't allowed to put the top I came to school with on. I'd put it on in error before looking around at all the others without one and was told to take it off immediately, I could not wear it.

If anyone else wants to talk with me about these issues I will be happy to converse privately with thoughts and opinion. I left my email once before (in 2022) and had a nice chat with someone called Ben, so if you're still reading this Ben, hi!

Hi Carrot Top and Danny C,

Kids will literally zero in on any detail that makes one of their peers stand out, won't they? Personally I have always liked ginger hair.

I hear that Harry's autobiography, Spare, hasn't been selling so well. Perhaps he should write a sequel titled Ginge, in which he documents all the ways that being ginger have negatively impacted his life. I'm sure the prefects at Eton used to stand around him in a circle in the showers and point at his groin and laugh, the cruelty of Eton prefects has always been legendary.

andy. someone here has already reported someone to their real work place. that 1 stopped posting after. you remember? you shocked that people use fake names?

Ash or Samuel, which is it? You posted both of these comments under different names didn't you with the same questioning style. Why are these questions so important exactly? Good luck getting any answers, not!



Comment by: Samuel on 1st February 2025 at 18:36
Danny, do you remember precisely what they commented or asked that sounded sexual? You stated it was unlikely that nobody overheard it, but did nobody see them tugging you? Did they ever do it to anybody else? How old were you when this happened?

Do you remember your immediate reaction to that physical touch? Did you swat their hand away or retaliate in any way physically or verbally? Did they revel in the boundary they had just crossed or did they seem surprised by their ability to have taken it that far? Did you think about complaining to your teacher/parents about it?

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Comment by: Ash on 18th February 2025 at 20:43
Susan F, you said leotards were discontinued because it was unpopular with the girls when they were around boys.
What did the girls wear instead at that point?
Were the boys who asked to wear shirts allowed to do so?

Jane, you said "having boys around us was a distraction for us girls in PE". How did the other girls react to the boys' predicament?
You also said "Our own gym PE kit was horrible clingy black leotards until we got a bit older." So your PE kit changed at a certain point, what was it changed to?
Did the boys' PE kit also change at that point? Were they allowed to wear shirts then?
For clarity, could you specify the ages of the pupils?

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Awaiting Alan's incoming attack on PE teacher Neal Wilkinson here. Set the clock ticking......5,4,3,2,1, go!

Now attacking the possibility of kids doing judo in school too. The mind boggles at that objection. Mark and Charles have the right idea.

I'm disappointed with your attitude to judo in school Alan and agree much more with Charles. I think it would be good to have some form of controlled aggression in that way for boys who liked doing that kind of thing. It might make them less likely to do it in more inappropriate places in break times for example and just take that kind of boisterous energy out of them safely. Done under proper guidance there should not be a problem. Actually I think I would have enjoyed the chance to pair up with one or two boys in my class who thought they were a bit hard and been able to have a go grabbing and throwing them. We might have found out in a controlled PE lesson in judo that these self proclaimed harder boys were not as hard as they thought they were and some of the quieter lads could give them a run for their money one on one on the gym floor facing off. So I agree it would be a very good idea to have judo as a PE option, in judo kit or normal PE kit.

Susan F, you said leotards were discontinued because it was unpopular with the girls when they were around boys.
What did the girls wear instead at that point?
Were the boys who asked to wear shirts allowed to do so?

Jane, you said "having boys around us was a distraction for us girls in PE". How did the other girls react to the boys' predicament?
You also said "Our own gym PE kit was horrible clingy black leotards until we got a bit older." So your PE kit changed at a certain point, what was it changed to?
Did the boys' PE kit also change at that point? Were they allowed to wear shirts then?
For clarity, could you specify the ages of the pupils?

I'm a teacher on half term holiday and have seen this today with great interest.

From a PE teacher’s perspective, there are clear signs that some students display when they forget their PE kit. So what strategies can help students to remember their PE essentials?

Sometimes they look very sheepish and are afraid of the impending consequence, sometimes they adopt a severe limp or other minor injury as they approach the changing rooms, and some have that look of horror when they open their bag and realise they’re missing the crucial items. No matter the school setting, one of the barriers that PE teachers face is pupils who haven’t got the right kit to take part in a lesson.

We ask pupils to highlight PE lessons on their timetable, and if possible, set a reminder on their phones – a very useful tool!

We also ask Y11 leavers to donate their washed PE kit back to the school to help build a stock. Storing spare kits in the changing rooms will allow PE staff to lend any missing items to a pupil with minimal fuss, therefore mostly eliminating kit issues, although we don't have as much as we would like, it's mostly shorts. This does not negate the need for pupils to turn up with the expected kit however and a word with them if they do not.

When we have a full class in perfect kit, we comment on how impressed we are, and link it to a reward about doing something they all really like, this attitude raises the profile of bringing kit, and also encourages peer reinforcement.

We have kit sanctions. Ultimately, there will be pupils who are going to forget their kit and you will have to decide how best to react. PE kit expectations should be specifically mentioned in your whole school behaviour policy to ensure that it remains high profile with pupils and parents.

However, it is important to allow PE staff the opportunity to consider their response to pupils in their classes who have come unprepared and offer leniency where appropriate initially for a first time problem. For example, if a pupil forgets their kit but has a genuine barrier caused by something out of their control, is a detention the appropriate response? Sometimes yes, other times no. If a younger pupil has forgotten their kit for the first time and is upset, would a stronger relationship be built by offering the chance of redemption by borrowing a kit rather than detention be more suitable? We give a one time grace allowance to everyone per school year on this.

Boys who are not present in exact PE kit face sanctions however. That sanction is that the pupil will spend his lesson doing PE in a bare chest. Everything I've said here is available and known by everyone, parents, teachers and pupils alike. If only sanctions were fully effective but they are not, we sanction every day over something.

Where the PE kit is concerned, boys are expected to understand they will sometimes be required to remove their PE kit and play with a bare chest in some normal non sanctioned circumstances, this includes team games, aka "skins vs shirts", a long held school PE tradition maintained and popular to this day.

We expect all pupils to shower properly after PE as effective mandatory requirement set by school. There are rarely exemptions for this, other than on a needs must medical basis with provided doctors note strongly preferred. Showering is communal in nature and taken as one would expect, completely undressed with nothing on. However privacy is respected and teachers are not "looking in" watching directly unless problems arise. We have strict rules and a code of conduct about behaviour not just in PE but within the changing room as well.

We make sure that everyone knows what is expected of them at all points in the lesson from arrival to departure and they are expected to do things without a need to be told excessively, like getting changed, having the right PE kit, bringing a towel, taking a shower, getting dressed etc, and to know what they are doing on the day they are doing it and to turn up promptly on time and not be late.

We don't expect everyone to be a super athlete, we just ask for commitment to effort and full attendance.

I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and have many memories similar to previous contributors here but feel things have moved on considerably. I am CRB checked to within an inch of my life and so is everyone else. Nobody checked my PE teachers like I am checked and have been rechecked.

Thanks, Neal - 18/2/25.

Mark – I’ve just been talking to one of my nephews about this as I vaguely remembered he once mentioned joining a judo club at school, and you are correct. He was at secondary school in the 80’s and says he joined the after-school judo club run by one of the teachers. He said the outfits worn in judo are necessary for some of the holds and throws which rely on gripping the jacket, especially the lapels and sleeves, and occasionally the belt or trousers, to gain leverage for a throw or force your opponent off balance or to where you want them. The teacher sold outfits to those who found they really liked the sport and wanted to take it seriously and progress, but advised such purchases not be made for at least the first half-term of taking part to avoid wasting parents’ money if they lost interest or found they didn’t actually like being thrown around. He says he and his mates did it for over a year only wearing their PE shorts although it did limit the moves possible against you, so if he was fighting someone with the proper outfit on, then he had a definite advantage, and loved doing it like that. So yes Mark – you are correct – the full outfit is not absolutely necessary for a limited form of the sport.

Not all guys are uncomfortable going shirtless.
It depends on how you feel about your body. Being skinny, overweight, out of shape, having bad back-ne, scars and/or cuts can make you self-conscious of your torso/bare chest on show.

Especially in secondary/comprehensive school, I saw many guys in school that couldn't care less about going shirtless. Right after P.E. when we were going back to change rooms, a group of guys would always take their P.E shirts off, yell "LET'S GOOOOOO" and run back to the change room. It makes you feel free and super confident!

We had real confident and real unconfident guys in the showers too in secondary school. It was great to just strip naked and walk confidently with a purpose to shower caring nothing for who was around you. They were free to look at me wherever they wanted, I didn't mind. On the other hand there were boys who shuffled in hands over their groins as if we didn't know what they were hiding. Such a shame to be like that.

I have ran a couple times with my shirt off and wow that's empowering. I am a skinny guy and not hyper-muscular or anything but who cares. If you want the thing off, take it off. I think many unconfident boys and men have a secret wish they could do that.

I encourage all males of any weight and amount of torso marks (I had a few acne marks at 15) to take your shirt off in public every now and then!

I had lots of mandated shirtless PE, starting in middle school and following through later on to secondary school. I think there is a fair case to be made for this approach. When at uni I was on a running team and we ran regularly to keep in shape without any tops on, voluntarily. I only remember one who seemed to always wear a top when the rest of us took ours off.

Really liking all the recent posts by Jeffrey, Danny, Greg, Carrot Top, Jane, Terry and Charles.

Judo at school, yes I think I'd have liked the chance to do that, or at least give it a go. I don't think wearing the white robes or whatever they call the judo wear would be essential in a regular gym PE lesson though. Normal PE kit would suffice surely, Carrot Top said he did it just shorts. I've always wondered why judo has such weird attire like a big bath robe. It doesn't seem very practical does it, when you consider that many of our PE teachers insisted on such minimal boys PE kit and some people say they couldn't even wear a t-shirt incase it got caught on something or someone.

I've seen the video before Terry and I think others should do and make their own judgement up on that. If someone can explain why that's age restricted with a sign in because of anything inappropriate when the purpose was to show it to a bunch of ten year olds at the time I'm all ears, where's the logic going there. Children's shows for schoolchildren forty years ago cannot now be shown to...school children. HAs anyone else seen it?

Carrot Top - A couple of my male cousins, brothers, now in their fifties, are both striking ginger red heads with pale skin and freckly faces. I have never had any discussion with them or mentioned their hair colour even when we were children and met up. Next time I meet them I will have to ask the question if they had to deal with anything similar to what you did at school, or for that matter as adults.

But it's not just ginger hair that attracts attention. Blond long haired boys do too, because I did a lot for my hair. Almost white blond as a toddler, it was thick and brightly blond and long and shaggy in my early school years, although still neat looking. As I got older I slowly got it shorter and it went darker blond over a long period of time until the point when I left school at 18 and it was quite short with a side parting and only just passable as dark blond by that point. Blond boys seemed to get noticed more and I remember many times getting picked out, even in PE for things based on my hair. Usually it was positive and complementary though. I was always quite happy with my hair colour and at school age found it weird how so many people used to mention it, or even my mother's friends too, or my grandparents every time I visited. My ex-marine grandad always used to like a shorter cut and would be pleased if I showed up visiting with a new fresh shorter cut, especially by the time I was 16.

Terry, thanks for saving me the bother of answering that question from Pete. I still find that thing quite amazing to contemplate. Until you start losing control of it you don't realise just how important personal privacy can be. Obviously school class photos are not personal, more public, so there can be no complaints if they find their way into the wider world, in uniform, in PE kit, barechested sport or whatever. I accept that.

Comment by Charles 17th February 2025 at 12.45



Sorry Charles, I can't agree with that for two reasons - one, some of the more aggressive lads will be given a legitimate excuse to be even more aggressive, and just imagine if they hold a grudge against one of their opponents, and two, it would have been very difficult for lads like me in school days (see my post February 1st). Wrestling usually has very strict referees like boxing, whether amateur or professional. If it was a free for all, there could be some very serious injuries (for which the school would in law be held responsible)

Carrot Top on 16th February: Your idea of having Judo as part of PE is an interesting idea. You are absolutely right in saying some boys enjoy competing by throwing each other around and it would probably appeal to some of the less well-behaved boys and keep them engaged. It would also have been far more exciting and interesting than the endless, boring circuit-training we often had to do – in a class of about 30, everyone could have had a different opponent or training partner just about every week of the school year! Of course, the problem is that the cost of providing all those judo outfits (or putting that cost onto parents, especially back in our day) would be prohibitive, so it occurred to me that doing Wrestling as part of PE would be a more practical alternative like I believe they do in the USA and Canada. I think schools (again, especially back in our day) could have got away with not having a specially trained teacher – we could certainly have taught each other moves and holds, and experimented with different ways of escaping them! And, crucially, no special kit would have been needed – just our normal PE shorts. There could have been inter-form, inter-house and inter-school competitions like schools had for boxing in the 50’s and early 60’s but a bit less violent! Thoughts anyone?

Comment by: Pete on 15th February 2025 at 22:52
'Does anyone know what exactly was being referenced in the previous comment regards Redditch and a TV programme about school there forty years ago? I live in Alvechurch just a couple of miles up the A441 from there. Which school was this and what was the programme exactly?'




I can answer this Pete, maybe you went to this school or know someone who did?

It was a programme for children from sometime around about 1980 or so, part of the daytime school broadcasting of the time. It was called Good Health and went out on ITV, the exact edition is called Fit & Healthy. There was a male PE teacher presenting and narrating in it at a school called Lodge Farm Middle. It showed boys and girls doing mixed PE, where the boys were shirtless and the girls in leotards, much like Jane has already described earlier this very evening infact at her own school. Towards the end of it all the boys, at least a dozen, where seen back in the changing room taking off their PE kits and walking into the showers from behind, filmed actually in the showers and then directly at them all as they came out again, full on to camera, naked, without any discretion for modesty given to any of them. It was a middle school, maybe at the time they thought that made it more acceptable to do that to those in that school.

You obviously missed it but there was quite a discussion about it on here a long time ago that I remember, mostly about how amazing and intrusive it seemed even in those days and on the consent issue.

Notice Yours Truly they didn't dare go anywhere near the girls changing room to make their points, only the boys, and followed them right into the showers too! A brilliant double standard example for you I'm sure you'll agree.

It's easy to find on You Tube but you need to log in to a You Tube account to view some in that series including this one. It looks like a repeat transmission date here, there are suggestions it went out in 1980 originally or even as early as 1974 maybe. To me it looked about 1980 or so the way they looked. The very end credit is cut off so you can't see the date stamp.

ITV Schools - Good Health - Fit & Healthy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRRw-k7cGJs&list=PLv1UpvxmZIp0ZOOyeGcqnj7ELr3U-tkT8&index=1

This guy called Nigel wrote under it in the comments the following;

"Wow! That shower session was certainly unexpected! Probably didn’t think anything of it at the time and none of the lads seemed to be the slightest bit bothered they were naked. I doubt very much this practice would happen in schools now, however, if you’ve been playing football, rugby or doing running/athletics you’re going to be needing a shower to get cleaned up and refreshed. I’ve been led to believe some schools have individual showers now, but with hindsight the communal shower is more efficient despite the embarrassment some kids would obviously have. It was certainly a shock to me at the age of twelve when I did it for the first time! Totally unprepared!"

Someone else replies to him with;

"I found communal showers quite uncomfortable too. I would have been much more uncomfortable, though, if there had been a TV crew in the showers filming us, and we'd been broadcast naked on national TV."

Then someone else mentions how they played silly comedy style music over the whole thing to almost make fun of them and someone else said their class burst out laughing at that point. That lot didn't even get to secondary school before that hit them.