Burnley Grammar School

Claire, it was interesting to read your comments about watching the boys take off their tops because we had that kind of set up at my school too. And as a teenage boy I did enjoy it when I realised the girls were watching me go shirtless. It was a big boost to my self confidence and yes, I did feel more manly when I was chosen to play skins. Probably not every boy felt the same but it seemed quite natural to me.

Chris, from a female's view I never objected to watching boys taking off their PE vests. At school there was one yard/car park and then the field and given the age range (9-18) it was a good bet you'd see a lesson outside either starting or underway.

Quite often you would share the yard, with the netball courts away from the cars we often played and just a few steps away were the boys doing press ups, sit ups and the like.

The male teachers would pick either skins vs vests or simply make all the boys strip. When we had the chance, we'd stop and watch them strip.

I do feel this is the proper way for boys to do PE, it is definitely a more manly option.

I remember this gym so well and Mr Parry (Ron), I went to BGS between 1959 and 1965, he was a bit of a hard taskmaster and very disciplined which meant that we as boys had to be, but he was fair and commended our respect

Chris, we were expressly forbidden from wearing shirts and I don't remember anyone asking to wear shirts when participating PE with the girls. It was just accepted and no one complained or objected.

John, did any of the boys try asking permission to wear a shirt when you had classes with the girls? Or were you expressly forbidden from wearing shirts? How did that go down?

Dave, we had a uniform list and the required kit for PE was just shorts. It was never mentioned what we had to wear between us and we were identified by the colour of our shorts. We frequently had mixed sessions with the girls and that could be a bit embarrassing at times. Wearing short trousers was not compulsory but at the parents discretion.
I had to wear them all the time and I suppose it would have been alright in warmer climes but here I used to freeze wearing them.

Shirtless PE sometimes happen if our PE Master felt inclined to let us take or Tops off or if he wanted to give us a good Workout; and sometimes he would go Shirtless as well, although he always wore Tracksuit Bottoms unless it was a very warm day, in which case he'd wear Shorts.
He would go topless if he joined in our Indoor Rugby on the 'Skins' Team as well, particularly if we were a Man or two short.
That meant there was no Referee though, so the [few] Rules the Game *Did* have tended to be ignored in those Situations!
That was a great Opportunity to settle Scores or even have a go at Him! Good Fun unless you were on the receiving End..
Last 2 Boys from each House in the Gym after getting Changed Always had to get their Tops off and 'Run the Gauntlet' of the others before the Lesson strted as well.

Re: Dave's Questions to all of you who had to be shirtless for PE lessons:

My Observations.
1. We didn't have to *be* barechested ; quite a few of us wanted to be, and took any opportunity so to be. Also outside, for XC Runs.
2. Not really applicable, it was "Skins v. Vests" for us.
3. It was on our Uniform List, White Shorts, White S-S Top and Plimmies for both "Houses" .
4. PE at our [Independent Grammar] School (1960s) was single-sex.
5. We occasionally discussed it; as above, quite a few Guys wanted to go barechested for all PE and get different coloured Shorts to differentiate the 'Houses'.
We approached the PE Teacher and Headmistress but to no formal avail but the Teacher didn't mind if we dumped our shirts, although when it came to Indoor Rugby if we were already stripped off and were designated "Vests" for the Game, we were not too pleased!

I have questions to all of you who had to be shirtless for PE lessons:


Were you shirtless for outside lessond for example track and fields and cross country either?
How did you play team ball games everyone being barechested.
How did you get to know your PE kit for the first time.Was it in a PE uniform list that you have to do PE shirtless or the teacher was the one who told it to you?
Have you ever had some lessons or sport events with the girls together?
What was the reaction of boys about the PE kit. Was it ever a topic of conversation amongst you?

Toby, I agree that having to be stripped to the waist did certainly help to put us into our place. Our teachers were never seen shirtless, they mainly wore tracksuits, but for us it was shorts only. For cross country plimsolls were allowed but many of us choose not to wear them as they would often get very wet.
I just read yesterday in the Daily Telegraph that it has been proposed that boys do more 'female' activities in PE, such as cheerleading,(no joke!) etc. This is miles away from how boys PE used to be, when boys were treated as boys and PE teachers helped to shape them into young fit respectful men.

I agree Ryan - that's pretty much how my PE lessons were too. It was interesting to see the two boys near the end of the clip, about to start having a chat, but as soon as the teacher speaks they stop and listen.
We had that same kind of discipline in PE and I think being bare to the waist partly contributed to that - somehow the fact the teacher wore a shirt signified his authority over us boys!
We were also barefoot in the gym but we were allowed running shoes for outdoors. How about you?

Great to see that Russia doesn't feminize its boys as we do.

This clip reminds me a lot of my PE lessons in school, stripped to the waist, serious exercise, having orders barked at you and being expected to execute them swiftly, etc

Real boys PE if you ask me. The only difference is that we were barefoot too!

http://www.gettyimages.fr/detail/vid%C3%A9o/boys-practice-trampoline-in-a-gymnasium-uk-vid%C3%A9o/mr_00106364

As Dave pointed out 13 Oct, Russian lads still complete Phys Ed without impediment of shirts, as this 'day in the life' of cadets article confirms:

http://m.inkazan.ru/zhizn-v-alyx-pogonax/

1000 Posts Up! Congratulations!

Kenny,

Our Primary School Uniform was similar to yours: white shirt, grey skirt and cardigan for us girls and white shirt,grey shorts and grey jumper for the boys.

I went to an all girls Secondary School and the uniform varied according to the year group and term. In the Autumn and Spring Terms the first and second year girls wore a blue 'gymslip' style dress with a white blouse underneath and a navy blue blazer on top. The older girls wore a blue skirt, white blouse and blue jumper together with the blazers. In the summer term we all wore a blue gingham style dress. The uniform rules were quite strict; our skirts or dresses had to touch the floor when we were kneeling down and we had to wear berets when we weren't actually in the classroom. Another thing that seems strange now is that we weren't allowed to wear tights. It was long socks in winter (so cold legs cycling to and from school!) and ankle socks in summer.
Did you have any uniform rules that would seem outdated or strange nowadays?

Andrea, it was very similar at both our schools, just as you describe.
The only difference is that in the final year of primary we had separate classes for boys and girls. We still changed in class for PE but were same sex, although teachers could be of any sex.
It was also the same as you describe at our boys only secondary school. There we had a qualified PE teacher or coach instead of the class teacher.
Did you wear any sort of school uniform at either primary or secondary school?

Hi Kenny,

At Primary both girls and boys used to wear a T shirt and shorts or a skirt for PE. We used to strip down to our knickers or underpants and vest (if we were wearing one) and then put on our PE kit. Boys and girls did this in the same classroom (girls on one side and boys on the other, but without any screen etc between us). In the final year a few girls who had started to wear bras rather than vests were allowed to go and change in the toilets. Were there any special arrangements like that at your Primary?


At Secondary School (all girls) indoor PE was in Gym Knickers and a Polo Shirt and but we all had to shower afterwards (there hadn't been any showers at Primary.

Andrea

Here is a typical PE class of old times. Boys are barechested. At the end of the video girls are running over. None of the boys seem to care.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/schoolboys-take-part-in-a-pe-lesson-on-a-rooftop-news-footage/450605582

Andrea, did you also do PE in just underpants?
I know this was common practice in many primary schools.
At my primary school we also changed in class in front of our teacher, but we just took our uniform off in just underpants and put on white shorts and white vest, both boys and girls, which was our PE uniform.

Incidentally, talking about school uniforms, I wonder what other posters here wore for school, what kind of uniform, if any, or just plain clothes.
At my primary school we boys wore a white shirt and grey shorts while girls wore a white shirt and grey skirt. We also wore a grey jumper, don't know what they call it today, over our shirts when it was cold weather.
In secondary we also wore a grey jacket with the school logo on it, which we called a blazer in those days.
But PE kit was always white shorts and vest, both in primary and secondary.
In secondary it was different because we had a gym where we changed which was an all boys school. We also had showers in the gym changing room.
In primary we did PE exercises in the school yard or the yard corridor if it was raining. Then went back to class and changed back into our uniforms.

I don't believe that a female teacher would be supervising naked boys in a secondary school.

At Primary School (up to age 11) our (female)teacher used to supervise the whole class (girls and boys)changing together in our classroom. It was only down to underwear though as there were no showers at Primary.

Sometimes if our usual teacher wasn't available a male teacher would supervise.

John, I would certainly have found it embarrassing being supervised by a female teacher in the showers at that age.
Although it could have been normal in some places for female teachers to supervise boys showering up to maybe age 11 or 12 at the most, I think that this would have been rare for boys up to 16 as in your case.
What kind of school was it, if I may ask?

Dave, an excellent example there. We had an ex Army PTI and did exactly what was shown there, without girls in the group though. By the time we had reached Pull ups most of us had started to sweat. A perfect reason for boys being barechests!

Kenny and Mark, it was considered quite normal to be supervised by female teachers, we were 11 to 16 years old and it was quite embarrassing. We were whacked by the teacher on our bottoms and there was no way we could complain or object. Our teacher was also formidable and we learnt to do as we were told.

In some russian schools boys are still shirtess for physical exercises. You can watch for example a co-ed morning run here Boys have to be barechested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9SKh5NDUTE

John, how old were you and the other boys at the time? Did you find it embarrassing or just normal?
I don't think this was very unusual for boys up to a certain age for female teachers to supervise in changing rooms and showers.
Not long ago I saw an article stating a school's rules about supervision during swimming lessons. It said that teachers must be present to supervise during changing and showering. It stated clearly that both male and female teachers can supervise in the boys room, but only female teachers in the girls changing room.
Talk about double standards. It even stated that the pupils must take a shower before entering the pool under teachers supervision.

We had communal showers at school and they were supervised by our male PE teacher. He was also a housemaster and sometimes was called away if there was an emergency. The girls PE teacher would stand in for him. She was a well built fearsome lady. If she caught us running straight through the shower, she did as our usual teacher did, and gave us a whack on the bottom with s green flash. This was in the 70s.

We often had boys only team events and had to use the girls' changing area and facilities which included a separate cubicle for the teacher. We had to use communal showers and changing area and was supervised by the lady teacher in charge.

Anyone had teachers of the opposite sex supervising showers or changing rooms?

No, it never bothered me because no one talked or looked at each other while in the showers as everyone was quite inhibited, so it wasn't that daunting,