Secondary Education

Ounsdale provided me with a sound basis for my career as the wide range of activities had a focus on the practical aspects of education.

My studies up to 'O level' included:

Economics

Studying from O-level in economics gave me a good grounding to understand other aspects of the project such as finance.

Domestic Science

One of the optional alternatives to take, my signature dish was a Swiss roll.

Technical Drawing

Having low-level in technical drawing save me a whole morning each week in the first year. Every one else was taking technical drawing class.

Typing

If I had known then how much typing I would do in my career I would have practiced even harder. I did not achieve any qualifications as such, but I could touch type to a reasonable degree.

Woodwork and Metalwork

With fully equipped workshops we learned all the basics: casting, turning, forging, cutting, welding, jointing and more.

Physics, Chemistry and Biology

at this stage these seemed to be the subjects (plus maths, see  below) I would be need to progress to university.

English

I failed English Language the first time so I did a GCSE in the Autumn as a backup.  (I put it down to trying to write a funny story in the essay section).

French

The was a 'language laboratory' with cubicles and tape decks to practice on.  My aural French was quite good.

Latin

This seemed to be on the curriculum as the school had high aspirations for its students.

Mathematics

This turned to have the biggest influence on my career.  See the story of mathematics at school.

Theater Group

I joined in lots of extra-curricular activities. The most influential of these was theater. 

I joined the theater group as a stagehand not an actor. There are several of us in this position. In preparation for a production we would build many elements of scenery. This was mostly woodwork, but also included things like painting. There was a lighting gallery, and a full set of stage lights. We learned how to set lights and control them. I am sure some of these activities would not be allowed today, setting rights included climbing upper tall ladder with a spotlight in one hand and hanging it on the appropriate beam.

During the productions we would set and breakdown the scenery, and follow a lighting script as the story progressed.

In one of our more ambitious sets we flew a basket from the roof with members of the cast in it to represent a hot air balloon.

During my time at the school I progressed from stagehand to stage director. This was a great introduction to teamwork and management.