15 surprising things you'll only remember if you went to school in the 80s, including dinner time favourite

If you were a child of the 80s, this retro photo gallery will almost certainly bring memories flooding back.

Do you recall the horrific sound of fingernails being scraped across a blackboard, the days when the game of conkers was all the rage, or the sense of excitement as the big TV was wheeled into class?

Was a custard-drenched jam roly-poly a school dinner favourite for you, or was there another meal you remember fondly?

Some of these aspects of school life will have you pining for your childhood, while others - like the dreaded climbing ropes or being made to do PE in your pants and vest - will make you glad those days are behind you and your children don’t have to put up with the same.

Climbing ropes were still very much part of PE lessons for many pupils in the 1980s. Shimmying up a rope was viewed as a vital skill back then, as students grappled with the fear of friction burns or plummeting onto the thin gym mats below. This photo was actually taken back in the 1930s, at Shirecliffe Council School in Sheffield but shows the sort of ropes children were tasked with climbing decades later. 

Most schools back in the 1980s still had hefty wooden desks with lift up lids so you could store your books inside. Many an injury was caused by the lid crashing down on some poor child's knuckles. Those desks were certainly built to last and some still had ink wells in them. This photo from 1989 shows the desks at Ludgrove School, which Prince William and Prince Harry attended. | Georges De Keerle/Getty Images

3. Blackboards and the sound of scraping nails

Before the days of whiteboards or digital screens, blackboards reigned supreme at school. In some teachers' hands, the chalk duster became a useful weapon against inattentive pupils, ready to be hurled at any poor child whose mind was caught wandering. Other teachers preferred to get youngsters' attention by scraping their fingers across the board, creating one of the most painful sounds known to mankind. Pupils, meanwhile, often enjoyed bashing two chalk dusters together, creating an immense dust cloud which could hang in the air for hours. This photo shows a blackboard in the classroom of the former Wadsley Bridge School, in Sheffield, in 1989. | Picture Sheffield 

4. Scratchy 'tracing paper' loo roll

Long before the days of triple quilted loo roll with balm, our bums were less pampered in the 1980s, especially when it came to school toilets. Many pupils from that era remember with dread the thin, scratchy toilet paper they had to use, which was often compared to tracing paper. | National World 

5. Nit nurses

This photo of a child's head being examined at Chaucer School in London may date from 1911 but nit nurses were still very much part of school life in the 1980s. Many put-upon parents would love to see them brought back to prevent the spread of the dreaded headlice. | Heritage Images/Getty Images

6. Being made to do PE in pants and vest

It's hard to believe these days but back in the 1980s if you forgot your kit you were often made to do PE in just your pants and a vest. | Rotherham Advertiser Photo: Steve Mettam

7. Overhead projector

The overhead projector was the height of technology at schools back in the 1980s. It was especially exciting when you got to write on one of the transparent sheets and see your work illuminated on the classroom wall. | Photo by Gantas Vaičiulėnas: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-using-projector-3867319/ Photo: Photo by Gantas Vaičiulėnas: 

8. Sharing a computer - probably a BBC Microcomputer

If your school was lucky enough to have a computer during the 1980s, there's a good chance it was a BBC Microcomputer, developed by Acorn Computers, and you almost certainly had to share it with your classmates. Pictured here are two pupils at Hardwicke School in Herefordshire using a computer in June 1987 | Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

9. Big TV on wheels

There was always great excitement when the big television set on a trolley was wheeled into the classroom. It often meant you were going to watch an episode of Look and Read, featuring Wordy (a strange-looking orange character loosely resembling a Henry vacuum cleaner covered in letters), or Words and Pictures, with the magic floating pencil. This photo from June 1988 shows pupils at Brierton School in Hartlepool admiring the 24-inch flat screen television set bought with cash won in a draw organised by Lightwater Valley. | Hartlepool Mail Photo: Hartlepool Mail

Everyone has their own favourite traditional school dinner from their childhood but a staple in the 80s was the jam roly-poly - a suet pudding spread with jam and rolled up, often served with custard, and sometimes less appetisingly referred to as 'dead man's arm'. If you were really lucky you might have got an arctic roll, made by wrapping vanilla ice cream in a jam-slathered sponge. This photo shows pupils queuing for their dinner at Silverdale School, Sheffield, in 1980. | Sheffield Newspapers Photo: Sheffield Newspapers

This was another classic feature of school dinners in the 1980s which has gone out of fashion - two dollops of mashed potato served using an ice cream scoop. | Photo by Jess Ho: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-food-on-the-plate-7837694/ 

12. Covering your textbook with wallpaper

People knew how to make things last back in the 80s, and one way was by covering your textbooks with spare wallpaper or brown parcel paper to protect them against the rigours of school life. Later, covering them in sticky back plastic became a popular option. | Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-answering-a-textbook-9490246/ 

13. Green lined computer paper

In the early days of school computers, if you wanted to print something off you couldn't just use any old paper, you had to use the green lined computer paper with perforated edges which will be familiar to anyone of a certain age. Pictured here are pupils using computers at Malet Lambert School, in Hull, during the 90s, when the special paper was still commonplace. | Terry Carrott 

14. Slap bracelets

Slap bracelets, made with a thin piece of flexible steel wrapped in fabric or plastic, were huge at schools in the 1980s and early 90s. The straight bands could be slapped against your wrist, causing them to coil into the shape of a bracelet. They were reportedly banned at some schools over fears that poorly made models could cause injuries. | Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images 

15. Playing conkers

The game of conkers is dying out somewhat but it was a huge part of playground life back in the 1980s. We all know someone who baked their conker or soaked it in vinegar in a bid to make it unbreakable. | National World

What are your best and worst memories of 1980s school life? Let us know in the comments section below.