I went to the now-gone, Andover Grammar School. So, memories of those five years remain.
In the large hall and long corridors there would be many voices, loudly chatting, laughing, although we would gather in our small groups and didn’t feel it was too loud then. Yet the numbers were in their hundreds I am guessing now.
There was a stage for the head teachers, deputies and others to sit on their wooden chairs. Black flowing gowns and flat black hats with tassels held them tall. In assembly the girls sat to the right, the boys to the left. How the teachers kept that silence, I wonder but I recall it may have been due to their raised shoulders and utter silence, with eyes pointing in the direction of those misbehaving.