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25 years since ITV Schools ended.

(May 2018)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
SC
Si-Co
Grampian never had branded slides even before regional opt outs. They just had he generic ITV Schools picture “ slides “ before going into the countdown clock with name of the programme.


Quite a few regions had their own branded slides, but didn’t necessarily use them when opting out. Some used them at noon when announcing that schools would be back tomorrow/next week.
MK
Mr Kite
When you watch the bit where the "rotomotion" fades into the clock, I think they were both on different tapes and mixed between each other, you notice the fades can be quite different when you watch different videos of different junctions.


Can't say I've ever noticed that. Seems like faff to me, rather than putting them on the same tape.

It used to annoy me how the other kids didn't give a damn about The Journey and only Just A Minute. I always preferred The journey and the fact you only got to hear a small part of it, most of the time, made it somewhat mysterious and elusive. I remember wondering just how far back the song went. I remember watching all the junctions at half term to see and being treated to the brass middle section which I never got to see at school.

I really hated it when the roto was very short and the clock came in almost immediately. Used to feel cheated. Hated it even more when we were watching a VHS recording and the teacher insisted on fast- forwarding it. I hated it even more again when we were watching live and the teacher decided to lower the sound down to moan at us for something. Grr. Still makes me angry!
Last edited by Mr Kite on 16 May 2018 1:33am
RO
robertclark125
TSW always showed their own branded slide at the start of the morning, and went to the national schools countdown clock at 09:29. I think by 1985/6, TSW were forced to come into line, and show the national continuity from 09:28.
WH
Whataday Founding member
Of course, this was the best of all Schools clocks



Seemed a lot more hi-tech in those days.
JA
james-2001
Can't say I've ever noticed that. Seems like faff to me, rather than putting them on the same tape.


You might be right actually, having a look at several videos on YouTube, all the "fades" on the regular Channel 4 sequence are the same and the clock covers the "ITV" logos. But the on one video of first programme of the day (where they used a re-edit with only the first minute of The Journey") does look different, with more of a straight cut rather than the ITV logos slowly fading out. And it looks like S4C re-edited the fade after a few years as well (presumably to hide the iffy artifacts where the clock flies over the Channel 4 logo, which they covered up with an S4C one). I'd just seen those different looking fades and come to the conclusion the two videos were separate and it was done on the fly, but that does seem like unnecessary complication, especially by 1987 standards.
SC
Si-Co
The ITV Schools on 4 roto and clock were, to the best of my knowledge, one continuous sequence played from tape.

However, about two months into their use (around November 1987) a couple of subtle changes were made. On the original sequence, the ITV logos glided off to the edge of the screen as the clock spun into the centre. In the new sequence, these logos disappeared (or faded out) behind the clock face. The second change was at the very end of the clock. Originally, there was a feeeze frame as the music ended - on the new version the freeze frame was removed and the logo in the centre continued to animate and change colours until the clock was faded from the screen.

I think this accounts for the differences between the recordings above. S4C’s sequences were also on one continuous tape, but the music was added live and often mis-timed.
JA
james-2001
When I first started primary school in 1991 we used to watch schools programmes "live". By the mid-90s, we watched them all off tape. Now TV channels don't broadcast schools programmes at all any more. How things change.

What do schools do now anyway? I presume they send out DVDs or stream them off the internet or something similar? No need to take up several hours of broadcast time each day when there's other easier ways of getting them out there now.

I remember towards the dying end of schools shows still being broadcast in the late 00s, they were still showing some of the same programmes I watched at primary school in the mid-90s. And in the early 90s I remember still seeing OU shows from the 70s on weekend mornings. Interesting how long a shelf life these shows had.
DE88, Ben Shatliff and benriggers gave kudos
TI
TIGHazard
When I first started primary school in 1991 we used to watch schools programmes "live". By the mid-90s, we watched them all off tape. Now TV channels don't broadcast schools programmes at all any more. How things change.

What do schools do now anyway? I presume they send out DVDs or stream them off the internet or something similar? No need to take up several hours of broadcast time each day when there's other easier ways of getting them out there now.

I remember towards the dying end of schools shows still being broadcast in the late 00s, they were still showing some of the same programmes I watched at primary school in the mid-90s. And in the early 90s I remember still seeing OU shows from the 70s on weekend mornings. Interesting how long a shelf life these shows had.


When I left school a few years ago (this was post schools programming ending), we either got it on DVD's sent out by the textbook companies, watched via clips via BBC bitesize or full programmes through BBC learning (I think that was the site name? might be wrong on that), or watched "edutainment" shows like mythbusters in science that the teachers had recorded.
NT
Night Thoughts
I remember much chortling at early 70s-episodes of Living and Growing (the Grampian-made programme which dealt with sex education) being shown to us in the mid-80s.

When did (semi-)networked schools programmes begin?
JA
james-2001
1957 wasn't it? Seeing as 1987 was when ITV schools celebrated 30 years.

Originally networked by Rediffusion, then by ATV/Central after 1968 I think. I think Central were still responsible during the ITV Schools on Channel 4 era (and were responsible for the idents), though I think Channel 4 played it out themselves.
Last edited by james-2001 on 16 May 2018 1:43pm
Night Thoughts and Si-Co gave kudos
BA
bilky asko
When I first started primary school in 1991 we used to watch schools programmes "live". By the mid-90s, we watched them all off tape. Now TV channels don't broadcast schools programmes at all any more. How things change.

What do schools do now anyway? I presume they send out DVDs or stream them off the internet or something similar? No need to take up several hours of broadcast time each day when there's other easier ways of getting them out there now.

I remember towards the dying end of schools shows still being broadcast in the late 00s, they were still showing some of the same programmes I watched at primary school in the mid-90s. And in the early 90s I remember still seeing OU shows from the 70s on weekend mornings. Interesting how long a shelf life these shows had.


When I left school a few years ago (this was post schools programming ending), we either got it on DVD's sent out by the textbook companies, watched via clips via BBC bitesize or full programmes through BBC learning (I think that was the site name? might be wrong on that), or watched "edutainment" shows like mythbusters in science that the teachers had recorded.


By the time I was in college, it was a mixture of YouTube and an internal streaming system of digitised tapes.
RI
Riaz
How exactly were ITV schools programmes inspired in the pre National Curriculum era? Did ITV companies produce programmes that they thought that schools might be interested in or was there some formal arrangement with the Department of Education and Science?

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