FOR MOST Glasgow pupils, next week will mean back to school after one of the longest and strangest summer breaks in history.

Our archives, and those at the Mitchell Library, have captured school life, warts and all over the decades.

It would certainly not have been everyone’s experience of Glasgow schooldays, but for the senior pupils at city private school Laurel Bank in April 1953, this outdoor learning session looks idyllic.

The young women, resplendent in neat uniforms and ankle socks, sit sketching in the grounds of the school, which was on Lilybank Terrace.

Read more: A school with its own pool - memories of Govan's Greenfield School in the 50s

Laurel Bank was founded in 1903 by graduates from nearby Glasgow University, and was one of three all-girl schools in the west end, alongside Park and Westbourne.

Glasgow Times:

Our photographers also snapped life at Adelphi Street School in the Gorbals in 1976, where pupils enjoyed a happy break hula-hooping in the playground.

Going further back, into the Glasgow City Archives, we found this picture of the girls’ dressmaking class at Quarry Brae Public School in 1916.

Glasgow Times:

The original Quarry Brae school building, designed by architects McWhannell and Rogerson, was opened officially on September 1904. It was on Baird Street, renamed Crail Street and it was sadly demolished in 2010 as part of a regeneration project. The new Quarry Brae Primary School is located at 61 Crail Street, just north of the old building’s location.

What are your memories of going back to school after the summer break? Get in touch – we would love to hear your stories and share your photographs.