day one

It would be hard to write about the early years of my teaching career in any sort of chronological order. My memory is pretty terrible and I am hopeless when it comes to dates and times and I will freely admit that most of the images come to me in a higgledy piggledy fashion, and so please bear with me.

My second year of teaching I do remember quite well, it was a great contrast to the first, and I was allowed contact with the mainstream for the first time. I was officially a member of the Science department and a fine group of people they were. OK I was outcast to the old Nissen Hut but I did have to venture into the main building from time to time. Some lessons I got to teach in real labs with gas and electrical supplies and proper equipment that didn’t have to be carted all the way from the main school.

In those days, the school was 11-18ys and we had the benefits that went with a complete age range. It was a wonderful year for me, I got to teach a whole year group biology. All of the first years came to me once a week and I got to know them all. We taught the Nuffield sciences and in my humble opinion, things were never better in terms if science education. It was accessible to all students if taught properly, and the success rate was very good. I don’t really want to go into the science thing though, partly because it has gone for good and also because it wouldn’t be at all interesting for anyone else.

That year I started a drama group. I still have a photo of some of the founder members and still recall their names, most of the founder members were 11 yrs old though as the group grew, we eventually encompassed the whole school and staff too. We began as a lunchtime group. In those days lunchtime was an hour and a quarter so there was ample time to do things. Staff would even go to the pub for lunch, some would play sports with the kids and some would just sit in the staffroom and talk to each other. I think that the staffroom is a place for a separate entry in it’s own right!

My little drama group began to organise plays and shows and before I knew it, I was running the school production, something that I never thought would happen. It was Mike Woods’ influence bearing fruit and there was more of that to come.

I watched “The History Boys” the other night and there was a line there that seems to fit… “Pass it on! Just Pass it on!” and in teaching that is precisely what I tried to do. Knowledge is just on loan, and we are obliged to share it.

There were many productions over the years, some better than others, but in all cases, they were collaborations between students of all ages and a broad range of staff too, all of whom were willing participants and gave freely of their own time to rehearse or build sets, make costumes or even just lend support. I would estimate that the team that put on
Toad of Toad Hall one year must have been 60 strong, and that was a big commitment for us all. It was a great success and people still talk about it after all these years.

June was a close friend and fellow drama fan, and we would take on the main burden of production and direction. We were so very different when it came to performances. Both very nervous of course, because once the last rehearsal has gone, the producers no longer have any control. It is like building a model aircraft and once it is launched, you just hope that it flies true. June coped by hiding in the changing rooms, keeping discipline and never venturing out front. I coped by standing, nervously twitching at the back of the audience where no-one could see me. Such a lonely place but it was always my choice.