In case you were not up in time to hear me on BBC Radio Essex this morning, this is what I said. 1. If your results are disappointing or mean that you are unable to do what you want to do TAKE A VERY DEEP BREATH. Pause before you react. 2. If your results are …
Exam results – advice from a former head teacher and A-level examiner Read More »
Last Thursday, in The Times – August 1st 2019 – David Aaronovitch commented that the determination to test facts and the ability to distinguish fact from opinion are of great importance. They should be taught as part of any worthwhile English curriculum; it is not difficult. With the start of commercial television in the nineteen-fifties …
At the age of twelve I first worked on farms near home on the edge of suburbia. There I learnt to greet anyone when I met them for the first time in the day with Good Morning or Good Afternoon. If I encountered the person later that day a nod of the head or a …
A greeting, an acknowledgement of our shared humanity Read More »
The Chinese authorities were willing to deal with Lord Pattern, the last British governor of Hong Kong as the colony was returned to them. They should be prepared to accept him now as an intermediary between themselves and the people of Hong Kong who seem to find rule by fellow Chinese a lot less congenial …
Seventy-one people are killed or seriously injured on our roads every day. Motorists complain about cyclists several of whom they have killed in recent months in London alone. Cyclists are reported to have attacked pedestrians and pedestrians fixated on mobile devices expect greater care from other road users than they are prepared to take of …
The Times reported two days ago that teachers at a supposedly outstanding school are on strike over violence on the part of some of their pupils. Where else, other than to a maintained school in the UK, are parents virtually obliged to send their children without assurances that they and their teachers will be safe? …
An outstanding and violent school: test and inspect parents Read More »
I note with interest the advice from the President of the US to the people of the UK concerning Brexit and the choice of a new Prime Minister. No doubt he would be very interested to hear the advice given to an American teacher on exchange at Wanstead County High School in 1960, or thereabouts.The …
In a piece entitled Writers Blocked – Karen Yosman reported a warning that white authors should keep away “from stories about people of colour.” (The Spectator May 17th) It was once my turn, as headmaster, to check the tickets of late arrivals for a school concert. A young man who had no ticket demanded admission …
Into Colchester A and E with a wife whose leg is swelling despite a recent cut seeming to be healing. Fear of a repeat of cellulitis experienced a year ago. Seen, antibiotics prescribed and dispensed, reassurance given, discharged in twenty minutes. Four members of staff encountered, each direct, cheerful and obviously keen to help. Bravo.
We hear much at present about gangs recruiting adolescents who have been expelled from school or who are truanting from school. These are the foot soldiers of the criminal gangs behind knife violence and drug dealing. They are often relatively innocent parties whose lives are ruined. Yesterday a friend reminded me how he had taken …
