Special Measures
I’m knackered. A few days of gardening
followed today by four hours with 80 fourteen year olds getting them to talk
about sex. I feel wiped out, but in a
good way. The groups in the school today
were bristling with hormonal life and the subject of course was right up that
street. The school was in Wrexham and on
special measures, Ofsted’s warning shot that the school has to do better. I can see why. The children were tough to
control (mostly my job), provocative and easy to set giggling for all the wrong
reasons. And it’s a two hour traffic on
the stage. By the end I feel the traffic
had mainly been steam rollers! However
they go away knowing what rape means, what true consent is, that they can say
no even if they said yes previously and that there is help available if they
need it. And they’ve grown up a
bit. They come in as wide eyed just past
innocents but leave with the strong and unmistakable taste of impending adulthood. And theatre in general and Cat’s Paw Theatre
in particular has achieved that. So I’m
pleased. Pleased and knackered.
I think Richard (my now deceased dad) would
have been proud of the work (as children we always called our parents, Richard
and Pat, by their first names). I learned a very great deal from him all those
years ago when he was a Primary School Head and we lived alongside the
school. Even though I resisted the
career for years he had planted the seed of good teaching practice in me and though
it took some time for it to germinate, grow and flower, I did eventually become
a real teacher and I am still very involved with encouraging young people to
learn. One truth I learned from him was
the clear and in some ways obvious fact that a good teacher must also be a good
performer. It’s no good just knowing
something well if you can’t make learners inspired by it. It takes energy and enthusiasm, belief and
dedication to make the magic work. There
must be truth in the words but there must also be power in the voice and
animation in the body! Richard had all
that and he was a superb teacher and taught me most of my teaching skill. The only thing I didn’t inherit from him was
his hair, which I’m very pleased about.
I’ve inherited Pat’s hair!
And tomorrow it’s the same all over again
and this time at Rhyl High School.
Another real challenge of a school.
Rhyl, drug capital of North Wales.
But there we are, it’s important work and no-one else is doing it so I
just think that maybe someone in the audience will not put themselves into
harm’s way as a result of what they’ve learned and in many ways, that’s
inspiration enough. That and the thought
of a free school dinner! Today’s was a
fresh mixed grill followed by fruit sponge and custard, and a big glass of
fresh orange juice. School dinners have
come on since my days in school!
So not all bad by any means and it all
helps towards the economy drive, which, since you ask, is on track. More or less managing on £30 a week for food,
including feeding the two fluffy spoiled ones who have their chicken rice and peas and
look as though they’re thriving on it.
In case you’re wondering, they sit in the car in the school car park and
I take them for lunch time and breaktime walks.
They have water and a few treats in the car and seem ok with the
arrangement.
At the long break today I manged to drive
out into the town and bought a new gas bottle, my onboard tank being nearly
empty and no clutch meaning I can’t drive out to the garage for LPG. So tonight it’s everything on, gas heating
and water, chicken in the oven and no worries about running out in the middle
of dinner. What luxury hey!
I managed to send of the faulty control
unit for mending and heard that the financial problem I’ve been having with my
other business may be one step towards a solution. But that’s another story for another blog. In
the meantime, on mission, in budget and undaunted!
All the best from a road near you,
Mr Alexander