Secondary Education

My legendary Colleague Mrs Lewis

/ Mr J Dexter / 2 Comments

Mrs Lewis

My colleague and friend, special person and single parent Mum to her beloved twins Jonathan and Jeremy. This is a slightly longer version of my tribute at her funeral on 27th March 2024.

The teaching legend, the amazing and unique colleague. Stephanie Lewis served at Trinity school for 31 years. Unlike those who move onwards, she stayed and worked in the place she loved, her classroom, inspiring her classes day in and day out –  estimated getting on for 30, 000 lessons at Trinity, many thousands of pupils- generations of some families. (This was after about 9 years teaching elsewhere in other schools before having the twins 40 years ago)

Mrs Lewis was ….old school…. traditional – well prepared, high expectations, even higher standards and an exceptional work ethic. Who couldn’t forget her years as an exam board marker on top of the day job because she wanted to ensure correct, high standards, and fairness.

She kept outstanding discipline – partly her infamous wooden spoon – rarely but nevertheless judicially banged on a worksurface for the most minor misdemeanour. A sound which reverberated around Trinity like some call of the wild and all of us staff, whatever we were doing, we knew someone in her room was….well in trouble. BUT it wasn’t just that, the main reason was Mrs Lewis was inspirational, the children loved the lessons, they were curious, they wanted to learn, they wanted to create, and they were always able to be proud of their productions, well nearly always. Her recipe book like her was equally legendary. Her hard work did perhaps at times go unnoticed, as the only teacher of a subject, you teach a lot of children and so you write a lot of reports, a lot and Steph was never late, her reports remained individual, kind and yes at times pertinent.Assessments, parents evenings could and do take their toll with so many to see but Steph set the tone and always did her best to ensure all her pupils and their parents got a fair deal.

She also had the challenge and delight of teaching her own two beloved boys Jeremy and Jonathan – they of course enjoyed no favours from their teacher Mum, unless you count the many hours of helping her, especially helping her organise PTA events for a generation they did extra miles too.

Cookery lessons, Home Economics, Food technology, whatever the name, Steph’s little empire was a magical place. Not for her two hours to design a package for a chocolate bar or to wade through the nature of ingredients. Oh No, in her space you learnt by doing, exotic, traditional dishes timed to perfection, so you had time to prepare, to bake, to wash up and never did 2 hours fly by so quickly. This had influence on parents too – not only did they enjoy the cooked food, they had opportunity to encourage “wow that was good and…you can cook that again for the family”.  You want to improve the nations eating, cooking and nutrition, then get yourself a Mrs Lewis.

But Steph was also sharp, funny and keenly proud – she would be upset if anyone senior arrived to her room unannounced – and would fret it hadn’t been tidy and spotless (which of course it was) and there would also be a bit of scurrying as somehow during the day she had managed to pop in a tray of biscuits or cakes or scones for her beloved DT dept. She adored DT colleagues and they adored her – I see nodding heads! There were many stories and laughter greeting new teachers in the staffroom and eye for detail when it came to our whole school events.

Outside of school she remained supportive of her pupils and us staff. Those conversations children had with her, often revealed a need, and Steph would faithfully try to help – going that extra mile. Never a detention for not having ingredients, not punishment but help and a solution. Although she didn’t suffer fools gladly.

Likewise for staff as Nigel would say  “Steph’s taxis” many a school social saw Steph, who never drank alcohol offer lifts to others, with or without Bruce Springsteen blasting out in the car. There are many anecdotes but I recall an event at Wilford just after she had bought her latest car – one with blacked out windows. As we left there was a huge police presence due to trouble at the rugby club and Steph with Mary Parr drove slowly down the road, I think Steph was trying to avoid any trouble but landed herself as a suspect, and was pulled over. The PO suspected a drug related crime and insisted on her getting out, hands on bonnet breathalysed. Even Mary’s plea “Don’t you know who this is?” fell on deaf ears. Steph got home, very late she called me to try and explain how mortified she was, how she had let everyone down and should she resign, etc and of course we just smiled and bagged another SL story.

This was the amazing Mrs Lewis, dedicated, diligent, industrious, bothered, kind, generous, fun, and a delightful colleague many of us were privileged to work alongside for many of those 31 years 

Mrs Lewis RIP

Steph was a sort of renaissance woman, not only that conscientious teacher but widespread interests in the Arts ( she loved Hieronymus Bosch I recall) in Architecture and travel, Apparently clocking up 100,000 air miles. Her travel plans and itineraries were equally legendary and if she got to know you were going abroad she would off you a detailed spreadsheet of places to visit. Trips were busy on the go rushing around days, not for her sitting on any beach,. 

Were (we) Teachers better a generation ago?

/ Mr J Dexter / 2 Comments

Better Teacher or just different, has time moved on and moved the job for the better?

I’ve retired, 26,000 lessons and finished, and now it’s time to  clear stuff away and reflect upon the world I absolutely loved.

Back in the 80’s and early 90’s there was no internet for schools as such, no video and not much in the way of copying ( Banda at best, OHP if a wealthy school). I loved teaching Chemistry but every lesson I wanted to bring my subject to life. How great it was to teach Chemistry – all curriculum subjects have advantages and disadvantages – ask PE staff how everyone tells them their job is great on sunny summer days as they set off in shorts to teach tennis, though no one says bad luck in the cold, grey, windy, frosty or grotty days of autumn when the gym is used for mocks. I had chemicals and unusual apparatus for practicals and demonstrations. There were tales of poisons, explosions, medicines, materials, from soaps to alcohol from amazing discoveries to problems to solve. We could do magic with solids and liquids; use that special fume cupboard or make a small firework, talk gunpowder and make amazing colours or metals from powders or tiny beautiful crystals grow – in fact much of that were part of the reasons I chose the subject to study for 4 years in the first place. And yet I constantly searched out better proper Chemical stories. I felt these would help young people understand more be more curious, apply their skills more and be hooked into doing my subject after Year 9, or after Year 11 or after Year 13…..and many did. I practised, rehearsed, fiddled to get things to work – though sadly didn’t have a book I only found after 35 years of searching Professor Fowles Lecture Demonstrations in Chemistry …oh oh oh if only!

No internet, but also no videos, occasional TV but do you recall 80’s TV Science? “Tomorrow’s world” and well that’s about it. So everywhere I looked it was picking up of booklets and leaflets it was magasine or newspaper articles. If it was a conference then grab as much of their publicity literature…and frankly there were not many conferences but there were ASE events and RSC events as a starter. The joy of my Mother sending me an article carefully cut out of her newspaper folded in a letter “ you might like this?” . How right she was.

Then craft this information into my lesson, there wasn’t much chance to photocopy, maybe the odd expensive OHP but we could read it or share it or at the least I could do what all teachers do well – tell a good story. There were even the odd articles with scientific errors for my pupils to discuss and correct. BUT I had to think – will this help , will it bring more knowledge, better understanding, or maybe we can use this to see if they can apply their knowledge….maybe even might make them do some of that ubiquitous ‘wider reading’ – I sense these questions helped create good lessons, or turn good lessons into great lessons.

Preparing lessons, delivering lessons, getting feedback from marking was and still is, the bread and butter of the basics of good teaching. It was in the 80’s and 90’s and maybe still so. Marking was (and definitely still is) a slog – but the teacher learns what pupils don’t know and what confuses them and what is well understood – but frankly I got that from marking about the first 5 books the other 25 or so just reinforced that. The interesting and challenging part for me was as a new teacher through until I retired as a head still teaching in 2017, the favourite was preparing. I spent hours preparing – as my ITT tutor used to say every good one hour long lesson needs an hour prep and reflection and an hour of marking. In time it doesn’t need an hour my bare bones of a 4th year CSE Lesson in 1981 would be used every time I got to that part of the syllabus for 36 years – but I promise almost every year be it O Level, GCSE, double triple or single that lesson got better and the advent of the internet promised even better and  it delivered a richness and an opportunity to really bring to life to really help understand and apply knowledge and motivate.

Of course this “even better” improvement accelerated as resources improved. The internet brought modelling brought video, 3D images AND access to frontier research therefore does even better than my mission to “Bring Chemistry to life” back in the 80’s and 90’s. In 2017 I was challenging students to look at what Nobel prizewinners wrote and said…..not just the favourites of Chemistry specifications Rutherford and Haber BUT those of modern greats, less well known names but incredible discoveries and my endless challenge -please be the first Nob el winner that I taught! (PS that Nobel site is my favourite!)

This is epitomised for me in a favourite KS4 lesson- the group 1 metals – Lithium, Sodium Potassium. Haz-cards always limited the lump when adding that piece of sodium to water. A sluggish looking soft, cuttable, grey metal, slimily covered in its oil from the bottle. ONLY USE the size of a grain of rice but ask any Chemistry teacher and they’ve been heckled in this lesson “Oh Sir, add a bigger lump” or “show us Rubidium or Caesium” ….and so in 2023 we can. There is a great video of adding Caesium to water and an even better one of the quite wrongful addition of sodium to a lake a huge quantity around 9  tonnes off the back of a lorry, into a lake back in 1947. You can even see Professor Poliakoff explain and show many many elements. Now if that doesn’t bring Chemistry to life! Though I suspect that the live view of a little lump of grey metal fizzing around carrying an orange flame or purple one before exploding  – these are what will be remembered. Sorry Biology colleagues who dipped out and showed a video it’s just not not not the same. BUT then further Lithium we know is in all those batteries and my old tutor – take a look at his discovery and comments – the Nobel winner John B Goodenough. So the joy for me as I annotated my lesson notes and next year might be even more excited to deliver those new ideas even just for a few minutes of a lesson.

I have to add then that the advent of the inspirational Salters’ Chemistry A level in 1992 written as a set of Chemical stories and each written by three groups : academics, industrialists and school teachers – managed by a great team at York University Holman, Pilling Burton et al and resourced to innovate. Had I ever made a polymer that conducted electricity? Had I modified a penicillin? Did I know the difference between a winter and summer petrol blend? Along with the opportunity to meet industrialists, academics and many great teachers from all around the world. I could go on but this project transformed my teaching, our school and many, many students prospects.

300 Pages of new activities and support.

In any long career do those lessons we teach year in year out do they improve? Did they find a rich vein of interest and motivate young people?…….or were we driven by assessment results and “just learn this”. Yesterday we did page 45 so today we do page 46 “Yawn”. I really think not. Don’t get me wrong assessment, exam results were important to me and my students. After all qualifications open doors [ and Chemistry opens some significant doors like medicine and scientific research] and opportunities. By contrast with rumours that Primary SAT assessment has led to many pupils who really don’t love reading, I hope my careful planning opened doors to the wonderful world of scientific discovery.

To be honest this is misleading as I rarely wore a lab coat !

So were we old teachers better or just different….I’m beyond appraisal, you be the judge. Comment below.

Confession. Guilt exposed by THAT teacher look

/ Mr J Dexter / Leave a comment

I’m not sure if this happened to other colleagues but it happened to me often and I wonder if it’s an Roman Catholic schools thing. Read on…

I’ve blogged about Bus Duty elsewhere and so this is what happened. I was just waving a bus off and thanking their driver when a distant shout back down the path alerted me to stop the bus “Oh hold on Driver” and down the road came Liam (we’ll call him Liam because that was his name). The bus driver waited and Liam got on and I thanked the driver, waved him off BUT he didn’t leave and beckoned me on. That only means one thing, bus troubles.

“Mr Dexter please do something about that lad, he is so badly behaved on the bus”

“Oh like what?”

“Well yesterday he had a packet of polo mints which he broke into small pieces and threw around the bus at people.”

So I go on board ask a few other pupils who confirm the incident and all I can do is ask Liam to see me next day at break at the staffroom door – you know sternly, teacher look, teacher face.

If any of you are senior staff reading this you’ll know what I’m about to say very well. By the time morning break came around I had done or not completed a thousand tasks with hundreds of people. As one colleague said until you meet yourself going backwards you’ve not understood school leadership. An evening of emails, marking, preparation, a morning of assembly, cover issues, and lesson one taught  – ‘good lesson” I’d say – not sure ofsted would but then they just observed at that time they didn’t deliver 20 lessons a week and do all this !

So the bell goes for break I, like many other staff, head for coffee and the staff toilets. Just as I turn around someone says “Mr Dexter Liam at the door for you”. Do you know in all honesty I couldn’t remember what it was about. I answered the door remembered he was in some trouble ( polos and buses) and so we went into an office (doors open of course).

Me “OK Liam thank you for coming to see me. Why did I want to speak with you?” [Teacher look, teacher voice, disappointed ‘you’ve let yourself down’ eyes.]

Liam “ I know Mr Dexter, I’m very sorry.”

Me “Go on”

Liam “ Its about French isn’t it, and my behaviour with Mrs C. I really shouldn’t have spoken to her like that ….”

Me “ Mmmm thank you Liam, that’s important but actually it wasn’t about that”

Liam “ Oh is it about the incident in Biology, it wasn’t really my fault the scissors slipped, I don’t honestly know how they flew across the lab and hit Ashraf, it was an accident but I do need to apologise. Oh hang on is he ok?

Me “ Mmmm thank you Liam, that’s bad isn’t it  but actually it wasn’t about that, Ash is fine”

Liam “ Oh Sir it’s not about English homework, I just didn’t understand it and that’s why I copied off Heather, I didn’t think Mrs W actually noticed but nevertheless it was wrong.

Me “ Mmmm thank you Liam, that’s helpful to know  but actually it wasn’t…”

BELL

Break over 15 minutes up

Me quickly “ actually Liam it was about the polos on the bus”

Liam “Oh that , that’s nothing really Sir”

…..and that’s why our heads of year and form tutors got loads of detailed referrals 

I thought it was exceptional but it happened over and over. On another occasion I had to speak with a sixthformer about an incident at the drinks machine. We had a number of problems with a vending machine and made no progress in solving what was happening. So we put up and told the students about a temporary CCTV. I think Rick has been away or not paying attention when we told the students and day one a colleague sent me a video clip of Rick not just shaking the machine but obtaining three drinks and then selling two onwards. 

Once again I called Rick to the office and asked him if he knew why I wanted a word

  • Is it all my lates?
  • Is it all the referrals from my Business Studies teacher?
  • Was it because I skived off Maths?
  • Is it my incomplete UCAS form with only a few days left to the deadline?

The great thing here was me nodding and just waiting. [teacher eyes, teacher expressions, teacher timing.]

  • Oh Sir has someone complained about my lengthy excuses for not meeting deadlines?
  • Oh No don’t tell me you are kicking me out ( We didn’t really do that!!)

That’s escalation for you and again another lengthy set of confessions to sort. He was all the more mortified when I showed the video and just as he reverted to character – ‘are you sure that’s me Mr Dexter?’

My dear teacher friends you remember raising that eyebrow using that voice and condemning those actions if not the student and many of you do so thousands of times to great effect. Thank you

England expects – Do your Duty, Teacher

/ Mr J Dexter / 1 Comment

Duties. Teachers have to do them, sometimes paid sometimes for love ( which we do a lot): bus duty, playground duty, detention duty, dinner duty. Schools run these on rotas – in my time we did one break a week (no extra pay), we volunteered for detention, bus and others but were paid for lunch. I did all of these once a senior leader but I never took any pay. Duties matter to keep children safe and happy BUT can they help teachers too?

As a young teacher I disliked break duty

  • I missed the break which I often really needed
  • I missed the staffroom gossip and adult conversation for those short 15 min moments
  • Playground duty often brought more work, behaviour referrals or someone’s quiet words needing a safeguard referral
  • I needed max time to prep for my science lessons – setting up etc

But once mentored by an older colleague I started to see the value. For me this was most stark for bus duty. I did bus duty on and off irregularly when asked as a young teacher. Seven buses lined outside our school, staff saw children onto the bus and sent the bus on its way when everyone was on board. Some of our buses were the public bus ( No 76) which slightly diverted to collect our children, but wouldn’t hang around. 

How many times had I heard  – “let the children out promptly at 3.30pm or they might miss a bus” and then as a senior leader how often did I say the same. You try cajoling a local bus driver already stressed to “please hang on a moment”. BUT my big error came week one of being a new assistant head and now firmly on the bus duty rota. My teaching lab was close to the gate, I did not want my lessons finished ‘early’ even by a few minutes as other SLT did – mmmm my mistake.

“Sir, sir that’s my bus leaving early!!”

So that first week as a new AHT I was busy and often stressed but on Friday worse was to come. An A-level group deep in conversation with me and each other about global warming, greenhouse gases comparisons to the Ozone hole ( yes we taught all that) and suddenly I realised it was gone 3.30pm I mean only 3.35pm BUT I WAS LATE – I flew out the lab and sprinted to the gate to see the first two buses departing and leaving a load of children running down from lower school “Sir, Sir that’s my bus”. Disaster and about 30 pupils missed their  bus or rather their bus left them. Some took other routes, but there were about 5 left and so it was to the school minibus…. I never did that again, my lessons finished early. 

Other days I dug in my pocket and lent the £1 OR £1.50 etc with a promise you’ll pay me back tomorrow – promises kept and unkept but favours done and won other favours. Other times I waited in the rain, snow and even nice summer days for 20 minutes for a bus  to show up, but I came to see it as a safeguard and a privilege. Initially I must admit I resented all this, as other colleagues had those moments to sort themselves out at the end of exhausting days or coffee with a colleague and opportunity to unwind, even a chance to escape quickly before a rush hour. Some staff ( maybe cover staff) still kept children behind who I had to arrange to get home. But like many aspects of the teacher role eventually I really enjoyed the duty.  I made it my place to wish the children well to ask those in the queue how their day went, ask if they had had any good lessons, what they had learnt. Had the chance to say to the odd youngster who was struggling, well done. To someone I had to sort out in the day, to say have a good evening, tomorrow is another day. And yes sometimes used the moment to create the bridge back for them. For others they might just call out on the way “Thanks Sir” or “ Can I chat to you tomorrow?”

Even better I watched children grow up – I remember many many like the little girl in Y7 who struggled with a violin, a school bag and once a week her basket of cooking, running, worried she might have to sleep at school if she missed her ride home. She told me she wanted to be a journalist one day when the bus was late and 7 years later having taught her in y10 and y11, I gave her that infamous brown envelope which took her to Leeds University to study broadcast journalism and start her now considerable career in the media

I talked to parents who occasionally intercepted their children to take them to the doctor or dentist, or who had news ( good or bad) to share, and news shared with me.

On a few odd occasions,  behaviour was awful and we always told the driver to return to the school. Children marched to the hall, and asked who did what. Rarely any confession but a sheet of paper each to write anonymously what happened , esp under the pressure of 5 mins or the bus leaves you here and we had all the names and info needed.

Apart from my lungs full of diesel fumes I grew to love those duties simply because I used them to help make me be a better teacher and halep develop an ethos and culture in a school.

And here are two special moments – one when Sheku Kanneh-Mason had a surprise as Nottingham City Transport generously named a bus after him when he won BBC Young musician – though he did on occasion slightly oversleep, run for (his) bus and miss it! Secondly the kind of letter you just love to see


Sheku Kanneh-on has an NCT bus named in his honour. Seen with Mum Kaddie and Mr Dexter and Mr Manderson of Trinity school

An explosion helps

/ Mr J Dexter / Leave a comment

In my NQT year I took a 5th year class. Schools don’t like to do that, to give Y11 to a shiny new teacher, but they were short of Chemists (nothing changes). Of all my classes I worried about them most, this was an important year for them, it was their “chance” I would get other chances they wouldn’t. I prepared my lessons well BUT struggled to win them over, it would take time and time we didn’t have. They always arrived slowly, ambled in, took ages to get their books out and coats off – in fact anything to delay learning and there were always niggles – forgotten books, forgotten pens, do I have to wear these goggles? ……teachers know this scenario well.

The timetable didn’t help Friday last lesson and Monday first lesson is effectively a double split over a weekend and I soon learnt to do some practicals and demos Friday and the theory on Monday such was their attention span or lack. I did rely on the lab technician as do all science staff – these folk are unsung heroes, and Kathy was such for us. However her hours changed and she left early on a Friday but diligently left me my materials.

It was one such Friday after demonstrations of the Halogens ( GroupVII) and a class experiment with iodine solution the class left and I was happy, it had gone well after the usual shaninkins. However just as I was locking up this upstairs lab, I realised leaving even respectably small quantities of chlorine and bromine and iodine wasn’t good and no one else was clearing away. No one had told me about Hazcards, or I had already forgotten. These cards have alls sorts of info per chemical…. how to make, use dispose and treat spills or ingestion etc). Still, me a graduate chemist of a fairly prestigious University tried to recall on a Friday after a long week how to dispose of anything too risky. I seemed to think was possible to dissolve the excesses in alkali. Tentatively I did so in the fume cupboard mixing with sodium hydroxide and washing down the sink (chemists forgive me). Just as I left the lab I noticed at the back a load of tubes of Iodine water the class themselves had used to do similar tests to my demo of the other halogens. I had used up all my alkali and so without further thinking I dissolved this into another alkali and swilled down the sink on the teacher’s bench. After all iodine is much less hazardous! [PS DO NOT try this at home!]

Twas on the Monday morning they drifted in after assembly half awake and I greeted them cheerfully cleaning the blackboard with my dusty cloth and then flinging it down the bench with a little much gusto. The cloth slid gracefully into the sink and there followed an incredibly loud bang, a very sharp crack, a significant puff of smoke and a small purple cloud. Even I took cover for a moment. – whence the cloud disappeared I looked out to find not one pupil in my classroom. As I walked from the front bench I found each Y11 cowered on their knees, heads in their hands, behind their bench in total silence.

What had happened was the sink like many an old school facility didn’t drain well and some of my waste solution stayed around the rim of the drain and dried out as the water evaporated over the weekend and out crystallised probably the tiniest amount of Nitrogen tri-iodide – an explosive substance detonated as they say with the touch of a feather, it was used in those devil bangers and I suspect little cap guns when I was little.

Somewhat embarrassed I did explain this to my Head of Chemistry (my Head of Science wanted the recipe – typical Physicist) but any embarrassment was more than made up for by my class. Once they emerged from their defensive positions they worked their socks off and did so with through the year. I never made that chemistry mistake again, whether I used that disciplinary technique is another question

Lab technicians are wonderful folk but they store stuff along with storing knowledge, I learnt that day to double check and do my research carefully.

Discipline is vital in schools, good behaviour in lessons but it need not come from shouting, or serious control or deep sarcasm, or worse, persistent nagging. Preparing something interesting to learn and working hard with relationships was what I always had to do, but I did need the occasional extra hand from a head of year, a head of department or a small explosive.

[Beware, Nitrogen Triodide is a highly sensitive contact explosive, completely unpredictable and the iodine vapour a hazardous gas DO NOT try this at home or work or ….]

Convincing the learner they can learn

/ Mr J Dexter / 1 Comment

Dear Reader

You have been to school, so you probably think you know what makes a good teacher (and a bad one) and how to run a good school (and a bad one) this ‘ pontificating ‘ especially if you are also a politician can frustrate teachers themselves. I guarantee though, one space you didn’t know so much about was ……the staffroom! On teaching practice genuinely, I was warned not to sit in Mr X chair! However in my first post staff were generous and kind, they took an interest in how I was doing and they shared and encouraged me (or perhaps they lied) “oh Yes Chris is awful in my lessons too”. This concern was a wonderful gift in my early years in Witney. I often tried to imagine those colleagues, who were sharing with me over coffee, what they were in the classroom. In my naivety I thought everyone had to be young, energetic, passionate etc. I recall a lovely colleague I often helped out of the chair – over the age of retirement slow, measured but still going. We don’t treat older teachers as sources of wisdom, they often treat younger staff very generously.

In my early years there were no MATS, not even many INSET days ( preBaker). Toward the end of my first year I had missed opportunity to analyse and think about what I was doing – not a surprise , my PGCE saw about 50% timetable and I was now over 75%. My reflections were brief as the phots show.

My summary planning notes and even more brief feedback in red JD 1981.
My summary plan and even more brief feedback JDX 1981

I had a very difficult third year class, Y9 – we would have called them low ability. Whatever I did, interesting practicals or care with language, shout or stay very calm, it did not win them over. Discipline was OK actually but they just didn’t seem to learn. Tests often showed deterioration not progress. So one day I asked them who was the favourite teacher and who helped them learn best. Imagine my suppose when with one voice they gave the name of the elderly colleague, an English teacher. I asked her if I could observe her and she welcomed me with open arms.

The class arrived and entered her beautiful room orderly cheerful and keen, they sat down no trouble, they automatically got books and notes out. I was baffled, I mean this was English, activity was limited. Miss S set off by telling them it was spelling test day. Not a murmur, just found their spelling jotters. To honour me they had scientific terms….. out came the likes of aluminium, separate, science etc. they swopped papers, and Miss went through the correct spellings. BUT she didn’t take down the marks. I thought nothing of it. the lesson moved on to study some poetry – even I found it a challenge but they listened, they concentrated, often half the class had hands up at every question. they worked in silence, they asked some clever questions. Towards the end she said it was spelling rerun time and she reran the spelling test, everyone did better (of course). She took the marks down for that test. The bell went, they slowly packed away, no rush to leave, no wild comments, many a ‘thank you’.

As I sat there, a light went on, Miss S had shown them in black and white terms that this class which found learning so challenging, well she had proved they could learn. From initial spelling scores of 2 or 3 correct they finished with 8 or 9 and that made them feel good, made them want more, made them adore Miss S and enabled her to teach them really well because they knew they could really learn.

Teachers finds clever creative, innovative ways to motivate pupils and classes but the best and the lesson I learnt that day is we always have to show, however hard the content is (and listen Chemistry has plenty) with thought and planning, with magic and mystery it is possible to convince pupils they really can learn. This is the hidden challenge and hidden joy of the craft of a classroom. I was indebted to this wise (old) colleague forever.

Blowing your cover

/ Mr J Dexter / Leave a comment

No one talks about cover to young teachers let alone trainee students. So it was in my first year that eventually my first cover lesson came along. As an NQT my first school looked after me very well, but once my 5th year (mode 3 CSE) left inevitably I did my bit.

Those of you who teach know there are cover lessons and cover lessons. Sometimes colleagues leave work or others set work which is detailed and comprehensive, the children are well briefed and the ‘substitute teacher’ can get on with their work. But there are also the “carry on with the where you got to” type lessons and those where you try and avert a near riot as the pupils exaggeratedly pleads “Sir, this isn’t fair Miss promised we would ….. today ” fill in blank with a glorious treat.

So it was. I saw my name on the cover board – Tuesday period 4 PE. OH NO. Of all lessons PE has to be one of the worst, no reflection on PE staff, but there is little chance of getting anything done as you supervise some sporty activity. This being summer, the gym was used for about 3 months for exams and this was ….tennis. I had no kit, I had no idea how to teach or coach tennis but my colleagues helped and whilst I might have got away with it wearing my lab coat umpiring cricket, I did my best to make the effort in the summer sun.

Imagine my disappointment and surprise the next week when again I saw Tuesday period 4 PE. To be fair the deputy apologised but I took the group out again and they were glad my presence meant they got their lesson. I was annoyed not to have packed my kit again but I ask you who gets a second cover for the same lesson.

If only…… you guessed the next week Tuesday period 4 PE, cover Mr Dexter. Well even patient, enthusiastic Mr Dexter was cross and so I asked the deputy if we could avoid PE and watch something in the TV room and then suddenly inspired recalled ….”its Wimbledon”.

Many of the children understood and so after the usual fiddling with leads/aerials and sound they watched Wimbledon….and this was a year after the famous John McEnroe “You cannot be serious” in 1981. So interest was maintained. I sat at the back and crouched over a small table started my marking and yes slightly pleased with myself.

It was about 5 minutes before the end when a strange sound went up from the class, not a hurrah, not a cheer, more a cross between the noises when someone drops their lunch on the floor in the canteen and your team miss a penalty. I sat up, looked over very confused. There wasn’t even any play, the players were resting between sets and the camera panned the crowd and a loan voice in the class piped up …” There Mr Dexter, look who is sitting on the second row.” Then with me thinking aloud “you cannot be serious” but yes sure enough the PE teacher was sat in row 2 enjoying Wimbledon perhaps not quite as much as this class. Professionals think what they might say or do… I had no chance for either the class left and the message was everywhere even without social media.

It turned out the teacher was a supply teacher covering one of my colleagues off with a broken leg….. we didn’t see her again in school, and I did no more covers all summer.

I loved my first school, colleagues were wonderful, kind and supportive and I learned so much from watching and talking with them, and most importantly I realised I really could teach and enjoy the job. BUT I also learnt there are some who aren’t like that, some who will break rules and later on I had to appreciate the accountability, performance and system measures necessary for a small minority … pity really but necessary.

I can honestly say no more than a dozen staff have I met during my career that I did not enjoy working with over those 36 years – the majority ( thousands) professional, creative, diligent and clever …with the odd exceptions

Oh and quite a different lesson – when pupils get hold of a juicy story – it travels at lightning speed in fact at unstoppable speed with or without the turbo of social media.

    “Tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault break, love – the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature” Andre Agassi

    You are a b***dy teacher!

    / Mr J Dexter / Leave a comment

    In 1981 I started teaching and was that new shiny teacher. At the end of my first year, my head of department who was an amazing teacher I was so glad to learn from, asked me to attend a faculty meeting on his behalf. It was a significant meeting because “set lists” were to be handed out.

    Hard to imagine a time before a national curriculum when children still chose the majority of their subjects. You might think they could have chosen any 10 or so in any combination but schools were not stupid, so they had little rules like, one subject from option A, one subject from option B plus maths plus English etc. Remember there was no Ofsted but even then we knew what to do to help children.

    However, this meeting was to give out the lists of those children who had decided to do your subject in fourth and fifth year or year 10 and 11 in new money. So I went to collect the list of pupils who had chosen O-level or CSE chemistry . It was a scary meeting for me, this was a comprehensive school that not so long ago had been a secondary modern, the pastoral system was a vertical one with heads of house who were frankly formidable characters and I was privileged to learn so much from them including my own head of house Marian Davis. So the lists were passed around the table, hand written and I looked down the list of names recognising some of those whom I had taught. There were of course pupils you were very pleased to see had chosen your subject, in fact these were probably names that everybody would have been delighted to see on their list. Then there was a moment where you looked down to check certain names were missing and yes there were those pupils who I had struggled with and my wisdom at their parents evening to suggest subject X or Y might be better, well that had worked I was quite pleased they decided not to carry on with chemistry (such naivety and inexperience).

    Silence dropped over the meeting as people viewed the lists handed down from the deputy head. Then there was a muttering which came from the head of PE, with a bit of sighing, a bit of umming a bit of ‘somebody not very happy’. As that continued one of those heads of house spoke and we all looked at him:

    “What is the matter Tony?” said the head of house, a man who maintained outstanding discipline and who we all knew a majority of children absolutely adored.

    “Well”, said Tony “I’m just looking at this list. The first time we’ve tried to get PE as a qualification in this school you all know how hard I’ve worked to get this off the ground and I am so disappointed by the names of people you have allowed to choose PE.”

    The head of house looked directly at Tony and said “give me an example”

    “Well down here is Richard James … he can’t even swim how am I expected to get him any sort of qualification in PE?” I sat there and thought to myself: that’s a fair comment I wouldn’t really like to have anybody doing a serious chemistry qualification with me, who did not know how to handle basic equipment or understand the basic rules in a laboratory or who had done Ok in those first three years at secondary.

    However the room dropped to silence …”Tony” said the head of house “ you’re a bloody teacher, teach him to swim”

    This was a phrase which rang so true it lasted with me the remaining 40 years of my teaching career.

    I was so glad that somebody nailed it, that day.

    Whatever we think about the way young people behave or young people take to our subject, do or don’t conform, we are teachers and it’s our job to find a way to teach them.

    There’s a kind of question I and many others are asked at first introduction to a stranger in company…..“Oh what do you teach?” to which the answer is …. geography chemistry English etc though the clever answer is “I teach children”. I think that day seared into my mind was that I teach children wherever they come from, whatever their experience, and my job was to do my best to inspire them and …. teach them, to help them learn my subject it was a deeply profound lesson. Thank you Tony and that extraordinary pithy Head of House.

    Politicians – party or people?

    / Mr J Dexter / Leave a comment

    Seeing so much from Westminster lately I couldn’t help reflecting over my time as a teacher, school leader and director. I have been fortunate to have met many MPs and Councillors.

    Mostly local but when labour were in power Graham Allen MP often brought ministers to meet us in Nottingham North. NN is the constituency that historically send the fewest young people to University of all constituencies [Trinity moved from Nottingham North to Nottingham South at a boundary change]. I have always had huge respect for our local MPs – Lilian Greenwood ( whose constituency the school moved into and who always took time to visit her schools) and Alex Norris, sill a school governor and in Nottingham East Nadia Whittome who helped with many projects and programmes and of course my home MP Vernon Coaker although not the present incumbent.

    Our own MPs responding very positively to support local heads in the pandemic and taking the trouble to thank them via video or other messages.

    Many Conservative education secretaries I’ve met at school conferences (Michael Gove) or through RC heads (Nicky Morgan) or just occasionally a visit to Nottingham (Damian Hinds). Others like Estelle Morris came and spoke at Trinity; Ed Balls listened to our choir when we were invited to sing at the launch of ‘faith in schools’ at the British museum.

    Although Nottingham City is a majority Labour I’ve worked with some significant Conservative councillors too including teacher colleagues; some I would count as friends.

    So that’s both main parties, local and national, ministers and backbenchers; official business, visits or sometimes campaigning.

    To a person they have been polite, thoughtful, and nearly always willing to listen and take time to explain policy or reason. Sometimes I’ve disagreed about their policies including those on education.

    The best…. know their ward or constituency very well and keep talking and listening to all their voters (and non voters) whether in power or opposition. They listen to local professionals and many, rather than have a second job are school governors etc , using their time effectively and yes working very hard. They ask good questions and many are extremely good at remembering names and concerns – they are genuinely ‘bothered’ . Of course some have been in power, some have been in opposition

    And when in power those who absolutely represent their ward or constituency not just their party are frequently respected and often returned at elections.

    Those in opposition willing to recognise helpful policy and to try and nudge and influence on behalf of all of us are respected and yes often returned at elections.

    We understand their preference for (and probably their duty for) fulfilling a manifesto but on taking power they change from being single minded party political to thinking and acting for ALL locals. They kind of move on from ‘Party’ to public though with one eye on ‘Party’.

    Clearly some never learn and think their job is to run things like they are the only party or people who are right, that they can choose mates and nepotism over sharing fairer representation – diverse views. That they are still campaigning not running government. They ignore public over ‘Party’

    Thank you to our local representation when you do ( as you do so often) represent us, thank you for your work on all our behalf, however challenging be it in power or not.

    Most of all think of the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, those who struggle who have little power or voice – the neighbour we all should love. And those of you who do – which is a majority on my list – thank you.

    The Ambition literacy campaign in Nottingham

    / Mr J Dexter / Leave a comment

    This was written for the Nottingham City Council campaign and is on the NCC intranet but it might get more publicity for reading out in the open

     

    We are encouraging more children to read as part of the council’s new literacy campaign ‘Ambitious for every child’. We know that an early love of books and reading can help children to be more successful in the future. In this blog, our Education Director John Dexter reflects on his early experience of books and the impact it had on his life and teaching career…

    The great children’s writer Roald Dahl said of reading: “I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.”

    When I was a child, we had very few books at home, only one or two suitable for children, so I read those several times, but my Dad took me to the library every few weeks. I loved those trips, partly being with him, which was rare, and partly as I entered a new world every week:

    • Outer space, imaginary planets, inconceivable journeys, hideouts, far off islands, distant countries, danger…
    • The world of pirates, ancient peoples, Victorians, Romans, firefighters, commanders, heroes, ghosts…
    • Safely in a war zone, a baking hot African country, the freezing ice sheets of Antarctica, the beauty of mountain landscape, the enchanting Far East, the hill stations of India, an adventure with superheroes…

    Sometimes escaping, often fantastic, occasionally scary, always learning. But so grateful for the world I entered. It’s not just about learning the basics of reading to access the modern world, it is about being literate, about learning and sharing, enjoying and getting ideas, or having ideas challenged.

    As a teacher, you might expect me to say all this but I was never very comfortable with English, let alone English Literature (a subject I failed aged 16). Not until I met with Mr Scholar (great name for a teacher). As I chose to study science, my school insisted we had “extra” English lessons – I almost despaired but probably not as much as Mr Scholar. So we came to an agreement, there was no syllabus, no exam so why didn’t he tell us what he loved to read: fiction, non-fiction, plays poetry… that set me on the road to enjoying reading and that helped me become literate.

    When I worked in secondary schools, I am proud of the literacy challenges we put in place: every Wednesday, 25 minutes of silent reading, save those who struggled to read helped by trained sixth form literacy coaches. This routine said:

    1. reading is important enough to have on the secondary curriculum
    2. there is a need for time set aside to read seriously and
    3. promoting discussion between pupils and between staff and pupils about reading, about books, about fiction or non-fiction is healthy
    4. ambitions can be fuelled by literacy

    For me that was great, I honestly believed reading was just so undervalued. I once made my Year 11 Science class read aloud for a whole hour lesson. At the end, one student said: “I can’t believe how much I have learnt Sir, it helped me make sense of many of our lessons.” This said something about me, probably, but I just hoped he would read the rest of the book.0_Hoodwinked-book-bench3

    I was sooooo enthusiastic to get my own children to read. But here sits a secondary teacher with no idea how to teach reading, so it was the obvious: read to them, read with them, listen to them, tell them stories, find stories, get them to find stories… and I remembered that’s what my Dad did too; he took me to the library and he took books out as well. Adults can model the importance of reading by reading themselves, set aside time, and help choose books or give them as gifts.

    I am envious of the wonderful array of books available today, and at reasonable costs, but the Dolly Parton Imagination Library sending 60 books over five years to small children offers a great opportunity to start reading, start imagining, to relax reading and even to find a better balance in life. But most of all to learn and enter the funny, exciting and wonderful world Dahl describes.

    Go on, be ambitious and give it a go.

    If you wish to support Councillor Mellen’s big read, please do so here.

    OR BETTER Still tell us all about a book you loved as a child, or loved reading to your children or grandchildren or would give as a gift?