School's out......

.... well almost!

A momentous day and a few thoughts are necessary - please don't feel you have to read all this - but this is how I got here!!

I headed off to teacher training college in the balmy summer of 1971 having been advised by the careers' officer at school that girls should only consider 3 options - nurse, teacher, secretary. I actually wanted to be a fashion designer but that didn't go down very well. Teaching seemed the lesser of 3 evils and I had romantic visions of sitting at my desk being surrounded by adoring kids. I headed off to teacher training college just outside Oxford. I can't remember being given any advice about teaching whatsoever but I do remember making one visual aid - a very useful poster about Roman Camulodunum!! I specialised in History and was fortunate enough in having three excellent tutors... and yes, really I should have been an archaeologist. There were teaching practices of course- you were immediately thrown into a school to sort out the wheat from the chaff. I was placed in a tiny school in Radley, over shadowed by the public school of the same name, just up the road. The headmistress was ancient, hit the children and was followed everywhere by a fat, old and smelly dog. The teacher I worked with though was lovely -a pale, thin, kind young man who suffered from haemophilia and was always covered in bruises. The next teaching practice was in Dorchester on Thames and the school was lucky enough to have its own archaeologist dig going on. My final teaching practice was in Didcot, literally under the power station - I think it might even have been in an army school. I was assigned do a teacher who was downright weird and I think I was propositioned to make a threesome with her and her husband, but being very naive I didn't realise what she'd asked till years later. After 3 years at college I was desperate to leave but my tutor, a wise and kind woman who went by the name of Aunty Mu, refused to let me and I did my degree year in Oxford, assigned to Merton college. Again this was wonderfully academic and no teaching was mentioned!

My first job was in a secondary school in Chatteris. I thought I'd said no thank you when I was offered the job. I was teaching English, History, Drama and Ethics!!! The kids taught me about drugs and sex, and I taught them little about rock and roll, It was ghastly. All the staff had been to the same school, they'd all married each other and the children aspired to be carrot pickers. However, amidst all this there was a beacon - himself !!! We got married during a Christmas holiday and escaped shortly afterwards! My next job was also in a secondary school and this time the headteacher saw me coming. He offered me history and English and then threw in Road Craft. I couldn't even drive. No problem, he assured me, it's easy and its the boys' favourite lesson. What he hadn't told me was it was a double period with the Easter Leavers (lads who were too thick or too naughty to take GCSEs and were just waiting to leave) and yes, they loved road craft - especially the practical session - I was doing the theory. Finally I arrived in a small village school outside Stratford upon Avon and there I remained for 10 years. A delightful place with very happy memories. In 2000 it was all a bit too cosy and I wondered if I could do anything else. I resigned and waited for things to happen! September was a bit bleak but suddenly all sorts of interesting offers came in. Things were getting quite high powered when we moved to Ireland. The last thing I expected to do was teach but within a few weeks of arriving the news went out that a teacher was in town. I was summoned to the local school. I eventually settled in St James and have spent a very happy 10 and a half years, mainly part-time with odd bursts of full time. I've actually rather enjoyed being a teacher and have been very fortunate to work in some eccentric, creative schools. Now I just have to hand in the boxes of stuff and I'm done.

Well not quite - the 'surprise' is tomorrow. Various bits of information have been let slip - there's to be a picnic, things have been made, and Himself has had a phonecall instructing him to bring me in and collect me quite a bit later so I suspect drink will be taken - I'm posting this while I still can!