from KM What do you remember about your very first day in the classroom? My first proper teaching job, with a proper contract was in Esher College. I’ve written fairly recently about my interview there, and how surprised I was to get the job. But that hurdle over, my Head of Department, Helena Fotherby, then […]Read Post ›
Have I said I always wanted to be a teacher? Many times, I hear you mutter. So boring, never wavering, always on about education.Et cetera, et cetera. Well, now is the time to admit, that isn’t entirely true. I’ll try and explain. In June 1976 I finally obtained my degree by the skin of my teeth from […]Read Post ›
A is for Athens – of course. We just came back two days ago, and a is for amazing, but not exactly in the way we expected. A is for Acropolis, and it was the first thing we saw in the distance. and I’m afraid that’s where it remained, for the whole four days we […]Read Post ›
What is this ugly thing? You may well ask; I had to ask myself the same thing when I found it last week. But then I saw Mrs Washington’s handwriting, and it all came back to me. Mrs W, from Marlborough School, my teacher for the whole four years, was very ken=en on handicrafts. She […]Read Post ›
I had been taught to say my prayers by my father and loved the bedtime routine. But when I was thrust into the confines of the boarding establishment that was St Augustine’s, night prayers and day prayers and any other time prayers took on a totally different significance. Within a week of being there I had […]Read Post ›
I’m afraid I can’t actually remember it. It must have been September 1959. I was just six. I should have been seven, but somewhere along the line I missed a year. I moved up from Marlborough Infants School, putting Mrs Brock and Mrs Edwards safely behind me. A lot of my friends came with me […]Read Post ›
Village life has almost passed us by since we first started weekending, now almost weeking here. Lots of reasons for this, none very good, but things seem to be slowly changing. A few weeks ago we were asked if we like opera, because opera is coming to town. Yes I said. Where will it be? […]Read Post ›
Looking at this bowl this morning as it catches and reflects the light in the most beautiful ways, I was reminded of my sojourn in Reggio Emilia about fifteen years ago. People who knew me then will roll their eyes at this point, because I returned from a week’s educational course so full of unbearable […]Read Post ›
I haven’t posted for a while, but I wanted to share this delightful little tale with your. Our daughter is a teacher of English as a Second Language in the North of England and her story really moved us. She then wrote it up and here it is. “Every few weeks, I assign my students presentation […]Read Post ›
I opened my desk yesterday thinking I would do a tiny bit of decluttering, and managed not an iota. I found so many interesting things, and important things, none of which I wanted to get rid of. Many I had totally forgotten about. Like this envelope. I didnt recogise the handwriting in the first instance […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 