Bulgaria with Noodles

In many ways, I think that I learned much more about what I would call "the theory and practice of Education" during my fairly short time at Windlesham than I did during my PGCE course. Why was that, I wonder? Well, my curiosity and determination had a lot to do with it. At WHS, I set my mind on learning more about teaching, the actual practice rather than the more abstract stuff. When you are doing it every day, then you want what actually works with real children, rather than the vague things you might waffle about in an essay or in a lecture.  Another reason why I learned a lot more about the science or the art (or the craft?) of teaching was that at WHS I did not have to take any sports or games sessions in the afternoons. Joy of joys! Yes, I did have to do some sort of activities with the children, but that was not really a problem at all, as it meant that I could do things like my Robot Club and  The Windlesham Weekly.    While I was at Windlesham, I started wr...

Although there were plenty of things that I did not like about teaching at Windlesham House School, there were definitely some positives as well. In many ways, I learned much more about the art (or science?) of  Education at Windlesham than I did during my PGCE course. Part of the reason for this was that WHS attracted (and probably still does attract) some very talented teachers, one of whom was my boss, the Head of English, Peter Nixon. He is the chap with the beard, on the left. Peter's production of William the Bigamist was simply brilliant, just like any other play he has ever been involved with. Peter wrote it himself, basing it (of course) on Richmal Crompton's Just William books.   I have often wondered why Peter's productions are so good. His attention to detail has a lot to do with it, but he also has a special talent for casting, choosing just the right boy or girl for that particular role. Peter also manages to get the most wonderfully appropriate facial express...

On the whole, I did not really enjoy teaching at Windlesham House School. Duty weekends were a killer and the general lack of discipline made teaching at WHS pretty "challenging", to use that word headmasters often employ when they want the staff to do something that is not so pleasant.  As a teacher, I thought that Windlesham was too liberal and too trendy, a sort of rather upmarket (and much more expensive) Summerhill.  However, there definitely were some good things about WHS and one of them was my Threes class, better known as the Flumps. I really enjoyed teaching the Flumps and they really were a lovely and charming collection of children.  In the summer term, we had a very enjoyable class trip to Seaworld and Chichester, followed by a barbecue in the back garden of my flat in the stable block. At the end of the summer term, there was a strong tradition at Windlesham of putting on class plays in the school’s grounds. The parents seemed to like these al fresco dram...

Oh yes, it is. The Gardening Bore has returned. Sorry about that. These things happen, from time to time. Please accept my apologies. Normal blog service will be restored at the end of this post.   The tomatoes are the big success story. My dear wife says that the taste is more important than the size. What a relief! The badminton court is looking quite splendid with the new net. I just wish that I could actually win some games... The Jerusalem Artichokes are doing rather well. Thank you, Mila!   The lilies and the trumpet things also look rather good. The melons have been amazing this year. Normally I hate eating melons in Bulgaria because the growers spray them with all kinds of horrible chemicals, so I feel sick after eating them. Our melons, you will be pleased to know, are 100% organic and absolutely delicious. That pampered, podgy, Plovdiv pooch is not interested in gardening. She is a very lazy little doggie.

A school play that was not a “school” play. That would be my verdict on The Rocking Horse Winner . It was, in many ways, a shocking and disturbing drama for any school. Yes, I would agree that we do not need yet another dull and pedestrian production of Toad of Toad Hall, but The Rocking Horse Winner went too far in the opposite direction. The themes of the play made a powerful (and maybe poisonous) cocktail: the Occult, gambling and greed, with a strong shot of social climbing, pretentiousness and the break-up of a family. The threatening music (lots of Eric Satie) and the set’s nightmarish design added to the play’s alarming effect on the audience. As an adult, I found this play both powerful and painful. It really was not at all suitable for children of primary school age, but of course plays and the theatre are posh and they have snob value, so no one in authority at Windlesham was too bothered about whether it was appropriate for the children. Some of the teachers were worried...

One good thing about teaching at Windlesham House School was that there was a certain amount of creative freedom for teachers to try out new and unusual educational ideas. When the first computers started to arrive in schools, I suppose it was inevitable that they were usually given to the Maths department. Well, if you think that a computer is just a glorified electronic calculator, then this was more or less bound to happen, but it was also a big mistake. It meant that many Art, Music and English teachers felt a bit left out of the I.T. world and there was the impression that computers are really just mathematical devices that have nothing to do with anything vaguely arty or creative. At Perrott Hill, some BBC “B” computers arrived soon after I did and, sure enough, the head of Maths, dear old Paddy Logan, was put in charge of them. At Windlesham House School, computers were much more in evidence. Maybe WHS was a bit too “trendy”, so any new scholastic fad was going to be popular, ...