From 2016

 Introduction:

During the week of the October 2022 Half Term, I had to terminate a storage contract of personal effects which had been in storage since 2017.  In one of the boxes was a notebook which I used to start a journal or diary during the Easter Bank Holiday weekend of 2016.  I only wrote two entries but thought it was interesting to read back what I said at the time.  How ideas and times have changed.

6.22am, Friday 26 March 2016 (Good Friday)

I have decided after the week I have had this week to start writing a diary or reflective journal again.  It has been an “annis horriblis” this week as her Majesty is quoted as saying in her Christmas message of 1992 I think it was.  To use the fact that it was – sorry this week was the first time in my adult life that I have had an overnight stay in hospital and I do not want to repeat the experience.  I contracted cellulitis on the left side of my face to today begin a course of oral antibiotics having had three intravenous doses since the small hours of Wednesday morning.

Anyway, the purpose of this journal is or as is my intention for the purposes of this journal is to help me focus on what I want to achieve (a fancy way of saying to do list) and what I have achieved.  The things for example I have started this week and intend to continue are:

1.      taking multi-vitamin supplements daily to prevent ever being in the position I was this week ever again;

2.      brushing my teeth with a manual toothbrush again.  Since the late 1990s I think it was I’ve been using an electric toothbrush and my oral hygiene is no better.  To further improve or try to improve matters, I will also use a mouthwash;

3.   make the laundry and washing up a priority rather than waking up and going into the study to turn on my computer.  This morning for instance before I started writing today’s writing / reflection I loaded and started the laundry with towels in the washing machine and did the dishes from last night’s take-away supper.

I realised too from the last two days that my son’s awake so I must stop there. (6.43 am).

6.47am  Although [name of my son] is awake he is happily playing in his room and not acknowledged my presence.  Having said that he has now gone to the toilet and may need my attention.

8.41pm, Sunday 28 March 2016 (Easter Sunday)

I know I could have gone with the convention of starting a new page for a new entry but I would rather not waste pages.

This last couple of days have been a struggle to maintain the new routine.  This morning for example although I did manage to wash before coming downstairs so ready for my day before eight o’clock, I did not want to do or clear the washing up.  I have tried tonight but still not got across the no washing up left finish line.

I’ve also failed too with maintaining the discipline of trying to avoid using the iPad over the last couple of days.  It was using the iPad that or not using the iPad while I was in hospital last that week that made me think or realise that my eye problem in part might be too much tablet time as it were as I felt so much better eye-health wise on Thursday and Friday with no tablet or PC time.  However last night I let myself go and indulged in reading the Education Minister’s speech to the NASUWT Union made yesterday as well as looking at other things on the Interweb.  Today once again my eyelids are sore and eyes looking bloodshot and weary.

The other things I would like to achieve from now on as well are:

1.      to read more – specifically read for the MA in Primary Education.  To that end or extent, it leads to my next personal targets which is:

2.      to get back into part time study on the MA in Primary Education at the IoE.  Although the IoE have since last year I think become a faculty within UCL I still and will forever think of the IoE as the IoE and nothing else.  I thought too this morning that as a 17-18 year old, I had thought of aspirations to study for a BEd degree at the Institute of Education.  I would never have thought thirty years later that the aspiration has not only become a reality but I would be sufficiently qualified to be a postgraduate student at the IoE. 

3.      limit myself to two hours of quality time spent on my teaching preparation.  Easier said than done.  I t tried to do this yesterday but think I spent time – not think but know that I spent that time sending non-work related e-mails and buying replacement Lego parts as well as a photograph order of a portrait shot of me for work. 

4.      Be a better Dad to my kids and be a better husband to my wife.  I struggle with both a lot of the times and feel I only get things about five percent right.  It wasn’t until this afternoon for instance that I got the children interested in activities that I helped them with so that we were all quietly being together rather than having to constantly berate them for niggling each other and not following instructions.  Anyway, tomorrow’s another day and I should give myself the chance to put things right again on both the Dad and husband scores with a fresh start. 

5.      Go out running – just to keep myself healthy and mobile as well as having the vague idea or aspiration of being able to comfortably take part in the occasional chipped times 10K so that I can achieve a PB of sub one hour instead of ever closer to the ninety minute mark.

Anyway, instead of just dwelling on the things I would like to achieve, the things I have achieved so far since starting last week are:

1.      Maths planning – priority.  2.  NQT Evidence Tracker record.  3.  Eleanor Palmer, Primary manifesto poster – something I saw in last week’s Camden New Journal or whatever rag it was I picked up during my hospital stay.  Essentially a different type of schools poster I display that I thought looked really good.

4.      Scanning and upload of the Neil Gaiman book for next terms’ literacy teaching and writing up a proposal to introduce a VLE / MLE at the School using Fronter.

5.      Chess teaching plan including scanning and turning into an e-book the Chess for Children book I bought in the New Year.

6.      Resources or circulating resources for literacy (First News); Science (ISEB text, Scholastic planning) and Geography.

I would also like to use this journal to set out some longer term goals or wish list.  As I said to my wonderful wife today, if we had the disposable cash over the holiday period would be to get my sight checked as well as one or two dentist / hygienist appointments.

Moneywise, our plan is to build up sufficient reserves – ideally six months take home salary.  At the moment I am still struggling with keeping afloat of all bills let alone having any extra disposable money.  To that extent I wish yesterday we had not bothered with the children’s bookshop visit in order to spend the World Book Day vouchers we had.  As my wonderful wife and I thought after yesterday’s visit to the Muswell Hill Bookshop, the children aren’t capable of making suitable book buying choices for themselves and the benefits of a pound off a title doesn’t really make any difference to us as a book buying family.

To describe more effectively I think or succinctly where our financial priorities are, I’ve used the phrase “if money were no object and time no consequence” I would want to make our house as comfortable, tidy and labour free as it could be with sufficient living space to have a beautiful and efficiently working bathroom  / shower and kitchen.  The study where I do much if not all of my teacher preparation would be a neat and tidy space where I could do everything effortlessly including letting and expecting the children share the space with me for their homework, reading, writing and maths practice.  As for the bedrooms to be all be beautifully restful places to simply sleep.

Careerwise, after the bumpy start I’ve had getting into teaching, I’m really happy working at Willow Brook.  In terms of my working or professional priorities they are:

1.      To be signed off as having completed induction.

2.      To work a further two terms – complete terms at least at Willow Brook as I’ve yet to have been working in a school for longer than two consecutive terms.

3.      To try based on the achievements I have made so far at Willow Brook to negotiate for a salary on M2/M3 as soon as I’m signed off as having completed my NQT induction.

4.      To secure a place on the MaST programme at the IoE starting this September and for the fees to be sponsored by my employer.  I’m not particularly or specifically interested in becoming subject leader for Maths but I just want to have that string to my bow as it were with the potential to become an AST perhaps.  My priority though is simply to be a better Maths teacher.

5.      If not the MaST qualification then to study steadily for the MA in Primary Education.  I can never remember the module structure but on the basis that it is a total of 180 points for the Masters with each module worth 30 credits, I could be within a dissertation of being awarded a Masters by October 2016 if I manage to get my act together and clear the outstanding fees owed as well as getting my student status at the IoE back on an active footing.

Anyway, I’m going to stop there for now as I’ve been writing for an hour, need to get om with other things I said I need to do, get some rest by going to bed at a decent time as well as needing to take a comfort break.

Before I go though, I wanted to say that thinking about this journal which I’m writing at the kitchen dining table because it’s the most comfortable as well as brightly lit space in the house.  I thought today that when I last kept a journal back in 2001 I think it was (I had thought it was in the Year 2000 but I wasn’t sure) – anyway, when I last kept a diary, my favourite writing spot was sitting at the kitchen dining table back then as well.  The room that I call the study was never a space for writing a reflective journal.  The whole journal writing experience also makes me think of the Diaries of Bridget Jones by whatever the name of its author was which became one of the films I would always happily watch simply because they bring back fond memories of great times for me.  I’m looking forward to seeing its next release in the series which is expected sometimes soon.

Coming back to the here and now and the me not fantasy vision of my diary becoming a major film franchise, my study plan in respect of the MA in Primary Education target is to spend as much time as a I can reading items off the recommended reading list for the “What is Education?” module so that I have the essay written up for or during the Summer for assessment in October 2016.  To help me do that I was going to or intend to go back to basics or “Luddite” and read the articles and or text extracts in printed format, keep a notebook of my ideas and take it from there.  I say this because since 2011 I have tried to use the ebook and portable word processing device to support my studies.  Whilst I scored modest success (Grade B pass on at least two essays), I think I could do better by using a more traditional approach.  And with that, I am definitely signing off.

What does high-quality computing look like? Ofsted’s computing research review: A practitioner’s perspective

 

The Twinkl Digest by Vicki Tayler produced within hours of the research review published by Ofsted on Computing inspired me to reach for my keyboard.  Before I set out my practitioner’s perspective, for the purposes of complete transparency, this reflection is not at all intended to be a criticism of any of the organisations I have been associated with since I became a teacher.  Indeed, it has been with the assistance and support of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Computing at School network, National STEM Learning Centre, BBC Micro:bit Foundation and so many more who have put me in the position I find myself in at the time of writing (May 2022).  In this reflection, I will refer to products and services which I think are important tools and resources to the “high-quality computing” teaching I believe my practice to be.  None of the products or services have paid me to make any of the comments that I have.

But what should I know what “high-quality computing” look like?  For those who have yet to closely follow the digital footprints I leave, I was until the Summer that none of us will ever forget, a Primary Class Teacher.  Although I qualified in 2012, I only truly consider myself as having eight years teaching experience.  However, I’ve been “thinkering” around computers and technology since 1982.  I have almost 24 years experience of working in the Civil Service.  My time in the Civil Service was when computers in the workplace went from one not very powerful standalone machine used for very primitive data processing to being part of a team working on a multi-million pound project to establish a Wide Area Network for the Department I was working for at the time.  The ubiquity of technology makes it imperative for digital literacy, computational thinking and the ability to understand how the devices we have surrounding each and every one of us work as important as reading, writing and numeracy skills.  “We” can be confident that irrespective of future career decisions, technology will feature in the professional and private lives of everyone.  So I know a thing or two about computing.

In terms of my pedagogical pedigree, I am very fortunate to have been working for a school which is part of a twelve school Multi Academy Trust.  It was through direct invitation from members of the Board of Trustees that during school year 2020-21 that I was tasked to teach A-Level Computer Science to a wonderful group of Year 13 students. My A-Level students, based on my Teacher Assessed Grades were all accepted onto their first choice of University and Apprenticeships.  This current (2021-22)  school year I am once again teaching across schools with the same amount of time across two sites teaching Reception, 4, 5 and 6 at both as well as Year 1 at my “base” school.

So why stick my head above the parapet?  My starting point must be how perplexing it is that some people can be so engaged with wanting to learn and become proficient users of technology while there are others from a similar socio-economic background who given the same opportunities simply feel differently about Computing.  On the National Centre for Computing Education course facilitated by Mandy Honeyman taking place during May 2022, it was interesting to reflect on the numerous studies on how engagement rates, diversity and inclusion in Computing are being addressed and for our collective global future why this is of the utmost importance.  I have also been fortunate to have been supported by my employer since 2017 to be involved in an Action Research programme with Manchester Metropolitan University where my dissertation is on the potential impact of technology on attainment.  I do not intend to offer a “silver bullet” solution.  Instead, my experience as a parent of school aged children, time in teaching and previous professional existence offers a perspective which may be useful to others.   

Sunday thoughts

 

Finding your voice...

I’ve been inspired this time by @Toriaclaire and @LukeCHale to say in a little more than 280 characters what I once heard @primaryartist describe as a personal manifesto for school year 2020-2021.

I should start off by saying that I neither feel ecstatic nor ambivalent about the start of school year 2020-2021.  My senior colleagues allowed me to work from home between late March until June when I assigned to support the ‘bubble’ structure that was put in place on a very modified and truncated timetable until the end of the school year.  My wife is a Nurse working on the very front line of the vaccine trials.  She and her colleagues are working incredibly hard to find a solution as quickly as they can so that normal can hopefully resume soon.  Until then, I will wear a face covering when travelling on public transport and when supermarket shopping but due to an underlying health condition (I take medication for asthma) I am applying for medical exemption and do not intend to wear a mask when teaching.  I do expect a second wave and am concerned for my elderly parents but will not let that inhibit my life.  I think the best way to describe my feelings right now is cautiously optimistic. Only time will tell…

Anyway, back to the reason for today’s entry.  I was actually introduced to Twitter in 2011 during my PGCE year @GoldsmithsUoL by Natacha Kennedy who herself has a really interesting story given her expertise in transgender issues.  I eventually signed up in August 2012 but really had no idea what to do with my Twitter profile especially when I found getting into teaching and completing the NQT process so tough.  Again, that’s another story.

It wasn’t until 2016 when I joined my current school and meeting @LegoJames on the Raspberry Pi Educators weekend workshop and members of the Computing at School Community that I started making use of Twitter where I shared my ‘Hello World’ moment using a @Raspberry_Pi as one of my earliest tweets.  Wind the clock forward to 2018 and receiving an invitation to speak on the main Arena stage of the opening day @Bett_Show 2019 where I shared a platform with @zinca who was at the time Director of @idea_award.  In 2019 I also managed to secure invitations to talk about the amazing work that I’ve had the privilege of being involved with at three other events as well as the opportunity to attend the International Society for Technology in Education or ISTE Conference in Philadelphia where I represented @TeamKano at their stand in the Microsoft Village.  Given all of these public speaking and networking opportunities, I had thought that my number of followers would steadily increase so that I might become an influential voice in the Twittersphere.

However, the kindest way to best describe what happened towards the end of 2019 was that my ‘take’ and attempts to engage in debating educational policy and strategy wasn’t appreciated by all to the point that I had to decide to delete my Twitter account.  Those of you who know me in the real World like @anoara_a and @Penny_Ten know a little more of this part of the story and were as well as continue to be incredibly supportive.

When users decide to delete their Twitter accounts, there is a 30 days grace period for accounts to be reinstated.  However, by the time I had decided that I wanted to re-join Twitter, that period of grace had lapsed so I had effectively lost all of my previous connections and posts.  Apart from messages I had posted that I had been particularly proud of and the connections I had made, I didn’t find the decision too lamentable especially given the warm welcome back I received from those I regularly engaged with such as @MissyMusician81 and many others who try to make Twitter a kinder and more smiley space.  For those who frequently scroll past my posts, my approach is a taking a sideways glance on life with frivolity and irreverence although those who know me in the real World also get to see a different side of me too.  Some like @oggs26 @MissSDoherty @Missycrobs @MsWarnersWorld @MissBTeaches_ and @MissB_TeachKind have posted messages that mean so much more to me than they will ever really get to know.

As the first #EduPubChat following a short summer break for 2020 got me reflecting, working from home between March and June with shorter times being physically in a classroom meant that I’ve been more engaged and active on Twitter. Pretty much as @LukeCHale said in the excellent blog he recently posted.

Before I finish for now, I wanted to be a bit more open about what I am about to embark on professionally.  The school I work for is part of a Multi-Academy Trust of thirteen schools – ten of which are Primary and three Secondary.  The Trust is located across three geographical clusters in East London, Kent and stretching across what I would loosely describe as the Midlands to Buckinghamshire.  My senior colleagues, recognising my passion for teaching technology have offered me the role of lead teacher for Computing at the Primary school I’m based at.  As part of that lead teaching role, I’ve been tasked to spend forty percent of my time working at one of the Secondaries in the Trust supporting the Design and Technology KS3 team as well as teaching A-Level Computer Science.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, I had originally wanted to teach Secondary Computing when I left the Civil Service in 2010.  With an incredible level of support from @WeAreComputing and a whole host of Twitter contacts made through virtual CPD events since May, my ambition has become reality…

Thank you for reading.

The next chapter...

 I realised on the first Sunday of August in a year that I don’t think any of us will ever forget in a hurry that it had been eight years since I received that Certificate which confirmed that I had “attained qualified teacher status”.  The day before, I saw a tweet posted by @MrWithers2020 asking if there were any others like him who had a work-life before teaching.  So, inspired by brilliant blogs from @ChrisBravery and  @marmitecamel, @MrHtheteacher setting the World to rights or the strength and candour of @teacher_mr_r writing openly about how mental health matters, I thought I would break out of the 280 characters I regularly post with irreverence and frivolity to show a deeper and more thoughtful side of me.

My route into teaching hasn’t been a smooth one at all.  Like those appointed to teach ‘Defence of the Dark Arts’ at one of the World’s most infamous ‘schools’ until the day that Tim Peake boarded the International Space Station in December 2015, I had not survived three consecutive terms at any of the schools I ‘worked’ for following QTS.  Indeed, in similar vein to @teacher_mr_r honesty on the importance of mental well-being, my own was completely shot to pieces in less than a year of qualifying that I had asked my GP to refer me to psychotherapy which I received for almost a year.

The turnaround point for me was joining the amazing school I currently work for in Christmas 2015.  A school that had been ‘rated’ as ‘Requiring Improvement’ which had been incorporated into a Multi-Academy Trust.  The new management or leadership team invited me to join them and I have not looked back since.  Their ‘can do and want to’ attitude was effectively the springboard that led me to be the teacher I am today and how I see myself over the remainder of my career.

To be able to perhaps understand a little better of who I am and where I’ve ‘come from’ as it were, it might be worth winding the clock back with a personal potted history.  My parents came to London from Hong Kong in the 1960s and I am the oldest of their three sons where my brothers and I were all born in London. For those who might consider them as ‘immigrants’ my parents have since just before the start of this century been residents of the United Kingdom longer than what might be described as their ‘Motherland’.

As the first born of Cantonese speaking parents, my earliest recollection of school was being treated with complete distain by the teachers who evidently knew not what to do with somebody who was learning English as a new or second language.  The EAL provision in 1970s schools in London was effectively limited to encouraging me to sit in the book corner for many lessons and finding things to read.  So when I meet children and their families whose first or home language is not English, I always make sure that I go out of my way and as best I can to get as many resources as possible to support their learning.  I hope that when I share this story with my students of my experiences about learning English for the first time and where I’ve got to today as a ‘native user’, it might just inspire them a little to know that I was once an EAL learner exactly like them.

School during the 1970s were frequently disrupted by industrial action.  For those who are enthusiasts of Modern British Political History, these years were the ‘Winter of Discontent’.  Three day working weeks became the norm at one stage. My school would often be ‘closed’ because if it wasn’t for the Unions directing school site staff to take strike action and directly forcing schools to close, it would be a lack of fuel deliveries to heat the school or hours of imposed electricity cuts caused by power stations having insufficient coal stocks to meet demand.  So for those who continue to speculate on the disruption to learning and the long term socio-economic implications as a result of the public health ‘policy response’ to Covid-19, it maybe worthwhile to draw and reflect on the past collective experiences.

Despite these disruptions to my primary schooling, my parents were and continue to remain incredibly supportive of the opportunities that school and more broadly education provides individuals.  Their encouragement for me to work on my reading and writing meant that the teachers working with me began to see the potential I had to actually be a very capable learner to the point that by the time I entered Secondary school and during my time at lower Secondary level, I was regularly scoring the highest points in internal assessments for almost every subject.  With sets or streams in practice at the time, I was destined or expected to be one of the select group to achieve the maximum number of GCE O-Level passes (yes, this is how old I am), perform well at A-Level and easily secure a place at one of the Russell Group or traditional Universities.

However, teenage curiosity got the better of me in 1982 when – and this is another aspect of history that will never repeat itself – I unscrupulously and dishonestly ‘acquired’ a credit card and attempted to buy a Citizens Band handset or ‘transceiver’ as they were known then along with the electronic game that was trending for Christmas that year.  Being fourteen and dressed in my school uniform, I would never have passed for a credit card carrying adult.  I received a Police caution following my arrest.  Thankfully, the whole experience was so daunting and seeing the heartbreak on my family, I stayed on the straight and narrow to the point that I’ve had DBS clearance to be able to have had a very interesting work life before becoming a teacher – but more of that later…

Although I didn’t turn into the vilified ‘juvenile delinquent’ that certain parts of the media would have adults believe some young people are pre-disposed to becoming, the experience of the arrest and Police caution inevitably had an adverse impact on my learning.  I was effectively ‘relegated’ from the group of students who would sit all their 16+ examinations at the higher GCE O-Level standard to the more coursework based Certificate of Secondary Education or CSE Examinations.  Given this life-line, I managed to secure a handful of school leaving qualifications and enough to progress onto ‘converting’ the CSE qualifications I had attended into GCE O-Level grades to qualify for a place on the school’s A-Level programme to study Maths, Physics and Chemistry.

However after two terms struggling with these subjects, the Head of Sixth Form at the time persuaded me that the best course of action was to cut my losses and consider seeking full time employment.  With unemployment at its peak in the mid-1980s, the prospect of securing full time employment was daunting.  With the support of the Local Authority Careers Service I managed to secure a quick succession of successful job interviews with different Government Departments.  Being the naïve and unimaginative individual I was, I decided to accept the offer to work with what was then a new organisation that had been established that year – the Crown Prosecution Service.

It was working my way through and round the Crown Prosecution Service from Caseworker to a Middle Management role by the time I left, senior colleagues regularly praised me for my ‘people skills’ and would often assign me to roles where I was essentially training others including a stint working on the BTEC in Estate and Property Management programme at the now defunct Civil Service College.  In 1997 when the ‘New’ Labour Government swept into power for their first term of three consecutive Parliaments that they announced the first major ‘root and branch’ reorganisation of the Crown Prosecution Service since its inception eleven years before.  It was at that point, seeing senior colleagues receiving significant salary compensation offers to leave the Civil Service that I decided I should have a plan should that opportunity ever arise for me.  Boosted by the encouragement of my Managers, it was then that I revisited the idea I had originally envisioned while at Secondary school of becoming a teacher.  Making such a forecast about myself at Secondary school for an English writing task, I distinctly remember the teacher pouring such scorn on my ambition that it still bears an impression to this day.

Concurrent to all of this, I had originally intended when I joined the Civil Service to only stay in full time employment until such time I had ‘saved’ enough cash to return to full time study.  The allure of having a full time salary meant that I decided instead in 1991 to try to secure a place on a degree course at Birkbeck College, London which specialised until a few years ago to offer undergraduate study opportunities on a part-time evening class basis.  So for nearly six years I would work my ‘nine to five’ then travel across Central London for three hours of lectures and seminars two or three nights a week.  I graduated in 1997 with a Lower Second in Economic and Social Policy.

It was because I was or am a graduate which meant that when the Labour Administration led by Gordon Brown realised in 2010 that the Treasury coffers were virtually out and a radical overhaul of the whole of the Civil Service was necessary, that I was offered two years salary to leave the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue the dream I had of becoming a teacher.

As I had spent most of my time at the Crown Prosecution Service showing how digitally literate I was and being assigned to roles where computerisation and technology were significant elements of my duties, I had initially thought that I would apply to teach Secondary Computing.  However, one Admissions Department offering a PGCE in Secondary Computing thought I had poor charisma and connection with secondary students which caused an unexpected rethink.  The rethink didn’t take long as I had also secured a volunteering role at an amazing Primary School which opened my mind to the idea of becoming a Primary teacher.  So it was through that volunteering role which became a part time paid role as its ICT Technician that I managed to get a place on a PGCE Primary programme with Modern Languages given my interest in wanting to specialise in teaching Primary level Chinese based on my ‘Mother tongue’ subject knowledge.

I wouldn’t want to put words into the mouths of those who most inspired me and gave me the opportunity in June 2016 to attend the Raspberry Pi Certified Educators Workshop weekend in Newcastle.  It was there that I met the brilliant @LegoJames and other members of the @CompAtSch Community who encouraged me to apply for my school to secure certification as one of the Computing at Schools Centre of Excellence which the school have held since 2016.  As a Multi-Academy Trust, the Board of Trustees have a very forward thinking vision in the professional development of its staff and in 2017 sponsored me with a cohort of others to being our Masters in Educational Leadership at Manchester Metropolitan University.  My interest in the notion of Scientific Capital and bringing equality of accessibility to Computer Science for under-represented groups and specifically gender equality meant that I got to share these ideas on the opening day of the BETT Show in January 2019 where I was on the central Arena Stage appearing soon after the then Education Minister had made his address.  Having such an involvement and passion for promoting teaching excellence of Computer Science meant that it has only been natural that I should want to begin the next chapter of my professional story by offering to lead the CAS Waltham Forest Mixed Community as I expand my role to specialise in teaching Computing from KS1 to KS5 combining my Primary experience with working alongside the Secondary schools across the Multi-Academy Trust.

In thinking about all of these examples, the common theme that drives me is that when those metaphorical crossroads appear, I seem to have had the benefit of somebody giving me another chance.  My primary school teachers realising my learning potential rather than limiting my learning because I was EAL.  The pastoral care I received through the difficult times at Secondary school which enabled me to make sufficient recovery to secure the handful of school leaving qualifications.  The support of the Local Authority Careers Service with enabling a gawky and unconfident 17 year old to secure a relatively successful, long and interesting career in the Civil Service.  Birkbeck College for the opportunity to become an undergraduate as a ‘mature student’ which ultimately enabled me to qualify for a place on the PGCE programme I completed.  Working for senior colleagues who have a ‘can do and want to’ attitude creating the opportunities to lead me to where I am today, taking me into tomorrow and beyond.

Hope my ramblings inspire you.  If not, maybe someone somewhere.  Thank you for reading. 

Opportunity

As somebody who only spoke Cantonese as my home language until I first attended school, the most enduring memory of my earliest experiences of Primary school was being “encouraged” to sit alone in the reading or book corner to help myself as support or provision for families who were learning English as an Additional language was not what it is today (2020).  As my family moved from one part of London to another when they were expecting my younger brother, I had to change schools to one that was much closer to home.  The Convent school I moved to seemed to be kinder to me in terms of ensuring I was always included in all of their teaching.  My teachers realised too that I was a voracious reader, prolific writer and quite skilled at Maths.  Having the encouragement and support of my parents to be studious at home meant that despite the language barrier, I found myself propelled to being part of the cohort which would be described in current terminology as being at “Greater Depth”.  Transition to the local Catholic Secondary school was seamless and I continued to hold on to my position in the “top set”.  My school reports read exactly like Ross Geller’s in series 7 episode 13 of the iconic US sitcom ‘Friends’ “Maths A; Science A; History A; PE… made an effort.”

In the Autumn of 1982, teenage curiosity got the better of me and without permission, or my parents knowledge, was opening the post of lodgers who had been renting rooms from my parents but had moved on.  One item of post was a credit card.  Fascinated by citizen band radio at the time and the early electronic games consoles, I attempted to buy a radio handset and a games console to the total value of over a hundred pounds from a High Street store on the way home from school.  Not being a particularly tall teenager and still dressed in my school uniform, the store staff reported the attempted fraudulent transaction.  That afternoon and evening, I had turned from Grade-A student to juvenile offender.

My school life transformed too at that same moment as most of my teachers made me feel different as did many of my contemporaries.  Those who were scholarly sets no longer wanted to associate with me.  Those who were less so seemed to want to be in my shadow as I had been arrested by the Police and was facing a criminal record.  It was the Head of Year whose pastoral support, care and guidance made sure that after the Police caution I received, I did not let such experiences affect my studies.

But affect them they did so rather than entering my year of 16 plus examinations which at the time were organised by GCE O-Levels and the broader Certificate of Secondary Education standard, I scraped the bare minimum standard to secure a place to re-sit my GCE O-Level examinations.  A combination of pure personal determination with the support and encourage of my teachers meant I made the best of that opportunity to achieve enough passes to be given the opportunity to study for the gold standard of Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-Level.

Unfortunately, teenage angst kicked in again so that by the end of that first term, first year of A-Levels, the Head of Sixth Form and I agreed that I should leave school at the earliest opportunity.  I left in the Spring of 1986 but still determined that when I was in full time employment, I would save enough money to return to full-time study.  However, the attraction of earning a full time wage and the financial independence that came with that meant I never did pursue my dream of studying full time again.  Instead, I managed to secure a place at Birkbeck College to study for a degree in Economic and Social Policy on a part time evening class basis.

Even though my degree classification was a modest “Desmond”, the year I graduated was the year that Tony Blair became Prime Minister with his New Labour administration.  His policies was a cataclysmic shock to the Government Department I was working for and as a direct result, I secured promotion to a middle management position.  By the time Gordon Brown was at the helm and realised that the money had run out for public services, I was offered the opportunity of voluntary early severance from the Civil Service.  So after almost twenty-four years of being a desk-jockey, I took the offer of severance pay to become a teacher.

That was ten years ago almost to the day of me writing this.  My teaching “career” has not exactly been smooth and I have had to learn to do many things either as new or just simply different.  However with exceptionally supportive senior colleagues at the school I have been working at who I’ve coined as having a “can do and want to” attitude, and providing professional development opportunities I would never have expected, the aspirations I had as a teenager of becoming a teacher has become reality.

Thank you for reading.   

Adventure

One of the #DailyWritingChallenge topics was "Adventure".  This is a bit of a cheat since its nearly 2,900 words long and was orginally written in 2005.  However, this piece of writing is one that I am not only really proud of but also wrote using an electronic device called a Personal Digital Assistant at a time way, way before smartphones or tablets even existed...  

Thursday 27 October 2005

Well, what an epic adventure that was.  I’m writing this at the moment sitting upright in a bed in room whatever it is of the Shangrila Lodge at Lukla Airport.  When I say Lukla Airport I mean the Lodge is right opposite the short take off and landing runway at Lukla.  The lodge itself is curious in that it doesn’t have any electricity in the rooms but has lights in parts of the hallways.  The Lodge itself is as far as I can gather a predominantly wooden construction internally where the rooms are lit by candlelight.

Although I haven’t written for a few days - well since last Saturday to be precise, the epic adventure is that despite the time restriction for getting to Base Camp Everest last Sunday, I managed to achieve that although not without incident.  What happened was that we as a group were told by the tour leader before Sunday’s walk that the plan was for an early start from Lobouche to walk to Gorak Shep where those who wanted or were able to would go on to Base Camp.  Because as I subsequently found out, the terrain was treacherously difficult it was necessary for the safety of the participants and the Sherpas accompanying us to be at Base Camp by two o’clock that afternoon to ensure all would return to Gorak Shep by five o’clock and sunset at the latest.

Because of the times that Vicky and I had been coming in at during the earlier parts of this expedition, effectively an hour longer than the suggested or advertised walk times, our strategy was that if it wasn’t possible for both of us to make it to Base Camp, at least one of us would.  As it turned out, that was me.

So, in order to achieve this I stayed walking alongside Vicky on Sunday morning out of Lobouche for as long as I could before moving paces ahead so that I arrived at Gorak Shep to allow myself sufficient time to arrive at Base Camp by two o’clock.  In the event, I arrived at Gorak Shep with sufficient time to have some noodle soup for lunch as the tour guides had organised before leaving as part of the group to Base Camp at just after a quarter to eleven for the three hour walk.

For the first part of the journey across the flat out of Gorak Shep and climbing up the Khumbu Glacier (which is a bit of a misrepresentation in itself as far from being a glacier its actually a very soft, sandy narrow ridge of crumbling rock) I was immediately behind the lead Sherpa and moving at a fairly cracking pace.  It wasn’t until about half past midday that I needed a toilet break and although I had told one of the Sherpa guides and as I thought a fellow trekker, by the time I came out of my toilet break continuing on this glacial ridge, with the next turn-off approaching I realised I was lost.

Fortunately, and quite incredibly a group of walkers - a couple of whom where middle aged Scottish ladies and a younger woman who I had met earlier on last week during the stage to Naamche offered their help and said they were heading for Base Camp and I could become part of their group.  At this stage, I was happy to do so and explained to them and their Sherpa that I wanted to be able to be reunited with the group I was expected to be with at Base Camp by two o’clock.

Well, the pace that my new group were going were as the younger woman explained certainly expecting to achieve that.  So I was kind of happy. Until by two o’clock and the reassurances of their Sherpa guide ten minutes earlier that we would have arrived at Base Camp the Sherpa then explained that Base Camp was still at least ten if not twenty minutes away.

As I then thought I would never be reunited with the group I was meant to be with and more importantly with Vicky, I just ran ahead over this hill of slippery and ice riddled gritty, grainy grey soft screed repeatedly shouting “Charity Challenge Diabetes UK” as loud as I could in the vain attempt of attracting the tour guides I should have been with and my fellow trekkers.  What I didn’t realise was that the ground I was standing on really wasn’t suitable for running in. A combination of the softness and the steepness meant that I lost my footing and fell over at least four times - at one point falling backward and into a bit of a roll downhill.

The time at this stage was a quarter past two and I managed to muster as much of the remaining energy as I had to continue my mad scramble towards the crashed helicopter that marks the site of Base Camp where I was gladly reunited with my fellow trekkers.  Unfortunately, by then I had missed the group photo opportunity and they hadn’t thought to hold on and include me in subsequent shots.  But I can proudly say and have the photographic proof that I have been to Base Camp Everest.  As Vicky reminded me today when we returned to Lukla for our return trip to Katmandu, in reaching Base Camp Everest, I have reached an altitude equivalent to half the summit of Everest itself.

Coming back to the risk of the Kumbu glacier ridge, it wasn’t until my slow and exhausted return from having spent every last amount of energy I had on my personal full on assault to Base Camp that the Sherpas guiding me back to Gorak Shep explained that it was necessary to ensure that all those who wanted to visit Base Camp returned well before sunset because the Kumbu glacier ridge, being less than three feet wide in places was highly unstable.  The rock and sand forming this ridge was so soft that being at the bottom of this former glacial ridge ran the risk of being crushed by rocks from above.  Being on top of the ridge ran the risk of loosing footing and having nowhere to go but following gravity to a sheer drop below.  When I was walking along the ridge I had no idea of these risks and am so glad that I didn’t beforehand.  I can well and truly say that I think I’ve overcome any fear of heights that I had before I embarked on this trip.  And whilst my experience to Base Camp wasn’t quite what I expected in terms of being able to have a proper “I’ve been to Base Camp” photoshoot I can proudly say I’ve done it and all in the aid of Diabetes UK.

The postscript to the story is that I think that the reason why I became “lost” from the rest of the group I was supposed to be with was because the Sherpa guides who were accompanying the tail end of the group walking behind me I can only assume turned back to Gorak Shep with those who decided that they would not be able to arrive at Base Camp within the designated time.  It therefore meant that with me being in the middle of the pack I must have suddenly become the back end as it were and unaccompanied at that.  Although it is nobody’s fault in particular, it emphasised to me how important it was to stay within sight of a Sherpa guide.

The other experience I had which made me stop and think was earlier on today when Vicky had gone on ahead with a couple of others after I was having a bad morning on the return leg from where we camped last night (whose name escapes me) on the slog to Lukla.  Despite having had a refreshment break at one of the tea houses en route less than half an hour earlier my body said I didn’t want to walk anymore in the hot sunshine.  So I sat down with the Sherpa guide who was accompanying me to eat one of the cereal bars I was carrying and to quench my thirst.  Because of this I was at least five if not ten minutes behind Vicky and the others.

By the time I caught up with those immediately in front of me, two of the guys who were with Vicky and had sat down for their own break explained that they had followed a different route from the one I took and had shared their energy bar supplies with Vicky as she had gone low sugar.  They were expecting her and the Sherpa guides accompanying her to appear from where they had walked from.

Realising that I was carrying Vicky’s sweet stock as well as all the cereal bars for today’s walk after waiting a few minutes and seeing another of the Sherpas go on to the lane where Vicky was supposed to have been, and the buzz of a rescue helicopter overhead, I decided to follow the Sherpa with nothing but the sweet and cereal bar stock that I had been carrying and ran after the Sherpa to where Vicky was.

I was glad I did for apart from being reunited with Vicky she was able to use the supplies I had brought her to bring her blood sugar level back to a point where she was able to continue with her walk.  What astounded me though was through the adrenaline of thinking about Vicky an her predicament I thought nothing of running along this narrow sandy ridge to where she was resting and trying to recover her blood sugar level.  As soon as she was back on her feet and making her own way along this narrow lane back to the main route we were following, accompanied by the two Nepalese speaking doctors working on our trek with me carrying her rucksack I realised the narrowness and softness of the route I had just run along.  Again with a sheer drop out of the corner of my eye it slowed me to a virtual cliff hugging crawl.  When one of the doctors realised this, he offered me his walking stick with which I regained the confidence in my legs to move a little bit faster to resume on the main route.

Other than that, without looking over the earlier entries I can’t think if there was anything much else to say except that over the last few days being part of this charity expedition in aid of Diabetes UK has been a real emotional and certainly physical challenge.  Now that we’re back in Lukla where the adventure started just under two weeks ago, I can say that it has been an amazing experience for me.  The parts of Nepal that we’ve visited particularly around Sagarmartha National Park and the perimeter “buffer” zone that has been established coming out to Lukla have been amazingly beautiful.  The Sherpas that I’ve met are some of the most amazing people I have had the opportunity to meet so far.  Vicky and I would have liked to have been able to express our gratitude for their support and assistance during our own endeavours over the last two weeks with more than the amount we were expecting and had allowed ourselves (as in budgeted with the spending money we brought out with us) to contribute.

As for our participation on the trip, I really had thought especially after the stage up to camp at Naamche Bazzar that Vicky and I would end up getting an early flight home.  In the event, we remained consistent with our standard and effort completing each part of the expedition within an hour of the suggested or advertised walk times.  There were points during the last two weeks when I really and truly thought that I wouldn’t be able to carry on or that being part of this trip was too frustrating in itself - particularly when I was wanting to move at a faster pace than we had been either because I was worried about not being back at camp by sunset or because of the onset of cold and inclement weather.  Although there was only one occasion when we didn’t make back to camp before sunset and required the Sherpas to guide us back by torchlight, I cannot believe even with that experience how much Vicky and I along with everybody else on this trip has been able to achieve.

On a purely personal level, and not wishing to count on other people’s misfortunes to think that ten percent of those who started as part of this trip were forced to drop out of which two actually required helicopter assistance to medical aid.  During the last fortnight the distance covered each day was at least ten kilometres if not more and the altitude gain during the “acclimization” phase was something like five hundred metres a day with the descent phase of over a thousand metres a day.  Apart from a little bit of a funny tummy when I first arrived I certainly did not suffer to the extent that Vicky and the others on the group suffered from the stomach upsets that they did.  Apart from a couple of mornings in the last couple of days with the breakfast routine I have largely enjoyed the food that we’ve been experiencing although I must admit I have been hankering after all the things I regularly eat or have access to foodwise at home - to the point that I found myself fantasising about them whilst I’ve been walking along earlier on this week.  I’ve certainly not experienced the ill effects of altitude sickness that we had been warned to expect and to try to avoid.  As for my asthma, that hasn’t even featured and I’ve not been taking any of the medication I had brought with me.  I had wondered on that score whether the cleaner as in non-metropolitan air was a contributory factor to my respiratory well being.

The only things I have been suffering from is this stupid cold that I seem to have acquired in the last couple of days with the runny nose and sore throat.  I wish I had also taken more care with the sun protection on my face and lips rather than going back to London with the flaky forehead, peely lips and nose.

I did or have during this trip reached stages where I have missed the creature comforts of home.  Being in the relative comfort of a lodge or the Nepalese equivalent of a hostel has made tonight easier.  But the fact that the toilets are of the “squat” variety and that the conveniences when we have been camping have hardly been convenient at all has been something I will not regret saying goodbye to and banishing to a distant memory.  The lack of comfort and washing facilities has had to take some getting use to.  As I was saying to one of the others on the trek that I would have thought more comfortable and convenient washing and sleeping facilities may have enabled fewer people to have been taken ill during the trek and more people to have included the excursion to Base Camp.  Sleeping in tents in sub-zero temperatures and staying in electricity free lodges that more closely resemble garden sheds with external toilet and shower facilities has not been my idea of fun or a holiday of a lifetime.

It also disappoints me too as I said earlier in this journal that the camaraderie of the group hasn’t or wasn’t as I expected it to be.  I realise from being on this trip that the amount of preparation for an experience like this and the physical as well to an extent the emotional abilities of individuals are very different.  For some, it has been a lifelong ambition to visit Everest.  For others, it is about combining the physical pursuit of following the route that we have with raising money for charity.  Some may see it as a life-affirming almost spiritual experience.  For me, it has been more about the physical challenge and its fund raising associations.  As I say, the last two weeks for me have been as much about a test of my own endurance in being able to complete the physical challenge of visiting Base Camp Everest.  To that extent, even if I do say so myself I am impressed with what I have achieved and what I have overcome to complete the challenge - especially during those times when I felt that I could physically not go on and was so “bored” and frustrated by the experience that I longed to be back in my routine rather than so far out of my personal comfort zone. 

What I have learnt from the experience has been the ability of physical endurance or being able to push myself beyond any level of physical endurance I have done before.  That Sargarmatha National Park is so beautiful.  Sherpas are the most amazing people I have ever met.