The school had opened in 1975, purpose-built to exploit the latest in educational ideas, innovation and technology but, by the time I arrived, the head and his lady deputy were blinkered and unwilling to accept that ideas which they had introduced simply weren't working. To give an example, one of the principles of the school was that students should work on their own with the teacher as facilitator, so for many subjects there were no classrooms: each time I had my English class, I spent most of the lesson hunting around the building and library/resource centre to find the students. Unsurprisingly, the students weren't pushed and results were poor.
The staff were deeply unhappy, so it was fertile ground for recruitment to the union. This, and my constant disagreements with the extremely arrogant lady deputy head, who was my line manager, resulted in my facing disciplinary action. I called in my union to support me, which they did with all guns blazing as, by that time, I was very active in the union's Essex Federation.
I don't know what went on behind the scenes but it was suggested to me that it might be a good idea if I started applying for jobs elsewhere, and in the summer term of 1980 I was appointed to a much larger and infinitely better Essex school with a salary promotion to go with it.
The Park floundered on for a few years but was finally closed in 1997.
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