Chalvedon School

I receive few comments on this blog - which is fine - but most of those I have received over the years relate to my time at Chalvedon School in Pitsea, Basildon. They are from students who were there during the late 1970s and early 1980s, around the time I taught there, but a few are from teachers some of whom, like me, found the early part of their time at the school very tough.

I had taken the job at Chalvedon out of desperation, having spent the previous two years in Jamaica and having to find work when I returned to the UK to support a family. Chalvedon was so desperate for teachers at the time - 1975 - that the then head, Bob Ford, appointed me without an interview but on a temporary basis.

By the end of the first year I was equally desperate to get out, and applied for jobs all over the country, even travelling to South Wales for an interview. Having failed to move, and having made the decision to buy a house within commuting distance of the school, I gritted my teeth and went back in the new academic year determined to survive.

I did more: I spent four more years there, very happily. Most of the hard work had, in fact, been done in that first year. For example, I had learned how to deal with children who often came from very disadvantaged homes but who, underneath their anger, were great fun. So by the time I came to leave - very reluctantly and because I needed promotion within the teaching system to support a growing family and to create some sort of career for myself - I was desperately sad to say goodbye. In particular, I had come to have great affection for my form, pictured above.

I often wonder what happened to the many thousands of students I taught in nearly thirty years in the classroom. A few kept in touch for a time, so I know a little about their lives, but I never made any effort - for example by using Facebook - to actively find out about some of the others whom I found particularly interesting. All I can do now is hope that they are happy and have done well in life.