'Our School'

Some things about a school never change.  Sometimes classrooms get a new coat of paint, some are remodelled and get new facilities, the technology may get updated but generally if the school functions then the building generally remains the same*.  What I wasn't quite prepared for was seeing quite how much of my old school has stayed the same.

This week I had the bizzare experience of seeing the building where I spent the majority of my teenage years in high definition on the BBC iPlayer in 'Our School'^, a documentary series running on the CBBC channel.

It's set up almost exactly like the other school based fly-on-the-wall shows that have been around recently but this one is slightly different in its target audience and pitch.  Here the emphasis is on the new Year Seven cohort and showing them transition from their primary schools into the local, high-performing, 'big school'.  It's a nice idea for scheduling as they filmed it over the course of last year and have held off so that those who are currently experiencing it for themselves can watch along with the series.  While I wasn't quite up for watching it on CBBC I decided to look it up out of interest as an ex-pupil and as a teacher now myself.

Aside from new faces amongst the teaching staff you get after a decade absolutely nothing on the surface has changed: the reversible rugby shirt with the red stripe across the chest that you had to swap while out on the freezing pitches; the weird and enormous cream and blue radiators that almost stretched up to the ceiling; the dark stairwells on the way out of block two; utilitarian blue handrails everywhere; the brightly coloured, diamond patterned aprons in food technology; the dark wood of the science labs; Mr Maggiore.

That's Mr. Thoburn.  Also pictured, my chemistry desk for four years.

Occasionally when I was at school it would get close to the holidays, particularly around Christmas, and some ex-students would show up at the classroom door of their old teachers to talk about university and reminisce.  At the time I thought it was very odd and why they hadn't realised that they were disrupting the lesson.  

Last year came news of the death of Mr. Morgan, the headteacher who had taught me Mathematics for three years "just to keep his hand in".  When I became a teacher I noticed that he was still the school's Executive Head but was now the President of the Association of School and College Leaders and a Board Member of UCAS; to me he was the teacher who lifted me up so I could write an answer on the board, and the man who I found out had written my UCAS reference instead of the Head of 6th form because he knew me.  I always meant to get in touch to thank him but never found the time.

Possibly the worst title card I've ever seen.

Last year there was a Physics post advertised at the school. It would have meant moving across the country and leaving Sheffield but, for a moment, I was seriously tempted to apply.  For a while I pictured teaching in the school where I had been taught but watching 'Our School' I can glimpse what changes I would have had to have gotten used to: the classroom where I had English has gained bright blue chairs and a lectern; the polo shirt has now completely phased out the white shirt and striped tie; there are no more whiteboards bolted straight onto rolling blackboards because the building team were too lazy to take them down.  One mystery, however, does remain; is the 'American Pie' poster that was, inexplicably, on the wall in the IT department still there?  For that, I'll probably have to carry on watching.

 *That said I did once work at a school that was torn down and completely replaced - but that school was in desperate need of it.
^Our school is supposedly going to be on the BBC iPlayer for the next three months