What About-Me-Ery

I suppose this page is about establishing my credibility as a potential blogger, and to allow readers to evaluate the worth of my opinions and suggestions. I should state at the outset is that all opinions expressed are mine, and I do not claim to speak on behalf of any employer past or present.

I am now, at the age of 61, a part-time teacher of science in Hertfordshire. I have tried and failed to retire on two occasions. Going part-time allowed me to interact more on Twitter. I've lurked my way through lots of arguments, followed and unfollowed a good number of tweeters, and tried to interject either helpfully or amusingly from time to time. I certainly benefited from the culture of sharing, and the advantages of networking far outweigh the occasionally toxic whirlpools that come and go. My own timeline mixes science with general education and other hobbies such as groundhopping (see my other blog, Modus Hopper Random) and family history.

I have no consultancy to promote, product to sell or agenda to push, so this blog is likely to be ad hoc and reactive. I am more likely to respond to issues that have arisen elsewhere rather than try to create new ones. I'm not looking to stir up hornets' nests or get into long drawn out arguments, and I know from other parts of EduTwitter that agree-to-differ will sometimes be enough.

A number of influences, including the aforementioned family history, have shaped me as a person and as a professional, and readers might want to know more about what drives me.

• My ancestors were agricultural travellers, factory workers and soldiers. My Yapp and Fenton lines have to be traced back to Shropshire through evidence of poverty and large, sometimes broken families. There is a link via Ireland to Madras (Chennai) in India, and it just about still shows up in my DNA test. My parents understood the value of education and the opportunities that they had never had themselves. For them, the lives of three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (so far!) count as their greatest achievements. Piecing the family tree together has been exciting and humbling, and there is still work to be done. I have some understanding now of how bad the good old days were. I have a keen sense of how education has been key to our progress and prosperity as a family, and it explains why my own children arguably had an even better start in life.

• At the age of seven, and with no warning, explanation or parental consultation, I was moved into a different classroom. This made me an out-of-cohort pupil. It changed the course of my life, not all of it in positive ways. I did not really understand this until one afternoon when I was sitting all alone on a rock on the slopes of Mount Etna in December 2009. Another story.
• I passed the eleven-plus exam at the age of ten and had a conventionally successful secondary school career in West Bromwich before heading at the age of seventeen to read Natural Sciences at Selwyn College, Cambridge. With hindsight, I only just about coped, but I am glad that I made it through. You can see why social mobility through education has always been of interest.
• I stayed at Selwyn and the university for my teacher training year, and the certificate says PGCE with Distinction.
• I was offered a teaching job in my placement school, Fearnhill, in Letchworth and stayed there for five happy years. Different times, different culture. My first post of responsibility was being in charge of the Banda machine and the overhead projectors (honestly) but I also became interested in pastoral care.

Do not drink the fluid.

• I was promoted to be a subject leader and pastoral postholder at St Edward's CE School, Romford, and then to be deputy headteacher at Rainsford School, Chelmsford, arriving just in time for Local Management of Schools and a profound cultural and structural change in the English education system.
• At 36, I was a relatively young headteacher at Beaumont School, St Albans. Over ten successful years (1994-2004) the school grew, achieved national recognition for its collaborative approaches, and embraced the new fad of Specialist School status (for Languages). By the time I left, local house prices were through the roof as one of the unintended consequences of being a really good community school.
• I joined the county advisory team for 2004-7 and passed the exams to become an Ofsted inspector under the 2003 framework. I never worked for them, I just needed to know how they think. I did become a School Improvement Partner. I left because I was frustrated at the inherent variation in the system once the local authority team had been dismantled. I really wanted to be back in a school again.
• For 2007-9, to the raising of a few eyebrows here and there, I became head of another Hertfordshire school, Bushey Hall, and this time it was one in some strategic difficulty for complex reasons. Maybe I wanted to show that the same leadership and management principles and values could be applied in this very different context.  The school went into Special Measures (quite rightly) very soon, but having played my part in stabilising it, securing its future as an academy, and achieving record results, I reached agreement with the academy sponsors and stepped aside amicably for their new regime to be introduced, supporting my deputy to be their first principal. They were very tough but fulfilling years. I am somewhat irritated that the Ofsted history has disappeared from the www.
• That was my first retirement, and I got bored quickly. In a series of job interviews I came repeatedly second to younger candidates. Eventually in 2011 I became a primary school office manager and had two lovely years in a small village school, St Paul's Walden, before the offstage shouts concerning the shortage of science teachers became too loud to ignore.
• I was Director of Learning for Science at Longdean, a large comprehensive in Hemel Hempstead from April 2013. The first post of this blog arises from those years. A complete new school was built alongside, so ask me anything about packing crates. Having overseen the big move, I retired for the second time in 2017, but was immediately persuaded to come back part-time to help with A level chemistry and physics. I enjoyed part-time status much more than I expected, and increased my teaching load for subsequent years by simultaneously helping at another Hemel school.
• My niche for 2019-20 will be as p/t teacher of A level Physics at the John F Kennedy RC School. I am currently enjoying teaching again, more than ever.

Me in the wild. Grey hair, anorak and rucksack.
Acknowledgement: original photo by Laurence Reade

• Any follower of my Twitter timeline will know about my quirky approach to the hobby of groundhopping, where my other blog has a small but loyal following. Some might say cult status. I was called "The Sausage Sandwich Man" by Suggs on BBC 5 Live, featured as an eccentric Englishman in The Faroe Islands Podcast, and teased gently on Three Counties Radio by Kate Robbins. A tweet about a suspended £1 Mars Bar in a Harpenden Station vending machine was one of the #thingsthatleaveBritainreeling in the Daily Mail. I know more about the link between football results and the colour of the goalkeepers' tops than anyone, I reckon. More than anything, however, I am proud of publishing the first video footage of the International Space Station passing directly over an FA Cup tie. 
• It is also pretty clear that I am a centre-left Remainer according to current labelling. The blog title is a nod to my background in the physical sciences. I also like playing with words and love a good pun. I'd much rather have a bottle in front o'me than a frontal lobotomy.