Reflections as a Global Educator
“Existence flows past us like a river: the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations... So it would take an idiot to feel self-importance or distress. Or any indignation, either. As if the things that irritate us lasted.” - Marcus Aurelius "Every ending is a beginning. We just don't know it at… Continue reading When to close a chapter & recognise the World has moved on.
From earliest childhood, I have been fascinated by history, especially people and places. It was inevitable really, especially to be born and raised in the old border county of Salop, (Shropshire) that is cut in two by the river Severn as it works its way from ancient Celtic mid Wales all the way through the… Continue reading Living in the past or learning from the past? When your whole city, county and country is a museum.
“Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are” Theodore Roosevelt. There are a lot of conversations in education. Probably too many. All trying to look around corners and see what comes next, mostly out of fear that no one really knows what will come next. That is the problem with the zeitgeist… Continue reading What comes next? Looking ahead to the second half of the 2020s.
I think the entire year, past few years, in the words of the poet Sylvia Plath, have been an “odd uneven time”. To top it all off this year has been an incredibly difficult year to write about any of it apart from a few educational articles I have managed to produce. Any creative spark… Continue reading “The odd uneven time.” How to reconnect to purpose.
The 1984-85 Miners' strike, 4 decades on from a Billy Elliot who didn't do ballet The “Dirty Dozen” March 1985, Hills Lane Social Club, Madeley, Shropshire. The only Shropshire Coal Miners to remain on strike for the year. My father, 3rd from left. “Your father’s battles are your father’s battles. Not yours. You don’t need… Continue reading From Madeley to Moldova
“Nothing essential happens in the absence of noise.” Jacques Attali The Germans have a very apt phrase for this time of the year; "zwischen den Jahren" and it refers to the time between Christmas and New Year. A transition between the old year, still to end, and the promise of the new one, still yet… Continue reading The sounds of a school
Les was born in the north Welsh village of Coedpoeth, just outside Wrexham, in January 1933. Les was the youngest of four children. He had three elder sisters, Betty, Dilys and Gwen, who he adored and loved all his life. Les’s mother, Theresa nee Davies, originally from Moreton, stayed at home to look after the… Continue reading Leslie Jones MA (Oxon) 1933-2023, A life.
“Happiness, too, is inevitable” Albert Camus No two school years are ever the same. The calendar and cycle of events may seem the same but what you plan for in the summer rarely makes it into the late autumn schedule. The energy, optimism and enthusiasm of the late summer catapults the school community into the… Continue reading Tenderness needed for tumultuous times
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” - attributed to Antoine De Saint-Exupery; ‘The Little Prince’. This life of contrasts is something I will never get used to. The… Continue reading “Both a historian and a futurologist” – Finding the words as a school leader ahead of a new academic year.
I’ve noticed a lot of posts on social media from school leaders taking up new posts, first headships this autumn, all asking for what advice would experienced school leaders give to think about over the summer break. I think I am going to recommend to any school leader the need to be aware of your… Continue reading “The only journey is the one within.” Finding your best self.
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