Mark Curtis

And you stumble and fall in the dark,
They kick you around like a worthless stone,
But I know how rare you are,
And you're nothing less than brilliant in my eyes.

Sandie Shaw, Nothing less than brilliant

Bishops Park College has a habit of creeping up on you just when you least expect it. I was driving home from a particularly productive Friday Masterclass (where one member of the teaching staff takes a tutor group for the whole of the day), and had been reflecting on the incredible creativity of a group of Year 7 pupils. My sentiments were, I concede, a little confused; part of me was incandescent with rage that in virtually any other secondary school in the country these brilliant, sassy, opinionated, but delightful youngsters would have had little or no opportunity to show their natural creativity and imagination; part of me was fiercely proud that they were being allowed to 'fight back' against a school system that would do little to help them out of a social background which could be euphemistically called 'unhelpful'. It probably wasn't the right time for Sandie Shaw to sing the above lyrics and not for the first time, my jaw trembled.

My first contact with Bishops Park College had been during my PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate of Education) when my then tutor had announced that vacancies would be available at the school in the following autumn. She had been given inside information about the school and made it abundantly clear that the school would represent a serious challenge for even the most thick-skinned of us trainees. I applied for a pack and was instantly struck by the strength of vision of the Principal, Mike Davies. The vision was uncompromising; that under no circumstances would the cyclical nature of poverty and social deprivation in Jaywick be allowed to continue and that the school, by virtue of a radical approach and curriculum, would be the driver to that change. I wrote the following in my application, determined to test the mettle of the vision. If they truly meant what they said I knew that I would be gainfully employed in the autumn; if they were purely paying lip-service my efforts would be 'retained on file.' Or not. This is what I wrote:

It has become increasingly apparent that I do not fit into the classic ‘mould' of a teacher. Despite general high praise for standards of class behaviour, I have often been criticised for ‘smiling', ‘showing pupils too much warmth', and for being ‘over-enthusiastic.' From the description of Bishops Park I suspect that it is not a ‘run of the mill' school in this respect either.

The rhetoric of the school on this basis was genuine enough. I began teaching at Bishops Park College on July 5, 2004. For virtually the entire two weeks of my induction I was in a state of perpetual confusion. The curriculum had “fluidity”. This meant that a lesson could have a French bias or a Maths bias depending on which was most relevant at the time. I was teaching out of specialism, in a new school, with a thematic approach, and on top of this I had to deliver assemblies, and a club, as a part of the curriculum. All as an NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher)! A pedagogical chameleon would surely have died of exhaustion. In addition to this, the kids were tough, untrusting, and difficult to engage. But I could see that a few of the more established staff had made significant progress in building relationships with the students, a result aided by the schools insistence that each member of staff only regularly taught eighty students. The staff were “together”. I hadn't yet drowned in maelstrom of confusion. And more importantly I was hooked.

Now two years later I am both hooked and convinced. Bishops Park has made enormous strides. The staff are highly motivated by their freedom to experiment in the classroom, and by the encouragement to take risks. Staff are becoming more adept at team-planning so that our thematic approach is now much tighter and holistic. The students have sufficient confidence to take risks of their own and positively revel in their learning journey. But the real difference lies in the relationships which exist in the school. Our intake has changed very little, in that we have a large percentage of students with emotional and educational needs. A larger percentage of our students have very poor self-esteem, poor behavioural history and in most schools would be considered 'undesirable.' And yet everybody at Bishops Park is valued. Incidents of bullying are extremely rare, and when they do occur are swiftly and efficiently deal with by a combination of staff, students and learning mentors. A climate of respect exists between staff and students which is fully reciprocal. Staff hierarchy is virtually non-existent. Bishops Park College is a school 'happy in its own skin.'

Anybody reading this article could be forgiven for thinking that Bishops Park College is a kind of educational Utopia. This would not be a fair representation. We do have our bad days. And we have days that are worse. Sometimes the intensity of the place is almost unbearable. Sometimes I neglect my own family as a result. But in amongst the smiles, the joy the sense of belonging, the growing self-esteem, the confidence, there is something else that is palpable at Bishops Park, and which can never be reflected in Government performance tables - hope.

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