Keep it in Perspective
13 March 2023
Neuroscience says: Skills and memory are secured through repetition and application.
Experience says: Without application, vision and purpose statements are forgetful irrelevant words.
Schools are about preparation for life. We must not forget the people our strategies seek to serve. Actions speak louder than…
BBC 500 Word Story
The annual invitation for pupils to write a 500 Word story is back in the news. Do you want to become a judge? I was motivated to write a 500 Word story about school inspection from the perspective of a pupil.
The Important Man.
Miss Edwards told our class a very important man from Onsted was coming to our school tomorrow. She was unusually quiet and did not seem very excited. He’s probably never even been on TV.
Onsted can’t be far away because the strange man was already at the gate when I got to school. He was talking to everybody’s mum and dad at the entrance.
After assembly, he came into my classroom. The teacher just nodded at him and almost smiled but did not stop talking and kept telling us what to do. She did not stop and say hello to him. He can’t be that important.
He walked right toward me as if we were friends. We are supposed to be careful about strangers like him. The teacher was watching him whilst she was talking, so I was probably alright.
He asked me what books I liked reading. I told him my favourite was “Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang.” He had not heard of it and asked me what it was about. I don’t think he has read many books.
I told him it was about a boy in a prison. The children are really scared of the Hooded Fang, who hates children. Jacob Two-Two has to say everything twice to make people listen to him. When Child Power wins, the nightmare is over. The important man did not know the author Mordecai Richler. I’m not sure how the man from Onsted got to be important at all.
At break, there were teachers everywhere. They did not even have their drinks with them. The man walked around and asked lots of questions. He did not seem to know a lot about school. He asked where we were allowed to play. I told him because it was his first day. He then went to the gate and tried to get out. I think he wanted to go home because nobody seemed to like him.
I went to look at the gate myself when he walked away. I tugged, and it was definitely locked. I turned around and saw two teachers running at me. I didn’t know they could run.
They took me to the quiet room. The important man came with us. He sat down and listened. Mr Grove asked me why I wanted to get out. It was break time and I was just playing. I asked them what I’d done wrong and why the important man was not in trouble if it was about the gate. He’d tried that too.
I told Mr Grove that I’d told the important man where he was allowed to go. But he did not listen to me or follow school rules. They both looked at each other and then at the floor. We went back to the classroom and they did another strange smile. Many weird things happened that day.
Even important people can be strange strangers who need help.