Goodbye Mr McKenzie – and thank you!

In nearly forty years as a teacher, I was fortunate enough to work with many colleagues who inspired, motivated, and encouraged me, and, unwittingly or otherwise, guided the direction my career would take. I was also blessed with many pupils who, for various reasons, were similarly inspiring. In addition, there were  folk outside of school

Fit for Life

  Through Hibernian’s Community links with Lothian Health Board, and various other GameChanger initiatives, the idea of being “fit for life” has become a prominent part of the Club’s progressive development over the past couple of years. Whilst health checks for spectators are now a common event at Easter Rd Stadium, through the partnership with

Putting a name on it

Hello! My name is Seán – and I was a “named person” for nearly forty years. It shouldn’t feel like it, but some of the ill-informed reaction to the Scottish Government’s proposal for a “named person” to safeguard young people seems to suggest that anyone favouring the idea should admit to that position only apologetically.

How are things at home, Casper?

I must have been teaching for around thirty years when a colleague brought me news that a former pupil of mine was now on the staff at a local primary school. He had been a smashing pupil and I could well imagine he would have become an excellent teacher. My colleague reported back: “He said

Mockingbirds and Rhododendrons

It was perfect. I was six years old and had just moved to England. Next to our house, in rural Lancashire, was a wood, known as Bank Lane. “Bank” referred not to a financial institution but to the banks of the brook that ran through it. I see from maps that the brook was called

On Libraries – and books

If this blog rings a bell – please consider giving http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/KateHiggins1 £10 gets a book for a child at Christmas and £5 to Children 1st In 1959, when I was 7, I moved to Southport, in Lancashire, and stayed in the suburb of Birkdale. At the end of our road there was an imposing Victorian

Really cared, really made a difference.

In the mid 1970s. teaching interviews in Edinburgh were held in the former Children’s Orphanage known as Dean Centre (Now the Modern Art Gallery). It was a bizarre, almost unfinished building in its interior, with lots of exposed pipes and wires and echoing staircases and basements. The windows were high, allegedly so the original inmates

And in the beginning

To Very Rev Edward Joseph Canon Hannan. Dear Canon Hannan, On the eve of an historic Hibs v Hearts Cup Final, it suddenly struck me that I should drop you a line and update you on how things have been going with Hibs, and Edinburgh, since you went to your eternal reward in 1891. You

Just a teacher?

Life moves on apace and often the time for reflection is hard to find. However, just occasionally, the coincidences of living fall in such a way as to make reflection impossible to avoid. Earlier this month, by one of those accidents of fate, I found myself, within 12 hours, moving from the threshold of celebration

A Touch of Class

A slightly different blog this time: a collaboration between my self and my Hanoi-based teaching nephew – on the portrayal of teaching on the big screen. Colin is well experienced internationally, as well as having started his career in Glasgow, and he has youth on his side when it comes to his perspective. We wondered