When I took a job at a London comprehensive in a deprived area, I never realised how much I’d learn from the students about racism, creativity – and Shakespeare
‘For one of my pupils, Romeo and Juliet was not hypothetical – it was personal’ … Nicola Garrard in 2002.‘For one of my pupils, Romeo and Juliet was not hypothetical – it was personal’ … Nicola Garrard in 2002.comprehensive school hadn’t begun in a particularly surprising way. I knew the score: prospective teachers are expected to take a lesson, then are given a tour of the school by student prefects and, finally, interviewed by the headteacher.
Three boys turned up to show me around the school and took me first to the stairwell where students urinated because the toilets were broken and dangerous. Next, we walked through a waft of cannabis outside the sixth-form common room, before entering an aerial walkway connecting two buildings marked STRICTLY NO STUDENTS. One of the boys unlocked the door and we stood for a while, quietly looking out at a sweeping view of central London. Someone opened a packet of crisps.
Moments later, I would learn that the “tour” I’d been given had been unofficial, to say the least. The boys ran off upon spotting the school’s deputy head, who exasperatedly asked where on earth I had been, and told me I was late for my job interview. It turned out that the students had skipped lessons to show me around without permission. Audacious, yes. But I was grateful: it was those students who showed me the school as they saw it, along with all of the challenges that they faced.
He was a vulnerable child, let down by failings in education, policing and social care. His ambition was to stay alive. For him, Romeo and Juliet was not hypothetical – it was personal. When Tybalt stabs Mercutio then “flies with his followers”, he could picture what that means; what real blood looks like on pavements, the ambulance arriving too late.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Twitter sued by crown estate over alleged unpaid rent on London HQSocial media platform abandoned its offices near Piccadilly Circus after Elon Musk takeover
Read more »
‘Those stoner days were hugely liberating’: Kiwi musicians reflect on a counterculture like no otherCut off from the ‘swinging’ innovations of 60s London, a generation of New Zealand musicians forged an underground scene that propelled the nation’s modern identity
Read more »
Eurostar trains forced to run with empty seats due to Brexit passport rulesAbout 350 out of 900 seats normally left unsold on the first services between London, Paris and Brussels
Read more »
Couple missing with newborn baby may have been sleeping rough, police fearConstance Marten and Mark Gordon last seen on 7 January in east London after buying tent and bedding
Read more »
AFL development boss sacked after three months in wake of cocaine scandalThe GWSGiants has sacked their head of development after he was busted for buying cocaine. Robert Chancellor was caught by undercover police purchasing the drug and has since pleaded guilty to the crime. 7NEWS
Read more »