School life, between the linesBy Eleven Plus Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
The school archives · Creekmouth, Yardley Gobion & Great Yarmouth
Victorian school log books had a policy for the day the circus came, and it is the most realistic policy in British education. I have introduced it for Saturday jobs.
The school archives · Cumbria & the national headlines
In 2004 a Cumbrian head told his pupils, in jest, that conkers needed safety goggles. Within days there were seven television crews in the yard. I made a similar joke on a Tuesday.
School portraits · Oxford
Magdalen College School ends its year with madrigals sung from punts. One small listener on the bank went home and started a campaign.
School portraits · Dulwich, London
Dulwich College has the James Caird, the lifeboat from Shackleton’s great rescue voyage. We have an inflatable kayak, and suddenly something in common.
School portraits · Horsham, West Sussex
Christ’s Hospital marches its whole school into lunch behind a band. Our house uses shouting up the stairs, and the figures are not kind to us.
School portraits · Steep, Hampshire
Bedales pupils lay bricks, mend fences and teach willow weaving. I went looking for one thing in my own life I could point at.
