School portraits · Hull, England
Valeted for Judi Dench, and Still Damp
In July 1995 Hymers College in Hull opened a theatre named after Judi Dench. Everyone prepared, and one teacher prepared his car.
4 July 1995Read the story
School life, between the linesBy Eleven Plus Diary
Notes from the School Gates
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
Britain & beyondHistory · Culture · Parent perspectives
School portraits · London, England
06:30: Wake Up, but Don’t Get Up
In 2020 Latymer Upper’s two school captains published their daily timetables. I tried running our house on them.
One school year in Hammersmith, September 2019 to February 2020Read the story
School portraits · Edgware, London
Ten Stones Each, Then an Angel or a Crocodile
In the summer of 1964, every girl at North London Collegiate was asked to bring home ten stones from her holidays. The art teacher had plans for the stones, and for anyone aged fourteen.
North London Collegiate, Edgware, summer 1964 to summer 1965Read the story
School portraits · Bristol
Six Top Tips From a Sixth-Former, Followed to the Letter
A girl who joined QEH’s sixth form from an all-girls school wrote six tips for settling in. I had just joined my fourth PTA, and I was desperate.
QEH, Bristol, one sixth-form September to EasterRead the story
School portraits · Glasgow, Scotland
Two Primary 2 Critics Judged the Toast on Jam
Hutchesons’ Grammar School in Glasgow sends pupils home with ten life-skill challenges. I printed the idea out for our youngest and forgot who would be living in it.
2017–2018 pupil accountsRead the story
School portraits · London, England
How to Avoid Rugby: Join the Club With No Members
The magician Guy Hollingworth got his start at St Paul’s by hiding from the rain in a society nobody attended. I read this to our eldest as a lesson in initiative.
Schooldays at St Paul’s, recalled a long time afterwardsRead the story
School portraits · Newcastle upon Tyne, England
An 1894 Complaint to RGS Newcastle, Signed by a Coat
In October 1894 a pupil at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle wrote to the school magazine as his own overcoat. I read the letter and then went and looked at our hall pegs.
Newcastle upon Tyne, one autumn week in the 2025–2026 school yearRead the story
School portraits · Moray, Scotland
Three Sheep, Thirty Minutes, One Hand and Two Feet
A Gordonstoun pupil who had watched thousands of sheep being shorn found the first day of the course hard on his back. I have watched thousands of haircuts, and I own clippers.
Two days in June 2026Read the story
School portraits · Bristol and Auckland
A French Master, Four Objects and an Auckland Phone Book
In the 1950s a Bristol Grammar French master introduced his new class to the furniture. Years later he went looking for one of them on the other side of the world.
A Bristol classroom in the 1950s, and a doorstep in New Zealand in 1967Read the story
School portraits · Manchester
The Head of Drama Made Her Debut as the Dog
Withington’s two Elles had to keep straight faces while a teacher stood in for the chihuahua. I have been standing in for everything in our kitchen since February.
A spring term in Manchester, 2025Read the story
School portraits · Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire
A Sixth-Former Directs Year 7’s Christmas Lip-Sync. Ours Did Too.
At Cheadle Hulme, Lower Sixth mentors help the new Year 7s through their first term. So I set one up at home, between our sixth-former and our Year 7, in time for Christmas.
A Lower Sixth autumn, September to the Christmas lip-syncRead the story
School portraits · Sennybridge, Wales
“The Children Regularly Test My Progress”
The chair of governors at a Powys primary is learning Welsh at the school, and the children keep checking up on her. In our house, the examiners are smaller and have no mercy.
A year of Welsh classes at a Powys primaryRead the story