Staff in the Spotlight: Mrs Edge, Mr Harrison and Mr McNeil

I’ve been here for 19 years.

My standout highlight was going on the bi-annual trip to Russia – more specifically, the overnight train from Moscow to St Petersburg. However, I also have fond memories of the ‘old-style’ Sixth Form Patterdale trips; during my first ten years at School the Sixth Form would go in two halves over a week in December – it was instructive, developmental and fun.

No, it was my third. I started my career working at Bury College and from there I went to King David’s (Cheetham Hill) before coming to Bolton School.

No. At Bury College all teaching was mixed, as it was at King David’s too, but there they also had a particular section for Orthodox Girls so I had both mixed and single-sex classes there. When I first came to Bolton, Economics lessons were co-ed and one year we also had some girls for Business Studies.

No – I decided to go into teaching after having a commercial career.

I trained at Edge Hill, affiliated to Lancaster University.

I think I might have done a law degree and become a lawyer.

I really enjoy the fact that the students are generally polite and respectful and I like working in that kind of environment. It’s always very rewarding to see the boys on results day and to see how they are all looking forward to the next stages of their lives.

Again, this occurred on the Russian Trip that I was a part of: we were going to see a great cityscape from the top of a cathedral. So, I dutifully (and mindlessly, as it turns out!) led my group upwards through a narrow ‘turret’ via hundreds of steps and out to the top to climb a steel-ladder walkway up to the next level. Except that I couldn’t progress. My group passed me, as did all the rest of our School’s groups. I was standing – waiting for I’m unsure what – and then Mr Wardle shouted “Mrs Edge!” I did as I was told and climbed the ‘ladder’; I didn’t look down and followed Mr Wardle down the descending turret. I had such empathy for all the lads that had ever been told what to do by RDW – how could anyone not?!

We are now on a two-week cycle. There are linear exams so we cannot give a wake-up call after AS exams. We now have more pupils than previously. And, of course, there has been a change in technology, which definitely frightened me – especially in March 2020, as I had to learn how to use it! That was a very sharp learning curve as I’ve always been used to students using just paper and me using the white and roller-boards – not even, until recently, the smart-boards and Apple TVs!

The plan, at the moment, is to not make any plans until early next year. I am just going to take a breather. But I have made one definite move and that is that I will be away in Spain in the sun when School starts again in September!

It does not happen anymore: it was a staff lunch before Prizegiving which previously took place in the afternoon.

Little or no tolerance for late work. Iron fist or velvet glove!

I think some motivation comes from me being generally enthusiastic about the subject area. In reality, though, I think there are far more students who are motivated by ‘other’ than me and/ or by their own means.

Mr Britton announced my retirement on Twitter and some former students got in touch. It is always such a pleasure to hear from ‘Old Bolts’ and a lot of my former Business students have gone on to do really, really well.

I’ve been here for 31 years.

No – prior to joining Bolton School I taught for seven years at William Hulme Grammar School in Manchester

No – I did teach girls, too, at William Hulme, although I prefer teaching boys.

That’s a difficult question. I considered being a teacher or a doctor. Then one of my teachers suggested I should go into teaching so I followed that up.

I did not want an office job – even though that would probably pay more, teaching was more appealing: I liked my subject … and the holidays were attractive. I was not sure what to do after I did my degree and ended up being a teacher – I don’t regret it.

I did my degree at the University of Warwick and my teacher training at the University of Birmingham. My first placement was at an inner-city school in the middle of Birmingham and at this point I did think about giving up. Everyone spoke with an accent – they didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand them! Then I was sent to Camp Hill Grammar School in Birmingham (former Headmaster Mervin Brooker’s previous school) and I finally knew I wanted to be a teacher and what type of school I wanted to work in. I’ve only worked in two schools and they were both independent schools.

I haven’t a clue! As I said before, I certainly didn’t want to be in an office, but the careers advice at the time was almost non-existent.

There must be something about the place as I’ve been here for 31 years! The first thing is the impressive building. Inside that building, the staff are excellent – in the Maths department we just laugh all the time! The boys are brilliant, too. I love the trips and the opportunity to go to Patterdale. I look forward to coming to work every day (except, perhaps, on the first day after the Summer holidays!).

Yes, particularly the trips. I’ve been to Paris, Russia and Germany. A standout memory is having breakfast on the ferry on the Rhineland trip, being tapped on the shoulder and hearing the words: “Young man, are you in charge of the boys here?” – which is the worst thing a teacher can hear, as you know there is going to be a complaint. But then: “I’ve made this trip many times and this is the first time I’ve seen such a well-behaved bunch of boys!” which was so unexpected that it sticks in my mind!

For one thing, as you can see from the staff photos, I had dark hair when I started! Thirty-one years ago there were no such things as iPads, mobile phones, electronic white boards: teaching was chalk and talk. Quite a few people wore gowns to keep the chalk off – not because it looked posh! Bolton School has been one of those institutions to push the boundaries and is still doing so; the way we teach now is completely different.

There are lots, but Christmas is pretty good here, especially the Carol Service. I also like the relatively new tradition of the staff band playing Christmas songs in the dining room on the last day of term. We still have the traditional Christmas lunch, but years ago the dinner ladies would bring the food to the tables and the boys used to bang their knives on the tables in between courses – the dents are still there! Dinner times also used to be much more religious – a Sixth Former would stand up and say grace.

One, not thinking about work. Two, being given a list of decorating jobs in the house! I want to get out and do a lot more walking. We would like to go out to the Lake District during school time and go on holiday off-peak when it doesn’t cost as much.

Years and years ago, in the early nineties, the School magazine held a vote for the coolest member of staff – and yes, I was that member of staff! (This was in the days when I had spiked hair.) To my knowledge there has not been a vote since, so technically I am still the coolest member of staff … When you get time you should wander around and see if you can spot my photograph.

26 years.

I taught at a highly-selective boys’ grammar school in the SouthEast before I worked here. Prior to that I worked in Paris for a year as an English assistant.

No, in France I taught boys and girls. That being said, I have taught boys for the majority of my career. Languages hardly tend to be the preserve of male students, so I am glad to have taught both.

I don’t think so. In the third year of my degree, I worked in a fairly tough French boarding school, which gave me a good grounding in what the job was really about. I did wonder at one stage about going into the prison service, because I think that is something that, as a country, we should do better than we do. At the time I had also been working for Marks and Spencer and was put forward for their graduate training scheme, which I probably would have done had I not gone into teaching.

In some respects I think that it remains the same wherever you go. You can change the ties and you can change the exercise books, but the basics are the same. However, there is really no pastoral side to the role in France, so the definition of being a teacher itself in France and in the UK is very different.

I trained at Homerton College, Cambridge, and I did my main teaching practice at a comprehensive school in Suffolk.

I find that you either enjoy teaching or you don’t. Teaching, when it goes well, is a fantastic job, and there are different rewards in different schools. I like the fact that I have a level of freedom here to do what I want with my subject and to play around with new ideas, which has probably disappeared from a lot of other jobs in most walks of life. And one of the best things about this place is the boys’ humour.

I have great memories of trips abroad. It was very nice to be sitting on Capri in a wisteria-grown restaurant having a good chat with some nice, interesting lads outside the usual teaching environment. I also quite like Sports Day, seeing colleagues in different contexts and having a natter with the boys. And the Christmas Assembly, even though we all say we don’t want to go, has some of that pride-of-place and a sense of togetherness.

In general, I tend to remember the Sixth Form groups. I’d probably turn the question around and say that in 33 years of teaching, there are very few classes which I haven’t found amenable.

There is less informal chat and the IT has not necessarily brought people closer in terms of communication. Over my time at School people have certainly become kinder to one another. Boys’ schools are notably less brutalizing than during my childhood, too.

My favourite tradition no longer exists because it was the familyservice Christmas lunch we had. I didn’t actually go to it most of the time if I’m honest, but I liked the idea of the atmosphere it created. One of the good things we have done over the last ten years is to start to bring back some of the traditions which we may have forgotten about.

I don’t aim to spend weekends clipping roses! It’s less of a question of what I intend to do and more the ability to be able to do things spontaneously. It will be nice to be able to travel outside peak times, so I intend to visit some parts of Canada and the south of France again. I also would quite like to pick up some of my German and Italian again, and to learn how to draw.

When I started, there was a black-and-white textbook, a cassette, and a piece of chalk, and it was very difficult to create a sense of the language, even to hear some French without tuning into a distant radio station. The range of technology available has massively changed that.

I don’t think the British have ever been all that good at languages; when I was a boy, few children had access to language-learning at all unless they went to grammar school. And there has always been a minority interest in language-learning. We need to get away from some of the repetitive ‘social’ themes, look at why people actually want to learn a language, and start involving some of the students in the way we plan the curriculum: middleaged people sitting around a table thinking they understand what makes teenagers tick is probably not the best way forward!