Back to school
November 5, 2008

Australian students are returning to school after their summer vacations. In a sense, I also went back to school recently.

When I was back in London for Christmas I called in at the school I attended 1959-64. This is the first time I had been there for 43 years. It has certainly changed a great deal. To a certain extent, this is a reflection of the increased level of wealth and greater opportunities now to be found in Britain generally.

The British 1944 Education Act created a new approach to schooling based on the three “A’s”: age, aptitude and ability. All children were now guaranteed school education up to at least the age of 15. Three were three types of schools: elite Grammar (which prepared students for the state examinations that led to university), technical schools (such as those students wanting to work on a farm) and, for the vast majority of us, Secondary Modern. No one in my year at the Second Modern went to university – it just was unheard of.

The “Eleven Plus” examination sorted out the sheep from the goats at the age of eleven and decided who was going to a Grammar School. At the age of 13 there was another examination for the rest, which sorted out who would go to a technical school and who would stay on at the Second Modern and leave in about two years time to work in a factory, shop or office.

I failed both the “Eleven Plus” and the test for 13 year olds. I stayed on at the Secondary Modern and left at the age of 15 to go to work in the War Office, London. This is where my real education began.

In the late 1960s the British Government started to move away from this rigid educational system. Grammar and Secondary Moderns all became Comprehensive Schools.

In due course, Northwood Secondary School became a Comprehensive School. It is now known as Northwood School – Business and Enterprise College. The Headteacher, Mrs Carol Ketley, has a business degree.

The curriculum has also changed a great deal. I enjoyed speaking to the students who had far more enthusiasm for their studies than I ever did while I was there. The courses seem far more relevant to the students nowadays. When I was there, I was taught the names of all the major rivers in Africa – and no one has ever asked to list me all the major rivers (not even when I am in Africa).

Computers are everywhere. As in Australia, it is government policy that every student leaving school should have at least a basic knowledge of how to use computers. Naturally the school has its own website.

Northwood also organizes a number of day trips out to see places of potential employment. Students obviously leave school now far better prepared for the working environment.

There are also overseas trips: such as a group going to France and another went skiing in the United States. This would have been unthinkable in my day – the British rarely travelled overseas. The trips to France reflect both the increased wealth in Britain and also the improvements in transport. It is possible to take a train from St Pancras Station in north London and be in Paris in three hours. If you are taking a train to Paris, why not also link up with the other lines across Europe?

Two students – Lewis Heeran and Ameen Aziz – took me around the school. Lewis told me: “I really enjoy it here”. I would never have said that in my time at school!