RISINGHILL REVISITED – Book 2 The Waste Clay The Risinghill Research Group Isabel Sheridan, Philip Lord, Lynn Brady, Alan Foxall, John Bailey and Yvonne Fisher ‘Such were the joys When we all girls & boys In our youth time were seen On the Ecchoing Green.’ William Blake, From ’The Ecchoing Green, Songs of Innocence and Experience’ 319 Dedication This book is dedicated to the Risinghill teachers and pupils, in particular those who have participated in the research for Risinghill Revisited (RR): without their contributions The Waste Clay would not have been possible. Leila Berg, author of Risinghill: death of a Comprehensive School is also acknowledged here – for providing the authors with so much background information to the writing of her book, and for producing a piece (entitled ‘The Next Room’) for inclusion in The Waste Clay. The authors hope that RR will serve to keep their memories alive, and indeed the memories of all who have fought for an education system in which every child truly matters. 320 Disclaimer Although the authors and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at time of going to press, the authors in whose hands all responsibility for any concerns and their solutions rests, do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Where names are not changed full permissions to include such names has been received by the authors and the responsibility for any errors in this respect lies solely with the authors. The publisher, Other Education – the Journal of Educational Alternatives1, is indemnified by the authors from any responsibility for any issues or concerns caused by the publication of this book II and of book I on their website www.othereducation.org. All enquiries about this book I and about book II should be directed to the authors themselves. Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher and authors would be glad to hear from them. © Copyright 2019. The Risinghill Research Group assign to Other Education - The Journal of Educational Alternatives, and to educational and non- profit institutions a non-exclusive license to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction, provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author also grants a non-exclusive right to Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author. 1 Formatting, proofreading and checking of this book has been done entirely by the Risinghill Research Group. It does not follow Other Education style. It is being published outside of Other Education’s protocols given the size of the files. 321 Table of Contents Dedication 320 Disclaimer 321 Table of Contents 322 List of Abbreviations 324 Editorial and Research Notes 326 Introduction and Acknowledgements 328 Part A – The Teachers 329 CHAPTER A1 - The Teachers Voices and Reflections 331 A1.1 - Margot Coates 336 A1.2 - Bob Dixon 342 A1.3 - Anne Burton 343 A1.4 - Jane Canelle 345 A1.5 - John Rogers 351 A1.6 - Chris Lymbourides 353 A1.7 - Bill Ashton 355 A1.8 - Dr John W Fielder 357 Part B – The Waste Clay – Risinghill’s children 362 CHAPTER B1 – The pupil survey 363 B1.1 - Introduction to the Research 363 B1.2 - The School Roll 364 B1.3 - How the respondents matched the school population 367 B1.4 - Who were the respondents? 371 CHAPTER B2 – The Risinghill Children and Their Families 374 B2.1 - Home backgrounds of the Risinghill children 374 B2.2 - Housing 376 B2.3 - Home area 377 B2.4 - Perceptions of Family Life and Environment 379 B2.5 - Working Parents 381 B2.6 - Happy Families 385 B2.7 - Children Working: 386 B2.8 - Meeting up with friends 387 CHAPTER B3 - The Children and the School 390 B3.1 - Raison d’detre for Risinghill 390 B3.2 - Comparison with Previous Schools 390 B3.3 - The Classes, Teachers, and Curriculum 391 B3.4 - Michael Duane 396 B3.5 - Co-education 398 B3.6 - The Conduct of the Pupils 399 B3.7 - Bullying 404 B3.8 - Punishment 411 B3.9 - School Council 412 B3.10 - Risinghill’s Closure 412 B3.11 – Effects of Risinghill 415 CHAPTER B4 - After Risinghill 417 B4.1 - Qualifications – Post Risinghill and After 417 B4.2 - Ambitions and Work 419 B4.3 - Where Living Now? 421 322 B4.4 - Looking back to Risinghill 421 B4.5 - Education today 424 B4.6 - How important are examinations? 430 B4.7 - Life now 434 Part C – Policies, People and Endings 436 CHAPTER C1 - Comprehensive Education 1965 - 1997 437 C1.1 - Circular 10/65 437 C1.2 - The 1980s 440 C1.3- The 1988 Education Reform Act 441 C1.4 - The 1990s and beyond 442 CHAPTER C2 – Michael Duane and Margaret Duane 446 C2.1 – Cast aside 446 C2.2 – Michael Duane: the Seventies and Eighties 451 C2.3 - Obituary 458 C2.4 – Afterwords: Margaret Duane 460 CHAPTER C3 – Leila Berg and Memories of Risinghill 468 THE NEXT ROOM 472 CHAPTER C4 - Comprehensive Education 1997 – 2012 483 C4.1 - Choice 483 C4.2 - Testing and examinations 489 C4.3- Is the current system working? 492 C4.4 - The disaffected 493 CHAPTER C5 - Conclusions 499 C5.1 - Michael Duane 500 C5.2 - The School 502 C5.3 - Politics and administration 503 C5.4 - The teachers 505 C5.5 - The Children 506 C5.6 – Risinghill: Death of a Comprehensive School 506 C5.7 - Risinghill and Today’s Schools 507 C5.8 - Authors Final Thoughts 509 Postscript: notes from the Authors 511 Last Personal Thoughts & Conclusions 512 Isabel 512 Philip 513 Lynn 514 Alan 519 John 521 Yvonne. 524 Appendices 526 Appendix 1 – The teachers’ questionnaire 526 Appendix 2 - The pupils’ questionnaire 534 References 539 323 List of Abbreviations In presenting this book, we have had to make use of some abbreviations and acronyms, a number of which have now fallen out of current use. We set out here a list of the most important of these. Abbreviation Meaning and context Abbreviation Meaning and context AC Advisory Committee for Risinghill’s development AMA Assistant Masters Association CEO Chief Education Officer CP Corporal Punishment EC Education Committee of the LCC (qv). The LCC took on responsibility for education in London in 1904 from the former School Board for London (also known as the London School Board). The EC had, over the years, many sub-committees. We also use “EC LCC” where there may be confusion EO (Chief) Education Officer (See also CEO) GB Governing Body (of a school). Also called a Board of Governors. We use RGB to denote the GB of Risinghill specifically where there might otherwise be confusion. GLC Greater London Council HMI Her Majesty’s Inspector (of schools) ILEA Inner London Education Authority. ILEA was formed when the GLC (qv) was inaugurated in April 1965 taking over responsibilities formerly held by the EC (qv), but only for 12 inner boroughs of London; the outer boroughs each took responsibility for education in their own area. In formal terms it was a special committee of the GLC. It was disbanded in 1990 when the GLC was dissolved. It is important to note that the ILEA was formed and the EC dissolved at a critical point in Risinghill’s life, a few months before its closure. ILP Independent Labour Party 324 IOE Institute of Education LCC London County Council. The LCC was the principal local governing body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, the year Risinghill closed. LEA Local Education Authority LMA London Metropolitan Archives LSP London School Plan 1947 MD (William) Michael Duane NUT National Union of Teachers PTA Parent Teacher Association RGB See GB RR Risinghill Revisited RRG Risinghill Research Group WWII World War 2 325 Editorial and Research Notes The Risinghill Research Group (RRG) has received many communications from a wide range of people involved with the story of Risinghill and its history; and anecdotes of many other people have been accessed for the compilation of Risinghill Revisited (RR), which comprises two books, The Killing of a Comprehensive School and The Waste Clay. Extracts from these communications have been quoted freely throughout RR so that they may be heard with the voices of those who played a role in this story, and in doing so a policy has been adopted of leaving the texts with their original spellings and grammar, except where some editorial intervention has been necessary to make the text clear. Such emendations are marked with square brackets, thus [ ]. The majority of participants in this study (primarily former pupils and teachers of the school) completed a detailed questionnaire, and at the time gave permission for their names to be cited; indeed for many of the participants, this was a key factor in their decision(s) to share their memories of Risinghill. Unless otherwise stated, all of the contributors are named; however, for the sake of continuity and for ease of referencing, the authors have chosen to identify the pupils by their first names and just the first initial of their family names (as received – either maiden name or married name.). There are some exceptions to this rule, notably in section B, where the first initial of both the first name and family name are used, either because the contributor has expressed a preference for being identified in this way or because formal consent has not been obtained by the RRG; a change of address (home and/or email) from that provided at the time of contact (circa 2004-2006) being the prime reason.