The Helicopter Boys

If you’re a regular follower of the twists and turns and ups and downs of the Moorside saga, I’ll bet you’re expecting me to rant about the dramatic academy news we’ve had this week.
 
Well, you’re wrong.
 
We need to let the dust settle after Durham University’s long rumoured withdrawal as lead sponsor. I just hope that the remaining sponsors will  look to the expertise in the two Consett schools to come up with a powerful local solution. This would win back the local community’s confidence in the academy project and then we could...
 
Now that’s enough.  I’ve already said too much.
 
Let’s talk about the Helicopter Boys.
 
You might recall that I came back to school after Christmas with a bit of a problem. One of my kids had given me a radio controlled helicopter and I crashed it in the dining room while the rest of the clan were engrossed in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special. I decided that I needed flying lessons and had a hunch that some of the year 7 lads would be able to help.
 
Well, I was right and since then every Friday we’ve been meeting in the gym at lunchtime to fly or try to fly these amazing toys. And I’m still waiting to have a turn.
 
Anyway, one thing led to another. Someone suggested that we start a helicopter club so we asked Lindsey Bell, Extended Services Co-ordinator, if she had any funding left for lunchtime activities. Thankfully she said yes so we’re now on the point of buying some club helicopters and opening the membership much wider. The boys are also determined to see if we could mount a video camera on a helicopter so that we can take some aerial shots of Moorside - a brilliant idea.
 
You might thank that flying model helicopters isn’t very educational. If you heard the lads discussing how to repair broken propeller blades or weighing up the video camera possibility  or mulling over catalogues, choosing suitable machines to buy for the club, I’m sure you’d see the value. And, anyway, it’s fun, and harmless fun at that, and you should be able to have fun at school.
 
If you went to a school that was fun free zone like I did, you’d know what I mean. Actually, that’s a bit harsh on the boring old grammar school in which I was incarcerated. There were one or two teachers who brought their interests into school and gave us opportunities which  otherwise  we wouldn’t have had. Believe it or not, my school excelled at orienteering and provide a stream of athletes who competed internationally. At that time (i.e. the seventies) orienteering was a little known sport, but we loved it and if it hadn’t been for one teacher enthusiast it would never have come our way. Likewise with ham radio. There was an absolutely terrifying science teacher who was radio buff. He was a great guy when you got to know him and his enthusiasm for speaking to people all over the world, including King Hussein of Jordan, was very infectious.
 
This makes me realise that essential components in creating a school’s character (and like people all schools have unique identities) are the interests of the teachers. Let’s face it there would be no clubs, teams, trips, productions or concerts if teachers weren’t prepared to share their interests, passions and hobbies.
 
And a school would be a poor place without them.
 
PS: don’t you think that The Helicopter Boys would be a good name for a band?
 

So now we know!

Just imagine the scene.
 
It’s Friday evening after a happy day at Moorside: younger daughter  safely collected from the Kings Cross train for her birthday weekend;  logs are crackling in the wood burner; I’ve just poured a glass of something nice; and I’m savouring the prospect of a titanic England Wales rugby match at 8 o/clock.
 
Then a  momentous text message arrived.
 
It was  from one of the staff to say that they’d  just read this morning’s edition of The Journal which reported that Durham County Council has announced the go ahead of Consett Academy.
 
This is what The Journal said:
 
‘Durham County Council ended some of the uncertainty over its plans for an academy in Consett yesterday by saying they would be building a new academy and have begun advertising for a head. But a council spokeswoman said yesterday no announcement would be made for a further two weeks, adding: “An academy will be built. It was only in doubt if no funding had been forthcoming.” ‘
 
Well, that settles it then.
 
That’s a clear, unambiguous statement which removes the doubts we were led to have about whether or not Moorside would become an academy. And I must say, markedly different from previous communications which left all options open, including, I assume, lifting the closure notices on both Consett secondary schools.
 
Anyway, such dramatic news jolted me into work mode. I immediately found the article on the web and forwarded it to  all staff and governors.  Having been through reorganisations before I know that firm  information about what is going to happen is like gold dust. So I took the liberty of contacting everyone before they heard the news from another source.
 
I hope that I didn’t interrupt too many Indian take aways.
 
And I must take this chance to assure everyone that Moorside will co-operate fully with the sponsors and our partners at CCSC in planning for the opening of the academy in our present buildings on September 1st, 2011. There’s a daunting list of jobs to be done, but I think that the sponsors know that there’s a vast pool of talent and commitment in both schools. So we have the people to make this thing work.
 
Well, that was a bit serious, wasn’t it?
 
Next week I’ll tell you about The Helicopter Boys.