I was pleased to host Mr Cameron this week in one of the schools I use to teach at,
Kingswood High School on the tough
Bransholme Estate.
We tried our best to keep the visit an absolute secret, the pupils were not told he was coming and the staff found out just hours before. We managed to evade any attention on the first day when David Cameron spent every lesson period in the classroom assisting pupils and the class teacher. He even did a break and lunch duty and had no free period at all. In actual fact he spent more time in the classroom than most teachers would have to in one day.
A lot of nonsense has been written since his visit, most of which seems to focus on the fact that pupils did not know who he was. This is tosh, pupils in one class could not name the Tory Party. That is true, so is the fact they could not name the Lib Dems, name their MP or even tell us the colour of the Lib Dems. In actual fact many pupils in that Year 8 class knew him and yet not a single one knew who their own MP was.
As for the rest of the school many pupils did know who he was and were delighted to meet him. Surly it does not reflect badly on MR Cameron that pupils knew him but not the party. The fact they knew him over their own Labour MP is encouraging. Why have so many commentators written this up negatively? The only fact they knew this fact was because David Cameron wrote it up on his blog!!!!
Back to the visit. It was highly successful with many members of staff saying to me how genuinely interested they felt he was in finding out what their concerns were. He got to speak with those at the coal face; the classroom teachers and support staff, not just the head.
As for the question of whether or not it was a press stunt or not I can say categorically it was not. I would not have allowed my school or pupils to be used in a press stunt. That is why the press were not allowed into the school and that is why the press were not present at any point at all. It's such a shame that when a politician actually takes the time out to see what it is like on the front line some choose to be so negative.
I just wish the press had reported David Cameron's words when he was asked what he thought of the pupils at Kingswood. "Fantastic" was his response and I have to agree, they did us proud.
I've known for years that most of our young people are decent kids who just want to get on. It is just the minority who spoil the education of the majority. That was the message David Cameron got from teachers and that is why we need to be tougher on bad behaviour and give schools more powers to deal with this minority.
