Having gone to Teesside College for my teaching degree, I had hoped to return to Scotland after qualification, but due to a lack of teaching jobs across the UK at the time in 1983, I ended up staying longer in Cleveland than I planned.
It was fine, as I had made lots of new friends and had more school contacts to help in the search for a position. I had also taken a job in social work, as a support worker working with kids aged about 7 to 16 years of age and their families. It help with extra cash to pay the bills, but I really enjoyed the work, although there were some challenging moments to say the least.
My first teaching job was at The Avenue Primary in Middlesbrough, with a lovely Primary 5 class of 15 pupils. More about them can be found in another post here.
While at the school I was involved in whole school activities involving other classes like school trips, parties and other events that staff could support. The Primary 6/7 pupils were going to go to Normandy in France and I was invited along to help. This was another great adventure by coach, all the way to France and back. It was a very tiring journey, but very worthwhile in that we had a very successful visit to a number of well known attractions like the Normandy beaches where there were still lots of wrecked armoured vehicles and amphibian craft just littering the sands and over a long distance. Another place of interest was the Bayeux Tapestry, which was a lot narrower than I had imagined.
The photos below record some of the highlights of the trip and there is also a video which will be added soon. I had a number of helper recording video clips and one boy in particular, but sadly I have forgotten his name, but he was enthusiastic and did a brilliant job. Especially so as the video cameras in those days were enormous, the type that sat on your shoulder and could be quite heavy. The battery was a long thin item about thirty centimetres long and resembled a long skinny brick, and only held enough charge for about 30 minutes.
Mont Saint Michel The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 Mont Saint Michel Mont Saint Michel Mont Saint Michel The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 teacher Barbara The Bus driver, forget his name, but sure he was from Newcastle. Mont Saint Michel Mont Saint Michel The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 The Avenue Primary, Middlesbrough, visit to France 1984 This boy was the video cameraman, but unfortunately forgotten his name.
