At the chalkface Pick out the positives


A WEEK back and it’s Parents’ Day. Eight hours of it. I set my face on “Pastoral Care” and “Benign Concern” and zip through levels, talk of targets, drone on about focus, dish out euphemism, and pick out the positives. Most of the time, it’s a pleasure and a breeze. But not always. Shrill


helicopter mothers and bullying fathers are no fun. War zone orphans and the abandoned can break your heart. And for some it’s just another grim round of unsolicited insult, another assault on flailing self-esteem. They come with wan smiles, downcast eyes and lists of unmet targets. And sometimes it’s just tricky. You try to perk things up, but some pupils are beyond the consolations of euphemism Like Hector Dervish.


Here he comes, all scrubbed up as if for Sunday school. Here comes Ma Dervish with a face like thunder. I am Hector’s tutor – and moral icon. Ho hum. I trawl through his report, which resembles a criminal record. I do benign and smile and say hello and search for some positives. Fat chance. I look like Roy Hodgson after another grim defeat. “Erm... Dance is good!” Ma


Dervish could care less. “PE’s good.” Ma Dervish


could care lesser. The rest isn’t. It’s bad.


Carnage. Weaknesses include sloth, wrath, absence, wandering, bellowing – and an attention


deficit of Recession proportions. Ms Limpet, the Freudian, thinks the fellow has some rather florid, neurobehavioural problems. Ma Dervish thinks this is rather florid bunkum. She looks increasingly sulphurous. I suggest some interim solutions – like showing up, sitting down, shutting up and acquiring a writing implement. “Fair cop, sir!” says he solemnly and promises to “up the work rate”. We both shake hands. I know he knows I know he won’t. Ma Dervish knows I know. Still, I


dictate a final strategy. “I must focuss more


and meat me targets,” he


scribbles. That borderline C looks


ever less likely. I blame me. So does Ma Dervish. She’s had a bellyful of my mimsy, liberal guff, my


blathering empathy and looks quite ready to visit medieval violence on his quaking person. I mutter something about 2011


being a new leaf. She mutters something about it being bollocks. She drags the forlorn Hector down a corridor, cuffing him vigorously across the lugs. I don’t fancy his chances. Who’s next! Lunk! James. An even tougher nut – with his hatchet-faced father, James is a chip off the old block. “Good evening Mr Lunk!” “What’s good about it?”


mutters the scar-faced patriarch. Indeed. I cancel my smile, survey his son’s report – and search with much desperation for positives.


• Ian Whitwham is a former secondary school teacher.


Never forget: The Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland was liberated by Soviet forces on January 27, 1945. Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on this day every year


Students to hear Untold Stories on Holocaust Memorial Day


by Daniel White


Students will have the opportunity to hear the stories of Holocaust survivors as part of the annual memorial day later this month. Holocaust Memorial Day


(HMD) takes place on January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentra- tion and extermination camp. The theme of this year’s


event, which is organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, is Untold Stories. The aim of the day is to motivate


people both individually and col- lectively, to ensure that the crimes


of the Holocaust are never forgot- ten and to focus attention on more recent genocides, such as those in Darfur and Bosnia. The day is now in its 10th year


and has a different theme each year. Any school can organise a HMD activity with the Trust providing free resources and a campaign pack that can help teachers to organise community events or run special lessons in-school. Events take place throughout


the year leading up to January 27. Last week, students at


Whitstone School in Somerset were visited by Holocaust survivor Joanna Millan. Ms Millan told 90 students her story and spoke about


the acts of prejudice and racism that took place. Trevor Luckhurst, the school’s


head of history at Whitstone School, said: “It is a privilege for us to welcome Joanna to our school and her testimony will remain a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced. “We are grateful to the Holocaust


Educational Trust for co-ordinating the visit and we hope that by hearing Joanna’s testimony, it will encourage our students to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and make a positive difference in their own lives.” Karen Pollock, chief execu-


tive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, added: “This year’s theme for


Holocaust Memorial Day, Untold Stories, illustrates how important it is for students to hear first-hand tes- timony from a Holocaust Survivor. “By hearing Joanna’s story,


Whitstone School’s students have the opportunity to learn where hatred and racism can ultimately lead. “At the Holocaust Educational


Trust, we endeavour to teach the history of the Holocaust to young people, across all communities, to ensure that they take forward the les- sons taught by those who survived.” For more information about the


day and to register for resources and support, visit www.hmd.org.uk. For more on the Holocaust Educational Trust, see www.het.org.uk


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