At the chalkface Back from the dead


A HOODED figure, tall, wan and wasted, walks down the alley towards our school. It’s early evening. I’m in the


north playground with my 11th year. We are sprawled under the big chestnut tree. The same one they stood under on their first day at Big School. This class will not meet again. It’s the end. The figure gets closer. Skinny


fingers light a cigarette. There’s no easy way


of saying farewell. Those final year assemblies make me blub – all those little victories against the odds. The posh Leavers’ Ball makes me angry. The poor can’t afford them and the naughty get banned. So we have our own party, a valedictory picnic as the sun goes down. The figure gets ever


closer. The class chill under


dappled leaves. Seth strums a guitar to a swooning Lily. Ella makes a daisy chain. Dervish and Crumlin do keepie-uppies and Lunk is zonked on Smirnoff. There’s much hugging and signing T-shirts with magic markers. I can hardly watch. Sitting in that falling light, they seem too kind to survive the fallen world outside. And Sabrina keeps on gazing


at the school gates. The figure puts out the


cigarette. Most pupils have done so


well. Most have come through fine. We nearly lost a few on the way. Shaka got a bit skunked. Dave Mania got Asbo-ed. And


Charlie Johnstone was lost forever to the street. Remember Charlie “Hardcore” Johnstone? Sabrina does. She’s still gazing


at the gates. Charlie went AWOL in the


9th year. Running nasty stuff for very nasty people under King Hell Mansions – then using it, then dealing it and then getting cut all down his face. So it goes. His mother couldn’t cope. Nor could the Referral Unit. Me neither. I last saw him a year ago dealing by the canal. A


dead man walking. Well, he’s walking


through the school


gates now. He’s standing before us. He takes off the


hood and half smiles. My goodness, his face is skinny. Sabrina’s glowing and she hugs him to bits. “I love you man!” He looks at Crumlin. “On me ‘ead, man!”


He looks at us all. There’s


much high-fiving and speaking in West London tongues. “Hey Charlie! Hey breh! Hey


blood! Wh’appen!’’ He still looks wan, but he


looks a whole lot better. “Charlie’s coming back next


year!” says Sabrina proudly. He looks at me. “Alright then, sir!” “I am now! Blimey! Charlie!” What a hero. What a tonic.


And Sabrina is a saint. Oh dear! Get a grip! Not more


blubbing.


• Ian Whitwham is a former secondary school teacher.


Climate art: The Last Tree from Marple Hall School in Stockport (main image), Sale Grammar School’s homeless polar bear (right, top), and the carbon emissions handprint from Beech House School in Manchester all feature in the Science Museum exhibition


A giant hand showing the five countries contributing the most towards carbon emissions is among artwork created by students for an exhibition at the Science Museum. Other works include a homeless


polar bear begging on the streets, a child wearing a gas mask to show how thick greenhouse gases could become, and an exhibit called The Last Tree. The three-day photographic exhibition is running at the London


museum until Saturday (July 9) and it marks the end of the first phase of a three-year Climate Science Outreach Project being delivered by the Science Museum, the National Railway Museum in York, and the National Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. The aim of the project is to


increase awareness of climate sci- ence among young people and this work has been created and photo- graphed by year 9 pupils from 19


schools across the UK. The students were challenged back in February to create a piece of artwork as a class to communicate an aspect of climate science in an unusual and creative way. The second year of the Climate


Science Outreach Project will roll out in September. Each year, schools will be given a new chal- lenge and future tasks include pro- ducing a piece of climate science journalism and staging a carbon


neutral event. The exhibition is part of the Science Museum’s three-year Climate Changing programme. Beth Linfield, the Science


Museum’s outreach manager, said: “This project is an ideal opportunity to help young people increase their understanding of climate science and challenge them to communi- cate their ideas in a fun and creative environment.” For more on the exhibition, visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk


News Pupils take over Science Museum


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16


SecEd • July 7 2011


Images: Science Museum


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