At the chalkface Hard times
The New Year breaks like an ugly rumour. Austerity Britain. Two nations. A permanent underclass. We seem to be zooming back to Victorian times. A recent report from The High Pay Commission thinks so. “We’re rocketing back towards the inequality of Oliver Twist.” Indeed. I wish Dickens himself were back to chronicle the times. Oliver Twist, Mr Gradgrind, Krook, Quilp, Chadband – they’re all back. And especially Little Jo fromBleak House. It might go like this... “It must be strange
to be like Jo, to shuffle through the streets of Notting Hill. It must be strange to shiver in the glitter of all that wealth, to be hustled, and jostled, and always moved on. Where are you going Jo? With your concave face and your coat hanger body – a soul in a sack. Is that a bruise, Jo? A mark of woe, Jo? “I don’t know nothink!” It must be puzzling to gaze
on the gated communities of my Lady Deadlock in her glowing mansion. That Mr Cameron used to live round these parts. He promised to hug you, Jo. Now he’s prime minister and he calls you “feral”. Turn back, Jo! It must be strange to pass
twitching plasma screens, peddling homes for a zillion pounds, to pass All Saints and gaze on stone-deaf angels. Why
is God not watching you, Jo? A cherry top catches you in a blade of headlight. Quick! Scarper! Along the canal path, where the east wind cuts, where they broke your face. Lights bob in petrol waters – from Little Venice, where my Lord Coodle and the Duke of Foodle sip from cut glass under chandeliers. Another country, Jo. Turn back, Jo! But Jo must meet
The Man. In King Hell Mansions – a very Bleak House indeed. Quick! Through the
dark car park, past boys with baby bikes and girls with shivers in their eyes and dogs only bred for terror. Feral things! Like you, Jo. Mad on a leash. Up
the dead air stairwell! The prime minister calls your every step “a slow motion moral collapse”. Indeed.
What does he know, Jo? Knock! Knock! You enter
a derelict room. You see dark figures – urchins, varmints, cut
throats – a feral underclass. Who can they be? With their ghost train faces? Bill Sikes? The Artful Dodger? Is that Nancy with that black eye? Impossible. Surely, we’ve moved on – in this breaking year of 2012? Apparently not. Is that Charlie Johnstone? My long lost pupil? A kind boy, but now with a calloused heart? He gives Jo a parcel. A present for my Lady Deadlock? Don’t ask. You don’t want to know...” Happy New Year.
• Ian Whitwham is a former secondary school teacher.
News
Bearing fruit: Ormiston Victory Academy students in their school orchard
School orchards bear fruit by Daniel White
Schools are making apples a core part of their curriculum as a national healthy eating initiative heads into its second year. A year ago, traditional fruit
orchards were planted in the grounds of secondary schools across the UK in an attempt to both help save endangered habitats and educate children about their eating habits. The Fruit-Full Schools pro-
gramme was launched in 50 schools in 2010 as part of a four year plan to help children grow their own produce.
Schools involve the orchards
in classroom discussions, make their own apple pies or jams, and some are now looking at opening up businesses as part of enterprise education. Pauline Williamson, envi-
ronmental and outdoor learning co-ordinator at one of the par- ticipating schools – Ormiston Victory Academy in Norfolk – told SecEd: “Students will be able to learn about where their food comes from, and eat fruit they wouldn’t have otherwise. It enables the school to promote healthy eating and how important it is.
“In future, we are looking
to have an enterprise unit that the children can take ownership of – in particular those children with lower ability who will learn valuable lifeskills and be able to grow their own produce. “They could then open up
their own community café within the school and show their parents what they have been doing.” The school is planting apple
trees native to their surrounding area to try and educate the children about their local community’s his- tory while also supplying produce to their canteen. Since the 1950s, England has
lost more than 60 per cent of its orchards and now 69 per cent of apples are being imported from other countries. It is hoped the scheme will help to reverse this trend and save these habitats. The Fruit-Full Schools website
provides resources to help schools set up their own orchard, including growing guides, case studies, and factsheets. The programme has been
developed by Learning through Landscapes, which promotes out- door learning and play. It hopes to help rejuvenate more than 150 vari- eties of fruit. For more information, visit
www.fruitfullschools.org
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SecEd • January 5 2012
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