(30 Jan 2015, 7:34 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote Had an interesting assembly delivered from our headteacher today...My 1st headmaster at Easington Comp was a complete tool...We called him God as he had seemingly been around since the dawn of time
He's been working at my school for 24 years now I think, and he's been head for about 8 or 9 of those. He gave us a bit of a life story - started as Head of English in 1990, became Head of Sixth in 1995, a Deputy Head in 1999 and Headteacher in 2006.
He was talking about how much we needed to think about how we influence each other in what we do. He mentioned that on Tuesday 23rd December, he was shopping in the MetroCentre with his wife - when somebody shouted his name. He turned around and realised it was some guy called Chris, who he hadn't seen in about 10 years. They got talking and he said he was just visiting his family in the north east because he had become a Lecturer in Literature down at either Cambridge or Oxford - he couldn't remember exactly which one. Basically, he thanked my headteacher for all the influence he gave him when he struggled at Literature and through his options at GCSE.
Later, in the middle of the day, he was in Eldon Square when he heard someone else shout his name. He looked and saw it was a guy called Peter, who had been in one of his Literature classes in 6th form. They got talking, and the same happened again - the guy thanked him for all the help he had given him, despite him being a bit of a naughty boy during his school life...
My headteacher's day had been made, and when he walking along St. Mary's Place after leaving Eldon Square - he saw somebody who he got a shock at...
A year previously, he had seen a person he recognised as John. He had spent loads of time with John over his time at school...and it hadn't always been positive. When he was Deputy Head, he had been sitting in his office one lunchtime at the bottom of the main building. John, who was in Year 10 at the time - had told him in confidence days earlier that he owed over £500 to some local drug dealers because he was addicted to Cannabis. He ran in, crying, and asked him if he could hide in his office all lunch. He asked why - and he said there was a man off his skull in Chester carrying around a mashete threatening to kill him...he was that scared he actually wet himself while he lay crying and shaking under the sofa...absolutely terrified is what he used to describe him...
Nonetheless, the police were called and the guy was taken in for questioning, etc. and John was given a clean slate. With my headteacher's guidance, he got good GCSEs, and my headteacher took him in his car to College to start his Joinery course, and picked him up the same...but he only lasted two weeks. He vanished off the face of the earth...
That's why my headteacher got the fright of his life, when exactly a year earlier, he had seen John in St. Mary's Place - looking fantastic, and he shouted my headteachers name in joy. They got talking after a brief moment of confusion, and John said he was totally clean, living in a nice flat not far from our school, and was working for the Council doing a small but satisfying job...
When my headteacher saw him exactly a year later - it wasn't the same. He recognised him as he walked down St. Mary's Place, and he looked horrendous. Disgusting in fact. He was thin, possibly starving. His clothes were all raggy and looked huge on him - he recognised them as the same clothes a year earlier...and all John did was look at him and say 'aright'. My headteacher walked on, and decided to go back after him. He wasn't there anymore...
Found out a week or so later that John was dead...
Quite a tragic story your headmaster told you
