Lee Floyd – Head teacher Stubbin Woods

I must like this school because this is the second time I have worked here. I first came here in 1987 and then I was a newly qualified teacher and so this was my first job. I stayed here three years and then left to work in Nottinghamshire. I came back here in 2003 and became the head teacher. When I returned to Stubbin Wood I was surprised how much better it was and I could see lots of  things that had improved. There were a lot of people I knew from when I first worked here who still here so it must be a good place to work if no one wants to leave.

What I like best at this school are the people who are in it. What I like least is the old building which is falling to pieces but we are soon going to be in a brand new building. The new school will be ready in April 2013 and it is going to be amazing. It will be on three floors and will make your jaw drop when you walk into it. I can’t wait to get there.After we leave this school I have heard that they will knock it down with a bulldozer so that there will be no sign of it ever being here.

I started secondary school in 1964 and made two good friends who I still see today. Their names are Steve and Nigel. Nigel sent me a text with lots of jokes in it only yesterday but I can’t tell you the jokes becasue they are a bit rude. When I was at school I was quite naughty and I used to bunk off whenever something that I didn’t like was happening. I hated swimming and so I would vanish when we went swimming. I can just about swim today but I could have been better at it if I hadn’t avoided school swimming lessons. When I think back to my school days I realise how much children today take for granted about what they have in school. I my day there were no computers, no printers, no I-pods not even calculators. We used biros but many of us had fountain pens which had cartridges with real ink in them. We would play a tricks on each other in class with our pens. You would tap the person in front of you on their shoulder and when they turned round flick your pen at them. The ink would fly out all over their face and make a lovely stripe down their shirt. While the teacher was not in class we would throw our compasses up at the ceiling and the sharp points would stick in the ceiling. The fun part was waiting for them to fall out of the ceiling which they would do after a while. We never knew when this would happen and sometimes they would just miss someones head. I don‘t think we realised how dangerous it was. I did actually study hard when I wasn’t bunking off and flicking ink and I won prizes for English. The only prize I kept is a little green glass elephant but I can’t actually think what the elephant prize was meant to be for.

Despite winning prizes I did get lots of punishments so I suppose I was not always a good pupil. I was caned, slippered, slapped, kicked and had chalk and a board ruler thrown at my head. Teachers could do that sort of thing in those days, incredible isn’t it. When you did get the cane it really hurt and worse than that was how you had to take your punishment. I can remember having to walk out to the front of the class and bend over to touch my toes as all the girls looked on and laughed at me. Then I was whacked across my backside. It really hurt but you couldn’t let anyone see that it did or they would laugh all the more. It wasn’t all bad though and I enjoyed music and hanging about with my mates. My favourite bands were The Sweet and Gary Glitter. They were Glam Rock bands and dressed in really glittering costumes. We would try to dress like them and I wore shoes with six inch high platform soles which made me really tall. We did look a bit daft in them though but we had a lot of fun. I left school when I was 18 years after taking my A levels and went to Sheffield university.

I loved being at Sheffield university and can still remember the building that I stayed in. I remember drinking lots of beer at university, looking at girls and generally misbehaving. I went back there years later and was shocked at how much the building had changed. the only thing that was exactly the same was a staircase that I used to run up and down. It was just as I remember it. As I stood on that staircase I was eighteen years old again and at the university for the first time. All my memories came back to me and I felt so happy. For that reason I think that when we leave Stubbin Wood school I would like to take a door with me. It is the door on my office and it says “Head” on it. I would stick it on a wall at the new school and whenever I passed it I would remember Stubbin Wood school and all the great memories I have of working here.

My introduction to Stubbin Wood was as a newly qualified teacher. I was a bit nervous as you can imagine but one teacher helped me a lot. His name was Eric Johnson. He worked in the design and technology suite. He made sure I didn’t make too many mistakes and I knew he was a good teacher because the kids just loved him.
Before we leave the old school I think that we might be up for one last inspection. I have just been told that Aliens are going to visit us and I have to think what to show them before the school is knocked down. I did think they might like to look at the computers since they might like to laugh at how rubbish our computers are compared to theirs. They wouldn’t need to see the geography department as I am sure if they found their way here they can navigate alright. I would treat them to a school dinner, that would scare the pants off them.