Telling Stories

This is the first chapter of a new novel for children by R J Barron, The Watcher and The Friend, published by Burton Mayers Books on June 11th 2021

A short story about one teacher's interview to be a Secondary Deputy Head, the latest in a long line of unsuccesful interviews. Of all the questions that entails, the most important are those that you decide not to to ask....

A short story. When Ed starts his teacher training year he is excited and just a little worried. He was right to be....

A short story. When Ed starts his teacher training year he is excited and just a little worried. He was right to be....

Ben Marley has climbed his way up the greasy pole  to finally become Headteacher. All the scams and tricks and double dealing of his ruthless pursuit of advancement come back to haunt him when he finds himself back in his old school one last time on Christmas Eve as darkness falls.

A reading of three poems with some commentary and suggestions for use in the classroom. The poems are: "Cultural Capital", with some thoughts on the inadequacy of OFSTED's conceptualization of that topic, "What Were They Like?" with some ideas on using this to get students to write their own version of Levertov's original, and Casting Spells and some thoughts on the power of reading aloud.

A new short Story by The Old Grey Owl. Anna always looked forward to September, with its promise of a new start. But new starts never last.

This is a short story first published on my blog at www.growl.blog. It's set in a Secondary school that has to close because of snow. A snow day is something that nearly all school staff and students look forward to, but it doesn't always end like this.