I wonder what happened to Len? He taught in my first school, an inner city comprehensive in Leicester. He was the model inner city school teacher, working class background, brought up in the catchment area, funny but not a pushover, gentle and understanding towards new staff, managed the lads football team, liked and respected by the children. Not too organised though and was culled in the first wave of OFSTEDS as he didn't have a Department Handbook. Funny, now OFSTED don't care about such administative dross, now they are only interested in teaching and learning and what makes a difference in the classroom. I wonder whether they apologised to Len about their change of heart? They ought to really as they had destroyed his career.

I wonder what happened to Liz my first headteacher? She made the mistake of telling OFSTED that the school thrived on chaos. She had misjudged the people in front of her. The old regime would have warmed to talk of the creativity of chaos. The Right Wing Hatchet men of the first generation of OFSTED would find it a nauseating reminder of Seventies Education. Ironic, as many of them had recently been part of that same system. Perhaps, their change of opinion could have been caused by them being Gorbachev like hoping to change the system from within or perhaps they were shameless opportunists lacking any ounce of integrity. As often in Education the people in power have an Orwellian ability to change beliefs completely and yet still be convinced that they have always been in the right.

My first school was rough and a desperately hard place to work yet many of the teachers achieved minor miracles with their classes. Some of the teachers were by a long way the best practioners in the classroom that I have seen in my career. Still that wasn't enough to save it. It was failed and is now closed. The children were moved to another school that is just as tough and just as unforgiving.

The new school has been judged by OFSTED to have 'Serious Weaknesses'.