So after those very brief highlights of the last decade, we're almost up to date.
As previously mentioned a significant proportion of Mickley Grange students, somewhere around 20 percent, did not engage at all with the online learning set for them during the covid-19 lockdown. Of the 70 percent that did engage, probably only around half of those really put their heart and soul into it. This means there is a lot of catching up to do, to give the students the best possible chance of succeeding in the future. Invariably the 20 percent that failed to engage were the 20 percent that really needed to the most. The remaining 10 percent, I should add, were those in school as they were classed as vulnerable or having key worker parents.
I'm not sure about you, but I am one of those people who never expects a free lunch. I always stand my round at the bar; take my turn to pay for the coffees; and pay my bills on time. I do not expect anyone else to shoulder my responsibilities. Some would see that as quite an old-fashioned point of view, but its one I hold dear.
Unfortunately, I think one of the many negative consequences of the covid-19 pandemic is that a small but significant proportion of the UK population has become increasingly accustomed to receiving a figurative free lunch. This equally applies to a small but significant proportion of the students of Mickley Grange. The ones that have sat at home and done nothing during lockdown, who now lack motivation and feel aggrieved when they are again expected to toe-the-line in the classroom.
As a result of this post-pandemic apathy, I would say that standards in general have fallen. In some aspects of school life - attitude and behaviour for learning immediately spring to mind - I would say the decline has been quite marked. Previously diligent students just aren't as motivated as they were. Difficult students are even more so.
Of course the overwhelming majority of Mickley Grange students are good people who want to do the right thing and achieve their full potential. Regrettably it only takes one or two bad apples in every class to negatively influence the majority and cause a general decline in standards. And boy, do we have some negative influences in every class. And very little has been done to challenge their behaviour or hold them to account.
Unfortunately the head teacher, blue-eyed-boy as he might be to The Green Pastures' CEO, has proven a bit of a damp squib when it comes to managing the behaviour of the tiny minority that really have a negative impact on everyone else's learning. He has survived, like those before him, because he has the gift of the gab. He knows just what to say to an external audience and which boxes to tick on a meaningless piece of paper. If that external audience were a fly on the wall it would be horrified at daily goings on.
Despite his reputation for being a stickler at Benford Towers, it really hasn't manifested itself during his headship here at Mickley Grange. With him it really is a case of what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. He doesn't do any teaching, so he doesn't experience first-hand the abysmal behaviour of some students in the classroom. He wags his finger disapprovingly at staff for not applying the behaviour system consistently and not building relationships with students, but the truth of the matter is that the system only breaks down when matters are escalated to him.
He is in total denial. It does not fit his agenda to acknowledge how abysmally poor the behaviour of some Mickley Grange students is. It would cast a severe shadow over his box ticking ability if he were to do so. Behaviour that would not be tolerated anywhere else in society, but for some reason everyone has to endure in his little fiefdom.