A Village Headmaster with Dr John Ridley on Zoom – A&L

John’s talk ‘A Village Headmaster’ is set against a backdrop of rapid and unrelenting educational change following the 1988 Education Reform Act. The establishment of Ofsted, the National Curriculum and compulsory testing for primary school children, redefined what was expected of teachers. Even with these pressures village primary schools continued to nurture their pupils and provided first class education which allowed children to grow and yet retain their individuality. John spent twenty-one years in a small village primary school and, through his stories, told with gentle humour, takes us through his experiences as a village headmaster. In his first term as head, and on the day of his first parents’ meeting, he discovered that the father of two of his pupils was not only an HMI but also Ofsted’s senior staff inspector! John tells of early pioneering links with city schools in Birmingham and Newcastle, working with and firing clay, making a BBC TV programme for schools, his love of outdoor education, the murder of Saint Alkelda, the legend of the Phantom Bagpiper of Great Fryup Dale and, of course, the amazing things that children say!