Career was a beacon to teachers

YESTERDAY I read with great interest Andrew Hitchon’s article about the Up television series. As a former member of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools, I was based in York but visited schools, colleges and other institutions all over England.

I recall the impact Andrew’s brother Nick’s career had on me personally, particularly when he reached the age of 28. I had discovered from the series that Nick came from a farm way up the Dales, and went first to a tiny village primary school and then to a local secondary school. Subsequently we discovered he had become an Oxford graduate and a physicist.

I was by then the district inspector responsible for links with North Yorkshire Local Education Authority. I used to give talks to teachers at Grantley Hall, near Ripon, as part of their in-service training and reminded them never to forget the potential for knowledge and learning in children. Nick Hitchon provided a true, evident and local example of such potential. Later, addressing teachers and lecturers from all over the country, I again used the same example. By coincidence, I found myself quoting Nick last week to members of Ryedale’s University of the Third Age. I would like to thank Nick most warmly and sincerely for being – unbeknownst to himself – such a beacon to the teachers of North Yorkshire and further afield and for me and my colleagues in the old HM Inspectorate.

Clive Goodhead, Rowley Court, Earswick.

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