Godolphin teachers' A-Level Summer

Regrettably, it is the last article of the half-term before autumn and all its realities properly set in. Tans are fading, days are shortening, and the excuse of settling back into the school year is no longer quite as justified. To distract from this impending doom, we have cast our minds back to the golden days (literally) of summer one last time. Cast our minds quite far back, as a matter of fact, to our beloved staff’s A Level summers. 

Enjoy reading their stories, and seize the opportunity to take some inspiration for the summers to come…

MR GRIMBLE:

Our formidable interviewer was met with disappointment before an answer could even be obtained, with the English teacher expressing how he would have preferred “an intellectual question about iconoclastic figures in Paradise Lost.” I apologise for any terrifying flashbacks I have just inflicted upon our A-Level English students. Rest assured, we felt just as shaken up by the implication that our article topic is anything but sophisticated.

After further berating our interviewer about reading said book (this appeared to be an interview and homework scheduling session wrapped into one) Mr Grimble finally shared that he spent his summer in “a small village in Malta” having “done Reading and Leeds festival in LVI.” UK festival burnout is a very real thing, as anyone who has attended or read our article (thanks for the promo Mr Grimble) would know. The granola girl recovery trip to Malta is understandable.

However, I’m unsure that this vibe was shared with Mr Grimble himself, as he described how his friend, overwhelmed with the heat, stood up in a McDonalds at midnight announcing “It's too hot here! I want to go back to [redacted] England!" So, unfortunately his summer was not quite as cottage core as immediately envisioned, but still seems like a great time was had. Maybe not as great for the locals at McDonalds…

MS JAMES:

After being reassured that Unpublished is a “safe space,” – we take journalistic integrity very seriously – Ms James revealed she went to Majorca with her family before heading off to interrail. She did describe how she was “kind of very by the book” and that she would like to “go back and explore these countries” with the goal of embracing “all of the cultures” she perhaps missed out on the first time round.

A very philosophical outlook, as was the inner reflection. I'm sure our resident sixth formers will be happy to apply her advice come June.

DR GOODALL:

True to her humanities brand, Dr Goodall revealed that she “went to latin camp for 2 weeks” - a truly admirable level of lock in. After a healthy bout of interrailing, she went on to describe how she “cried for days after I got a D in my french oral.”  

My accent in GCSE French is sure to haunt my past teachers for years to come, making Dr Goodall scarily relatable - as is the results day identity crisis. The A star she achieved overall does lighten the burden considerably, but we expect no less of the UCAS queen herself.

MR REES-WILLIAMS:

After a brief stint at an HR job, which I’m sure comes in very handy in the trials and tribulations of the MFL corridor, Mr Rees took the “classic tour of Europe” while interrailing. After an in-depth description of the best countries to stop by (I see a career with trip advisor in the cards), he revealed that he “loved Prague,” for highly elusive reasons.

After some digging from our dedicated interviewer, he decided to share that the fun was found in “hostel life,” “completely sensible things” and being “very well behaved, as you can imagine.” Do with that what you will.

DR WOODBERRY:

Dr Woodberry spent his A level summer “running along the beach” and playing summer in Cornwall and Devon - seems peaceful, although apparently being on the football team was seen as being a part of the “renegade, revolutionary inside pressure group who didn’t want to play rugby” which feels very on brand for the historian. Albeit slightly shocking that football was so shunned from English society at any point in time.

Especially considering that the World Cup was taking place - he explained how England “were defending champions because we had won the last one in 1966,” so losing had come as a disappointment which was not yet an expectation. Didn’t make the loss this summer any less crushing, but I digress.

He then, in true Dr Woodberry fashion, enlightened our interviewer of the ins and outs of the 1970 general election in great detail, which he remembers "going out and campaigning for” including “handing out leaflets.” Both the world cup and the conservative party were faced with a loss, so perhaps this was a dampener to his vacation, although I believe defending his own football team took priority.

MS THROWER:

The biologist immediately validated the team, affirming we had asked “a really good question,” which is nice to hear after previous snubs. She described her trip to Italy as her “first taste of real freedom” from revising, although I’m sure studying biochemistry was a rapid one-way trip back to reality.

MR DAVIES (ART):

Mr Davies began by describing how his "revision was a load of chickens.” A slightly uncommon phrase, but he then explained how Brian (the best chicken, clearly) “used to sit on my shoulder” and “made things good” while revising. I’m unsure how this fits into his A Level summer, but I’m including it anyway for the delightful imagery.

He remembers his A level summer of 1980 as a time where he and his friends “were top of our ‘sixth form game’ as it was” - I know all too well how impossible this feels to achieve, really impressive. He went on to describe drawing, as well as “building and keeping those friendships" in Wales before university. The interview ended with him affirming that throughout it all “the chickens were still there though”. A very beautiful way to describe the passage of time.

MR GUILLEMIN:

After complaining about needing to “delve deep into the mists of time” – a tad unreasonable, considering we have had other teachers retrieve memories from 60 years ago with no problem – Mr Guilleman described how apart from his time in Morrisons, his summer was the first time he had “completely unstructured time since I was a child,” which of course led to the “golden age and it was all downhill” from there. 

He then quickly retracted this, but the glory of lack of structure is definitely relatable. If you asked any G&L pupil to imagine life without their homework diary it's highly likely you would be met with a blank stare, fear, or at worst an incredibly complicated online Notion spread. He finished by summarising the summer as “a character growth, character building” from the grind to save money before university. So his time seems to have ranged from endless to intense. 

MRS JAY ELLIS:

(It feels important to note that this is a post-IB summer interview - I’m definitely biased, but the representation is very much appreciated.)

Mrs Jay Ellis described how “the weather was incredible” - perfect for attending “parties every night,” to the point where people would “sleep in their cars at people’s house” so as to not miss the next event. A level of perseverance that is entirely unsurprising for IB students, and probably the result of the droves of coursework deadlines they faced prior. She also described how “there were so many fun themes,” so it’s great to see that all aspects of the learner profile were applied throughout (in the form of creativity and commitment, of course.)

I am also very pleased to brag that Unpublished was treated with an exclusive interrailing story which we are bound to secrecy not to share. Stay jealous xx

MS GRAHAM AND MRS ROBERTS:

Thanks to Ms Graham’s love of learning leading to biweekly attendance of IB Spanish HL lessons taught by our very own Mrs Roberts, we managed to snag a double feature interview with this dynamic duo!

Mrs Roberts, deeming her A level summer too dull, instead shared details of the next summer on, when she went (surprise) interrailing with friends. As this took place “in the days before the internet” she described her travels as “literally getting off a train somewhere,” which seems like a far less stressful planning experience.

At this point, Ms Graham interjected to say “you can still travel like that though!” which is absolutely true if her extensive biking adventures are anything to go off of. Maybe slightly too impulsive for the godolphin mind formed by pinterest vision boards, but I encourage our readers to take on the challenge.

Mrs Roberts finished her description by describing the “18 hour train journey” she took between Barcelona and Granada, which feels more like an incorrect answer in my calc homework than a reality. Complete with being “squished in” an 8 person compartment, and constantly “bumping into people from college,” the interrailing ideal has been safely debunked. 

Ms Graham described how she took the girls from her boarding school who lived in Hong Kong around Ireland to show them "it's actually quite nice” because apparently the 7 years they had spent there at school had not provided the best first impression.  Despite having possibly the most qualified tour guide for scenic Irish landscapes, “they haven’t been back since” - we can only assume it was the scars of secondary school rather than the whole nation itself.

The day before her results, she attempted to watch a movie – an impressively relaxed start – but missed the time because she’s “really bad reading 24 hour clocks” (me too Ms Graham, me too) which was then taken as “a sign that my A levels are going to go terribly tomorrow.” It appears that even the best efforts inevitably lead to the identity crisis before results day, although it always works out in the end. 

And that concludes the first teacher interview of this academic year. We hope you loved hearing the staff’s contributions as much as we loved dusting these stories off to share with you all. Have a nice half term everyone!

xoxo,

Unpublished