Life beyond Radford

I am enjoying being a grandfather, travelling the world, studying Italian, following the recent football World Cup, running a Literature Group (currently focusing on the joys of under-valued poetry), and of course maintaining the ritual of a lengthy reading session in the afternoon sun with wife, Sylvie.

We've always had very good people on staff. Certainly Jock Mackinnon’s leadership in those first few years was quite amazing, as was his ability to get the very best of his teachers. This was probably the hallmark of Jack’s greatness. Graeme Wigg (then Deputy Principal) also was very good at this, as was Molly Brownbill (Director of Studies) in her quiet way.

We've had top-notch English students at Radford and I think the reason why these students have been so successful is that we have always provided them with a challenge. We’ve never taken the easy way out. We’ve always let them deal with texts that were challenging, sometimes perhaps a little too ambitious. But certainly, our top students have always benefited from that.