Life beyond Radford

Re-established in Adelaide after 15 terrific years in Canberra. I’m trying to write a book or two about cricket, including an updated history about Prospect Cricket Club. I’m very interested in the Golden Age of cricket, the social history and how it fits with the times. I find that more interesting than biographies of modern day cricketers and stories of how many beers they had under the grandstand.

I had many enjoyable experiences in the classroom, particularly with the Y11 and 12 Chemistry students. Good, good, good titrations. And there were many great times in the Science Department staffroom.

I asked Nancy Bonham to play Roy Orbison over the school loud speakers on the 20th Anniversary of his death. After initially saying no, she did. “In Dreams” came over the speakers and the kids were gobsmacked at first, then thought it was wonderful. (Good on Ms Bonham for doing that). I also played it at a staff briefing and the reception was somewhat mixed.

Simon Young and I took a cricket team to South Africa in 2004. I didn’t know many of the team as I had just started at the school. The way the students took all the experiences in, both on and off the field was brilliant. We visited a township primary school. The students sang songs for us and joined the team in a schoolyard game of cricket. The whole team were very responsive to what they saw of life in South Africa. And I’ve never seen a person eat as much meat in one sitting as Dan Posch.

The Anglicare Friday Night, organised by Ben Power and other Year 12 students, was also special. After a long school week, the Radford kids organised and prepared meals with the clientele, who were mostly young people and a few adults who came in off the city streets and needed support. The Year 12s sat down and had a meal with them and an interaction was established between well-to-do middle-class kids and others in the wider community.

I was an experienced teacher when I arrived, but that said I learnt new ideas and approaches from the teachers around me, both in the science classroom and in the pastoral care area. Helen Smith and Scott Pearsall were inspirational in how they went about supporting students.