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Interview with Duncan Gittins from Colton Hills Community School
Express & Star
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14/05/2024
Express & Star senior reporter James Vukmirovic went back to his old school to talk to acting deputy headteacher Duncan Gittins about the school's 50th anniversary celebrations
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00:00
Hello, I'm James McMirovich. Behind me is Colton Hills Community School. It's about
00:06
to celebrate its 50th anniversary since two schools in Penn and Graslie merged together
00:11
to form the Goliath that we have today. I'm actually a former pupil, I was here between
00:16
1993 and 1998. I've been here today to speak to the Acting Deputy Head, Duncan Gissings,
00:21
about his memories of the school, some of the people who've come from here, including
00:25
a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, and find out a bit more about the 50th anniversary
00:30
celebrations. So we're here to talk about the 50th anniversary of Colton Hills School.
00:36
Obviously you've been around for a fair bit of that time. Tell me about the significance
00:40
of 50 years of this school as a school. Well, it's incredibly significant. The school is
00:47
a school that serves the community and has done for 50 years. The title is Colton Hills
00:54
Community School. We welcome students from all different backgrounds. It's great to see
00:59
how successful students from Colton Hills have gone on to do all kinds of jobs in the
01:05
community that we serve. That's something that we'll look at. Who are some of the most
01:09
notable students who have come out of the school over the last 50 years, that you can
01:13
think of anyway? Off the top of my head, we've got a student, ex-student, who's competing
01:18
in the Olympics, DJ, this year. That's exciting for us in boxing. We've got a student, a number
01:25
of students who have come to, perhaps come to the country without any English, and we've
01:30
been able to support them to get quality grades. We've got a student who's currently working
01:33
for AstraZeneca, played an important part in developing the vaccine. She came to Colton
01:38
Hills without any English in year seven, and we were able to support her, and she's done
01:43
brilliantly since she's left. There was a time where the Queen's Chaplain, the Queen's
01:48
Private Chaplain, was ex-Colton Hills, superb. And yeah, a number of other students in superb
01:55
jobs across the country. I remember I was surprised a few months ago when I turned up
01:59
at the dentist. My normal dentist wasn't there, and staring down at me was an ex-student.
02:05
It says something about this school, then. It's just, it's given people tools to go out
02:09
and pretty much do whatever they want to do. That's it, yeah. So we try to offer students
02:13
as broad a curriculum as possible, with plenty of extracurricular opportunities, chances
02:18
to go to visits. We've got our schoolhouse in Port Madoc where all students get to visit.
02:24
So trying to give students as many opportunities, see things that they wouldn't normally see,
02:29
and just have a great learning environment in the building as well. That's the thing,
02:32
because I remember going to Gethnewick as May Sunset did, and it's always been an exciting
02:37
thing. People, I think, these days, they still look at it and they go, "Oh, we're going to
02:41
go and stay in that house in Wales. We're going to have a proper trip away." It's still
02:45
got that feeling now, hasn't it? Absolutely, yeah. So for a lot of students in Year 7,
02:50
it's what they're looking forward to. And for a lot of students older than Year 7, it's
02:53
one of their best memories of the time at Colton Hills. So things like spending time
02:58
on the beach, going to Carnauban Castle, just being away from home in a supportive environment
03:03
is something that they really enjoy. For yourself, what's been the evolution of the school over
03:08
the time you've been here? Well, if I say that my first ever lesson that I taught at
03:12
Colton Hills was me in front of a blackboard, it gives you a bit of an indication of how
03:16
far things have come. So yeah, in terms of technology, in terms of the quality of teaching
03:21
and learning, Colton Hills is the only school in the city that has high-performance learning
03:26
accreditation. But just so many different areas where students have really been able
03:31
to benefit. Let's talk about the anniversary, though. What does it mean for you personally
03:36
to be part of the anniversary? Well, I'm looking forward to the anniversary. I'm looking
03:39
forward to seeing colleagues that I haven't seen for a very long time. As I said, it's
03:43
my 17th year at the school. And I can still remember my first day at Colton Hills where
03:48
I'd walk into the staff room and people would warn me, "Don't sit in that seat, don't
03:51
sit in that seat," because it belongs to a certain number of staff. And yeah, they've
03:56
long since left the school, and I'm looking forward to meeting them again, seeing how
03:59
they've got on, but also just seeing what people have gone on to since their time at
04:05
Colton Hills. Well, you're going to talk about their memories, but what are some of
04:09
your memories? Some of my memories? Okay, so I remember that first lesson with the blackboard.
04:13
I can remember some of the lessons that I've taught. I can remember some of the trips that
04:19
I've organised as a history teacher. I would run trips to the Black Country Museum, to
04:23
RAF Crossford, and to Roxeter, Roman City. And those are some of my personal highlights.
04:29
So you've seen the reaction on students' faces when we get to some of those places.
04:32
The joys of overhead projectors as well. That was before my time, overhead projectors,
04:37
but yeah, we've seen things evolve certainly over the years.
04:39
Okay, let's talk about the future plans for the school. It's obviously 50 years have
04:46
just gone. What's next? One of the big projects is the AstroTurf,
04:52
which down at the bottom field is no longer in use, and we're pleased to announce that
04:57
we're going to be getting a brand new 4G pitch in the next couple of years. So we've
05:01
got that kind of physical investment around the school, improving new technology, more
05:06
computer rooms, more science labs, that kind of thing. But also just general progress in
05:11
terms of things that we're offering staff in terms of professional development and opportunities
05:16
that we're able to offer to students. Is it a case that the school's become more
05:19
diverse over the years as well? Oh, absolutely, yeah. The school is incredibly
05:22
diverse. I think we've got about 40 different languages spoke across the school. And one
05:27
of the things that we're really proud of at Colton Hills is we have our culture day
05:31
where people are invited to come in their cultural dress, talk about the foods that
05:35
they would have from their backgrounds. And that's something that we definitely celebrate
05:39
at Colton Hills, yeah. Obviously you've progressed up to being
05:41
a deputy head, but you're also, I think I can still feel that sort of excitement of
05:46
coming in here every day as well. Yeah, well, it's something that I remember,
05:51
as I said, my first day at Colton Hills, teaching with that blackboard. And then I've
05:55
been lucky that the kind of promotions have presented themselves at the right time. So
05:59
I've been head of history, I've been head of humanities. And yeah, my current role is
06:04
acting deputy head teacher. Yeah, the fact that I've stayed at the school for so long,
06:08
I think it says that there is something special about being here.
06:11
And what does Colton Hills mean to you? Colton Hills means to me somewhere that's
06:16
hungry to get better, somewhere where there's lots of opportunities, somewhere that's supportive
06:22
and caring for students and for staff, and somewhere that is excited about the future,
06:27
the next 50 years. Speaking of 50 years, there's a party to
06:30
come. What can people expect from that night? So for our 50th anniversary party, we are
06:36
going to be inviting staff and students from way back in those 50 years. We're going to
06:41
be having performances from students, dance performances, musical performances. And there's
06:48
also going to be an opportunity where people can share their own stories. And we're putting
06:52
on like a banquet in our sports hall as well.
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