Staff and pupils past and present celebrate Sunderland school's 70th birthday

Sunderland Echo

Sandhill View Academy has been celebrating 70 years of teaching Sunderland's youngsters.

Transcript

00:00How deep is it?

00:07No, a bit more.

00:09A tiny bit, not much more. That'll be perfect.

00:11Right.

00:13Changing the oars.

00:15We'll tease the roots away.

00:17Yep.

00:20It's a good job I didn't manicure my nails.

00:30I declare this rose tree planted.

00:32Thank you.

00:34Thank you.

00:36Thank you.

00:38Thank you.

00:40Thank you.

00:42Thank you.

00:44Thank you.

00:46Thank you.

00:48I declare this rose tree planted.

00:54OK, so how does it feel to be invited back into the school for the 70th anniversary celebration?

01:00It's a real privilege to come back and see how the school's progressed.

01:04I left here five years ago, I retired.

01:08And it's lovely seeing the progress made, the journey the school's gone on.

01:13I very much remember the old school where, if it'd been raining today, there'd be buckets of water all over.

01:19I'm sure there's probably a few kicking around in the heavy rain.

01:23Things have moved on considerably.

01:25Young people have got far more complex challenges to face.

01:28And the school helps them do that.

01:31And every child counts in this school.

01:35And yourself, Harry, how does it feel to be back in the school today?

01:38Yeah, I'm very excited to be here.

01:40I'm very excited to be considered to be part of the family of this school, I think.

01:45And that's how I've always felt about being at Sandhill View, that I was part of a family.

01:51Certainly with the staff, we were a very tight unit as a staff.

01:58And it felt good to be part of that community.

02:02And I think that feeling is obviously still going on now in the new Sandhill View.

02:08But, as I said to you before, in the old school, the motto was, Sandhill View, small, caring and friendly.

02:16Which it was. It certainly was.

02:20And I'm sure that that still applies to Sandhill View today.

02:25I know you've both taught in the old school building as well.

02:28So, just coming into the new building here, how much change has taken place in the time you were at the school?

02:34Technology is amazing.

02:35I mean, in the old school, there were no computers.

02:37You had the blackboards, the ones that rolled round.

02:41You had it where there was no boiler some days.

02:44If you came into school and the smoke wasn't coming out of the boiler chimney, you knew that you were going to be sent home.

02:50Which the kids thought was great.

02:52But it's modern, it's clean, the toilets are lovely.

02:57And it's safe. There's no places where children can get lost.

03:03I think you were saying, Harry, as well, about changes in terms of the curriculum.

03:06You had a lot more freedom when you started.

03:07Oh, yes.

03:09We were told by our, as two new English teachers, my colleague Helen and I were told by our then head, Glyn Askell,

03:16to teach whatever we thought the children needed to learn.

03:21Which gave us carte blanche, really, to educate the children.

03:26Because the national curriculum really wasn't up and running.

03:31But we had to see what our children needed.

03:34And we talked to their needs.

03:36Did you all enjoy your time here?

03:38Oh, definitely.

03:39Absolutely.

03:40Staff were so friendly and supportive as new teachers.

03:45Because you are green when you're a new teacher.

03:47Yeah.

03:48And the kids are lovely. They always have been.

03:51The head, Richard Burns, said to me once, this must be about 2012,

03:58he said, why haven't you moved on from this school?

04:02Why aren't you somewhere else?

04:05I said, because I love being here. I love teaching here.

04:08He said, well, to get on as a teacher, you should be having different experiences in different schools.

04:14I said, no, I love being here. Thanks very much.

04:18If that means staying here and being a teacher in front of the class, well, fine.

04:21That's what I want to do.

04:24How do you do?

04:32I've done this before.

04:34Jewel is an expert.

04:36Look at this, Jewel.

04:43There you go.

04:44Well done.

04:45Well done.

04:52Good luck.

04:58Well done, Jewel.

04:59Well done.

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