One day I lost a child on the London Underground<\/a>. Beat that.<\/h5>\nIt was my first term and I wanted to impress my \u2018lively\u2019 Year 6 class by doing a topic on dinosaurs. Kids love dinosaurs \u2013 Pterodactyl, Diplodocus, T Rex and all that \u2013 they\u2019re terrifying and great fun. In London, we have the wonderful Natural History Museum<\/a> with its amazing life-size exhibits. I organised a trip. In those days, getting there from Hackney in East London involved a bus ride to Kings Cross Underground station followed by a tube ride to South Kensington. I don\u2019t know if you have ever been to Kings Cross Underground? It\u2019s undergone a transformation recently. It needed it. 350,000 people pass through that station every single day. It\u2019s an easy place to get lost\u2026<\/p>\n![\"Congestion-on-the-london-underground\"](\"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/Congestion-on-the-london-underground.jpg\")
\nThere I was, six weeks as a teacher. I had 30 kids. I was on my own (except for a mum who worked part-time at the school \u2013 known in those days as \u2018a Lady Helper\u2019). The kids are excited. It\u2019s a day out. All they care about is comparing their sandwich fillings. We are on the platform and I see the first train coming is not going our way. So I\u2019m trying to make myself heard above the melee of commuters, dancing up and down the platform trying to keep the kids back: \u201cThis is not our train everybody! Stand back! Stand back! It\u2019s not our train!\u201d I think I\u2019ve got the situation under control.<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\nThere\u2019s always one isn\u2019t there?<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s Maxine. She\u2019s a lovely kid but she\u2019s not taking a blind bit of notice of me. The train comes in, the doors open and she jumps on thinking everyone is going to follow her. The kids see her and shout: \u201cMaxine! Get off, it\u2019s not our train!\u201d But it\u2019s too late, before she can, the doors close.<\/p>\n
I will never forget her face.<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s a bit like that painting by Munch \u2013 you know the one \u2013 it\u2019s called The Scream<\/em>. Only this time it\u2019s with a black girl wearing horn-rimmed glasses and her face is pressed against the door of the tube train as it passes me.<\/p>\nNow\u2026 just pause for a minute and think how the other kids reacted to this?<\/p>\n
Maybe with horror? Shock? Panic? Perhaps even a little nervous laughter? Well, if you think laughter, you\u2019re only half right.<\/p>\n
It was raucous, uncontrolled hilarity. Those kids were laughing hysterically. \u201cMaxine! You idiot!\u201d they screamed, pointing at her and bouncing down the platform, chasing the train for as long as possible before it disappears into the darkened tunnels of the London Underground.<\/p>\n
I am the one in a state of horror, shock and panic \u2013 because I don\u2019t even know where the train is going.<\/p>\n
These days when you use the London Underground it has announcers, information boards, help points, CCTV, friendly people in blue uniforms everywhere. Then, there was nothing. You would have to go back up to street level to find someone to help.<\/p>\n
I set about trying to organise my \u2018Lady Helper\u2019 to manage the kids while I set off for some real help. I am running back and forth trying to find where the train has gone and what to do. The kids are still falling about laughing. They think this is great. Even the \u2018Lady Helper\u2019 thinks it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n
Within a couple of minutes, someone walks round the corner and I get a real shock.<\/p>\n
The head teacher? Wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\nMaybe Maxine\u2019s mum? Nope.<\/strong><\/p>\nIt was Maxine.<\/strong><\/p>\nHow did that happen? Well, the next stop is Euston Square, only 50 seconds away. She had obviously jumped off the train there, run over the footbridge and there was a train coming back in the opposite direction. I kid you not \u2013 she was back with us within three minutes. Ok. Four. Tops. In fact, it was so quick, the kids were still laughing when she walked round the corner.<\/p>\n
But boy, was I relieved. Phew!<\/strong><\/p>\nSo off we went to the Natural History Museum. We ate our sandwiches, we saw the T Rex, we got a tour, we drew pictures, and we learned a lot. When I got the kids back to school I asked them to write all about dinosaurs\u2026and what do you think they wrote about\u2026? Yeah\u2026 you\u2019ve guessed it.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ll tell you this\u2026 and this may surprise you\u2026 even shock you. It didn\u2019t even occur to me to report that incident to the head teacher. I\u2019ve often wondered why. But I think over the years I\u2019ve concluded that, in a funny sort of way, nothing really happened.<\/p>\n
Yes, I know I lost a child on the London Underground\u2026 (did you have to remind me?) but\u2026 if you know what I mean\u2026 there was no real incident to report. Maxine wasn\u2019t hurt, she wasn\u2019t even upset. Maybe she was a little embarrassed because the other kids were laughing at her, but other than that there was no crisis, not even an issue. I didn\u2019t even think of mentioning it to Maxine\u2019s mum.<\/p>\n
Fast-forward 20 years.<\/strong><\/p>\nI am now the head teacher of a primary school in Hackney and my Year 6 teacher wants to take her 24 kids to the Natural History Museum because she\u2019s doing a topic on\u2026 yep\u2026 good old dinosaurs!<\/p>\n
How many adults do you think she has going on the trip this time? Four? Five? Six? Actually it\u2019s seven. This includes two parents who won\u2019t agree to let their children go on the trip unless they are in attendance too.<\/p>\n
The teacher, a great girl who has bags of energy and ideas, has already spent her weekend doing a reconnaissance visit. She\u2019s done a risk assessment, insurance forms, permission slips and planned the educational outcomes brilliantly. Off they go to the Natural History Museum with 24 kids and six other adults. It\u2019s still a bus down to Kings Cross and the tube round to South Kensington. They get to the platform of Kings Cross Underground\u2026 guess what happens?<\/p>\n
No\u2026 it\u2019s not the teacher who gets on the wrong train this time.<\/strong><\/p>\nNo\u2026 Maxine has not grown up to be the Station Manager of Kings Cross.<\/strong><\/p>\nBelieve it or not, exactly the same thing happens. Only this time, it\u2019s not one girl, it\u2019s four!<\/p>\n
The train pulls in and the teacher is calling out: \u201cIt\u2019s not our train everybody! Stand back! Stand back!\u201d But in spite of the fact that there\u2019s a group of girls with an adult stood right next to them, they are so excited they are not listening to anyone. As the train doors open, they jump on. Everyone is shouting for them to get off. But before they do, in the melee of the crowded train, the doors close\u2026 and the train moves off\u2026<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the reaction of the other kids this time?<\/strong><\/p>\nLaughter?<\/strong><\/p>\nWrong. (But you probably knew that already.)<\/strong><\/p>\nShock. Panic. Screaming. Crying. This time it\u2019s all of those and more \u2013 not just from the four on the train, but the other 20 still left on the platform, plus some of the adults too.<\/p>\n
And the four girls on the train didn\u2019t do what Maxine did and jump off at the next stop. No, they were so freaked out by this they stayed on the train\u2026 to the end of the line. It was the Metropolitan Line. It finishes in Amersham in Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n
Back at school I get a phone call from the station manager there saying to me \u201cI\u2019ve got four of your girls here\u2026 what do you want me to do with them?\u201d So I send a teacher out in a taxi to bring them back. There was no harm done. But the next day I get those 24 kids together and I ask them: \u201cHow many of you have been on the London Underground before?\u201d Out of 24 Hackney born and bred kids, only eight had ever previously been on the tube.<\/p>\n
Within hours of the class getting back, I had over twenty parents outside my office demanding to know why this, that and the other had not been done, why hadn\u2019t we organised a coach, why hadn\u2019t we \u201cprotected their children from the hazards of London transport?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thanks Alan \u2013 who now runs the social media network newteacherstalk<\/a>.<\/h5>\n![\"hand-84613_1280\"](\"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/hand-84613_1280.jpg\")
This story exasperates me. Kurt Hahn would be turning in his grave. Maxine is my heroine \u2013 no fuss, no drama \u2013 just used initiative and solved any problems there may have been. I feel for the young teacher who tried to educate and excite her class with a fun day out and I hope it hasn\u2019t dampened her enthusiasm to run future trips.<\/p>\n
I feel for the students too who don\u2019t have or aren\u2019t empowered with the initiative or confidence to adapt to situations which are thrown at them. Partly \u2013 largely perhaps \u2013 it\u2019s down to societal changes I suppose \u2013 nine\/ten year old girls taking the tube\/bus\/train to school on their own are pretty rare now in whichever part of the world for fear of worst case scenarios and initiative is not always promoted within the framework of our lives.<\/p>\n
International Schools and the IB are leading the way in developing this quality and long may that continue!<\/p>\n
Another confession to finish with \u2013 I feel very lucky to work in my industry. The school travel business is full of passionate, genuine and honest folk who are focused on creating opportunities and experiences for young people.<\/p>\n
We need to continue to focus on making teachers\u2019 jobs easier to ensure that none are put off arranging trips for their students due to societal fear or pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have a confession to make. I was struggling to come up with something for this blog which would be of interest to all you fab teachers out there. I wanted to write about initiative and then I found a story which perfectly highlights this theme. <\/p>\n
So (and I promise I never did this at school), I have borrowed someone else\u2019s work\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[993],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Krhd-yS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13462,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions\/13462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThere I was, six weeks as a teacher. I had 30 kids. I was on my own (except for a mum who worked part-time at the school \u2013 known in those days as \u2018a Lady Helper\u2019). The kids are excited. It\u2019s a day out. All they care about is comparing their sandwich fillings. We are on the platform and I see the first train coming is not going our way. So I\u2019m trying to make myself heard above the melee of commuters, dancing up and down the platform trying to keep the kids back: \u201cThis is not our train everybody! Stand back! Stand back! It\u2019s not our train!\u201d I think I\u2019ve got the situation under control.<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s always one isn\u2019t there?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s Maxine. She\u2019s a lovely kid but she\u2019s not taking a blind bit of notice of me. The train comes in, the doors open and she jumps on thinking everyone is going to follow her. The kids see her and shout: \u201cMaxine! Get off, it\u2019s not our train!\u201d But it\u2019s too late, before she can, the doors close.<\/p>\n I will never forget her face.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s a bit like that painting by Munch \u2013 you know the one \u2013 it\u2019s called The Scream<\/em>. Only this time it\u2019s with a black girl wearing horn-rimmed glasses and her face is pressed against the door of the tube train as it passes me.<\/p>\n Now\u2026 just pause for a minute and think how the other kids reacted to this?<\/p>\n Maybe with horror? Shock? Panic? Perhaps even a little nervous laughter? Well, if you think laughter, you\u2019re only half right.<\/p>\n It was raucous, uncontrolled hilarity. Those kids were laughing hysterically. \u201cMaxine! You idiot!\u201d they screamed, pointing at her and bouncing down the platform, chasing the train for as long as possible before it disappears into the darkened tunnels of the London Underground.<\/p>\n I am the one in a state of horror, shock and panic \u2013 because I don\u2019t even know where the train is going.<\/p>\n These days when you use the London Underground it has announcers, information boards, help points, CCTV, friendly people in blue uniforms everywhere. Then, there was nothing. You would have to go back up to street level to find someone to help.<\/p>\n I set about trying to organise my \u2018Lady Helper\u2019 to manage the kids while I set off for some real help. I am running back and forth trying to find where the train has gone and what to do. The kids are still falling about laughing. They think this is great. Even the \u2018Lady Helper\u2019 thinks it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n Within a couple of minutes, someone walks round the corner and I get a real shock.<\/p>\n The head teacher? Wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe Maxine\u2019s mum? Nope.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was Maxine.<\/strong><\/p>\n How did that happen? Well, the next stop is Euston Square, only 50 seconds away. She had obviously jumped off the train there, run over the footbridge and there was a train coming back in the opposite direction. I kid you not \u2013 she was back with us within three minutes. Ok. Four. Tops. In fact, it was so quick, the kids were still laughing when she walked round the corner.<\/p>\n But boy, was I relieved. Phew!<\/strong><\/p>\n So off we went to the Natural History Museum. We ate our sandwiches, we saw the T Rex, we got a tour, we drew pictures, and we learned a lot. When I got the kids back to school I asked them to write all about dinosaurs\u2026and what do you think they wrote about\u2026? Yeah\u2026 you\u2019ve guessed it.<\/p>\n But I\u2019ll tell you this\u2026 and this may surprise you\u2026 even shock you. It didn\u2019t even occur to me to report that incident to the head teacher. I\u2019ve often wondered why. But I think over the years I\u2019ve concluded that, in a funny sort of way, nothing really happened.<\/p>\n Yes, I know I lost a child on the London Underground\u2026 (did you have to remind me?) but\u2026 if you know what I mean\u2026 there was no real incident to report. Maxine wasn\u2019t hurt, she wasn\u2019t even upset. Maybe she was a little embarrassed because the other kids were laughing at her, but other than that there was no crisis, not even an issue. I didn\u2019t even think of mentioning it to Maxine\u2019s mum.<\/p>\n Fast-forward 20 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n I am now the head teacher of a primary school in Hackney and my Year 6 teacher wants to take her 24 kids to the Natural History Museum because she\u2019s doing a topic on\u2026 yep\u2026 good old dinosaurs!<\/p>\n How many adults do you think she has going on the trip this time? Four? Five? Six? Actually it\u2019s seven. This includes two parents who won\u2019t agree to let their children go on the trip unless they are in attendance too.<\/p>\n The teacher, a great girl who has bags of energy and ideas, has already spent her weekend doing a reconnaissance visit. She\u2019s done a risk assessment, insurance forms, permission slips and planned the educational outcomes brilliantly. Off they go to the Natural History Museum with 24 kids and six other adults. It\u2019s still a bus down to Kings Cross and the tube round to South Kensington. They get to the platform of Kings Cross Underground\u2026 guess what happens?<\/p>\n No\u2026 it\u2019s not the teacher who gets on the wrong train this time.<\/strong><\/p>\n No\u2026 Maxine has not grown up to be the Station Manager of Kings Cross.<\/strong><\/p>\n Believe it or not, exactly the same thing happens. Only this time, it\u2019s not one girl, it\u2019s four!<\/p>\n The train pulls in and the teacher is calling out: \u201cIt\u2019s not our train everybody! Stand back! Stand back!\u201d But in spite of the fact that there\u2019s a group of girls with an adult stood right next to them, they are so excited they are not listening to anyone. As the train doors open, they jump on. Everyone is shouting for them to get off. But before they do, in the melee of the crowded train, the doors close\u2026 and the train moves off\u2026<\/p>\n What\u2019s the reaction of the other kids this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n Laughter?<\/strong><\/p>\n Wrong. (But you probably knew that already.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Shock. Panic. Screaming. Crying. This time it\u2019s all of those and more \u2013 not just from the four on the train, but the other 20 still left on the platform, plus some of the adults too.<\/p>\n And the four girls on the train didn\u2019t do what Maxine did and jump off at the next stop. No, they were so freaked out by this they stayed on the train\u2026 to the end of the line. It was the Metropolitan Line. It finishes in Amersham in Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n Back at school I get a phone call from the station manager there saying to me \u201cI\u2019ve got four of your girls here\u2026 what do you want me to do with them?\u201d So I send a teacher out in a taxi to bring them back. There was no harm done. But the next day I get those 24 kids together and I ask them: \u201cHow many of you have been on the London Underground before?\u201d Out of 24 Hackney born and bred kids, only eight had ever previously been on the tube.<\/p>\n Within hours of the class getting back, I had over twenty parents outside my office demanding to know why this, that and the other had not been done, why hadn\u2019t we organised a coach, why hadn\u2019t we \u201cprotected their children from the hazards of London transport?\u201d<\/p>\n I feel for the students too who don\u2019t have or aren\u2019t empowered with the initiative or confidence to adapt to situations which are thrown at them. Partly \u2013 largely perhaps \u2013 it\u2019s down to societal changes I suppose \u2013 nine\/ten year old girls taking the tube\/bus\/train to school on their own are pretty rare now in whichever part of the world for fear of worst case scenarios and initiative is not always promoted within the framework of our lives.<\/p>\n International Schools and the IB are leading the way in developing this quality and long may that continue!<\/p>\n Another confession to finish with \u2013 I feel very lucky to work in my industry. The school travel business is full of passionate, genuine and honest folk who are focused on creating opportunities and experiences for young people.<\/p>\n We need to continue to focus on making teachers\u2019 jobs easier to ensure that none are put off arranging trips for their students due to societal fear or pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have a confession to make. I was struggling to come up with something for this blog which would be of interest to all you fab teachers out there. I wanted to write about initiative and then I found a story which perfectly highlights this theme. <\/p>\n So (and I promise I never did this at school), I have borrowed someone else\u2019s work\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[993],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Krhd-yS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13462,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2162\/revisions\/13462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Thanks Alan \u2013 who now runs the social media network newteacherstalk<\/a>.<\/h5>\n
This story exasperates me. Kurt Hahn would be turning in his grave. Maxine is my heroine \u2013 no fuss, no drama \u2013 just used initiative and solved any problems there may have been. I feel for the young teacher who tried to educate and excite her class with a fun day out and I hope it hasn\u2019t dampened her enthusiasm to run future trips.<\/p>\n