Blue Class

Changes in teaching were afoot. The National Curriculum had been in place for a decade and many new initiatives were being introduced. Literacy Hour, Numeracy Hour, Science and Design Technology loomed large, as did the new Ofsted inspections. Health and Safety was largely left to common sense and teachers had more flexibility than they have today, although restrictions were closing in. I taught the oldest children in a small village First School and, between 1999 and 2000, I kept a diary. These extracts were published in the magazine, Child Education, for eighteen months and they are all brought together here, in one volume, as a nostalgic look at teaching at the turn of the century.