Tales from the head's room

When Mike Kent started teaching over half a century ago, there was no national curriculum, no testing, and schools were inspected, briefly, once in a blue moon. Mike has watched primary education spiral through enormous changes over the decades. Some changes have been worthwhile. Many have not. But if he is unhappy with a new initiative, or irritated by an incomprehensible directive from the men in suits, he'll do what he does best¿ pick up his pen and share it with his readers in a witty, whimsical way. This collection of articles from Mike Kent's popular weekly column in the Times Educational Supplement covers a whole range of amusing incidents about daily life in a busy London primary school. From the fire officer who called the children's display work 'hazardous wall substances', to the class that caused the alarm to go off at Hampton Court, and the burglar who stayed to play with a train set, Mike's anecdotes chronicle the trials and tribulations of modern primary headship.