Max has been privatised!

Youngest son Maxwell has a new job as a geography teacher at Dulwich College, one of the top private schools in the country.

It’s great news for him in his wedding year as he’s always hankered after a job there. To many teachers at tough south London schools in the state sector, Dulwich College must stand out like an oasis of light in a gloomy landscape.

Of course, I exaggerate a little (as usual) and Max has enjoyed his two years at St Joseph’s. It’s been challenging as a first job, but with the challenge has come opportunities to develop his class skills and to take on roles such as head of year, acting head of geography and other responsibilities. He’s been foremost in establishing a little climbing club at the school, getting a climbing wall put in and training a number of teachers how to use it.

He’s put a lot of himself into the job, so it was a bit of a tough call to make the first step of applying to Dulwich. He’d seen the job advertised and wanted to apply, but called me to see if I thought he should. I said it was always difficult for any business that depends for its success on the skills of its staff (like teaching). The best people always tended to move on and the smaller fry lost out. It was frustrating for the people in charge, but that was life and I said he should give it a go.

He did the right thing and spoke to his head teacher, who was very supportive, and Max was delighted when he got an interview. After two years teaching, I don’t think he thought he had a good chance, so I guess he was thrilled to get an interview and then daunted by the knowledge that he was one step away from getting the job.

There were over a hundred applicants, so being one of a handful selected for interview was great news.

Max loved the place and it’s such a contrast from the state sector in south London. Old boys include PG Wodehouse, writer of Jeeves stories, and Ernest Shackleton, the Antartctic explorer. One of Shackleton’s expeditions came close to disaster when his ship was trapped in ice and the hull crushed. His men faced starvation but Shackleton and some other crew members set off in the ship’s dingy to get help.

As a boy, As a boy, Shackleton was expelled from Dulwich College for climbing the clock tower, but now the small boat used in the rescue - the James Caird - is on display in the school. There are also eight VCs on display, won by former staff and pupils.

I had wanted to see Max the week after I got back from holiday to hear all about the place and about his interview, but he was leading a field course group on the Isle of Wight, so we had to wait until the week just gone.

I think he’ll love the place; it’s got great sports facilities, they have a climbing hut in the Pyrenees and a trip to Nepal is on the agenda next year. He’s taught a lesson on global tourism and its effects on the environment, which had gone well. He said it was an amazing contrast between the work rate, application and behaviour of the boys there compared to St Joseph’s. That’s no surprise of course, but it’s still remarkable when you experience it for the first time. I guess one reason why Max has been able to be successful in his current role is that he’s been a tough disciplinarian and he’s had the physical and mental toughness to sort out the class behaviour to give him an opportunity to teach.

In his new job, breaking up (often quite vicious) fights won’t be a daily occurence, I wonder if pupils every bring knives to school and probably never replica guns. Blood feuds against rival schools (Eton) probably don’t happen, a hood is something to pull over your head and bitches are female dogs. That’s my knowledge of street slang exhausted in a sentence.

Max said the head used to be head at Oakham School, so he was able to mention King’s School, Peterborough and playing Oakham at cricket. The head knew Gary Longman and that Max had been head boy so I’m sure that all helped.

The new job starts in September, so Max is married in August at Kilworth, honeymoons in Iceland and then starts his new job. It’s a great year for him.