As usual, the paperboy I sometimes see when I'm out walks past this morning with his nose in his phone. He never looks up from it. I'm surprised that he delivers anything to the right address. Or, perhaps he's using Google Maps to help him out.
Not as usual, though, is the civilian clothes he's wearing. No school uniform today. Ysgol Brynhyfryd teachers are on strike over workloads. They're off for three days. Not only has this reached the local press, it's even in The Morning Star. I wonder whether that newspaper features in his pouch each morning.
Headteacher Geraint Parry retires at the end of this week, yet teachers are so concerned that they aren't prepared to await his replacement. Or, perhaps they're laying down a marker so that the new head's hands are tied.
Parents deserve the best from their teachers. Parry has ensured that's the case. He's introduced a marking and assessment regime that he believes picks issues up a lot earlier than was the case before his appointment and before other schools manage this. His results actually speak for themselves. It's not that the school was underperforming before he came. It's more that the school could have done so much better. And it has. Parry was chosen just for that purpose.
Yet, his assessment regime isn't popular with teaching staff and neither particularly is Parry. He's not there to be their friend, of course. But exhausted teachers are unlikely to offer their best.
There's a balance to be struck here. In maintaining Brynhyfryd as one of the best schools in Wales, what the new head needs to guard against is slipping back into mediocrity. Over many, many years, Brynhyfryd has been known to coast, relying on the quality of pupils in the catchment. Brynhyfryd is now out of that rut.
However the dispute is resolved, we cannot allow the re-emergence of second-rate schooling. Paperboys & girls everywhere need the confidence to be able to make a career choice other than delivering newspapers.
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Brynhyfryd