13 pupils returned to school as staff

12:46pm Tuesday 6th May 2008

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MANY people leave school wanting to embrace their new lives and are happy not to look back too often on their days in the classroom.

But one Wirral school is finding that their pupils just keep wanting to come back - only this time as staff!

“The members of staff who have come back to us over the last couple of years have literally sat in the same seats as our current pupils.”

Tom Quinn

In a bizarre twist of roles, St John Plessington Catholic College in Bebington now has thirteen former pupils who have returned to the school.

Currently there are six teachers, four teaching assistants and three learning coaches who used to sit at the desks facing the blackboards.

The Wirral secondary school, which was described in last year's Ofsted inspection as "an outstanding school in which exceptional things happen", was also named by education minister Jim Knight as one of those few schools "able to set the benchmark for others to follow".

Headteacher Tom Quinn said: "There is an obvious link between the success of the school in recent years and the type of stability brought about by having so many former pupils on the team.

"St John's Plessington is above all a Catholic community and we see the returnees as being real life examples of that community feeling.

"The members of staff who have come back to us over the last couple of years have literally sat in the same seats as our current pupils."

Former pupil Hannah Wilson who left school in 2002 and returned in June, 2007 as a newly-qualified religious education teacher, also has a sister in year seven.

"It's been really good so far and everyone has been very welcoming," she said. "There are a lot of young teachers which gives the school a really nice feel and I think my sister likes me being here. She doesn't seem too embarrassed yet!"

Liz Hale, a teaching assistant, attended the school between 1988-1993 along with her two brothers. She said: "The size of the school has grown a lot since I was here and I feel really comfortable being back, even though I still can't help calling some teachers by their surname and I still get the urge to stand up when they come into the room!"

Deputy head Ian Walker said: "The numbers of ex-pupils has grown in momentum. In the last two years alot of pupils have wanted to come back and work at the school.

"It's not been by design, but we are very pleased when people want to come and work here and so far it has worked really well.

"There is an immediate link when the children know that some of their teachers were ex-pupils and we like that ethos of pastoral care."

Mr Quinn agreed: "Current pupils gain an enormous amount from having their predecessors at the school helping them along.

"Results last year were at an all time high and we think that one of the magic ingredients has been the sense of teamwork whiich is so obvious at the college. Those members of staff who have returned to us have been crucial in helping create that environment."