CCHS

“An Education” 

         

It began in Lower 4 D 

with Clark’s shoes, and skirts 

a precise two inches below the knee. 

Seven years, twenty-one terms. 

So, what exactly did we learn? 

 

That some of us couldn’t sew,    

some couldn’t bake, some couldn’t sing 

and some of us couldn’t draw anything 

other than an Ox-bow lake. 

 

We learnt the Periodic table 

from Aluminium all the way to Zinc 

but we were sold a lie, it wasn’t finished! 

Tennessine, Moscovium, Nihonium 

have all been added since. 

 

We learnt that a Bunsen Burner, 

when applied to a copper rod, 

will make waxed-on, frozen peas fall off 

and that a teacher with a passion 

will make that seem like vital information. 

 

We learnt that to love, in Latin, is 

amo, amas, amat, and to war 

is bellum, bellum, belli, maybe 

we didn’t need to know much more than that. 

 

We learnt that you could be great at tennis 

and be matched with a terrible partner, 

that playing hockey, in mini-skirts, in minus 3 

was great for building character. 

 

That Rachel, Liz and Louise would 

sweep up all the A pluses and A’s 

that Saimah, Trish and Ginny could make A minus 

on a good day, and that Fiona was very hard to grade 

so often did her homework go astray. 

 

There were teachers we didn’t understand, 

teachers who gave us the creeps, 

teachers who bored us, confused us, 

ignored us, and those who instilled the belief 

that every kid needs, and then there were teachers 

who knew clever stuff, and generously shared it with us. 

 

And then it was done. 

And we were gone. 

We carried off our bits of paper with strings 

of letters, A to E or worse, but we took away 

something so much better – a way to walk 

through the world, to stand our ground, 

look out for each other. 

 

We learnt that a friend moving continents 

is not the end of anything, and when life 

is tough, friends-for-life, turn up. 

So here’s to us, where we’ve been, 

where we are, wherever we are going, 

but most importantly of all, a toast 

to everything we’ve learnt 

that they didn’t teach in school!             

 

Trish Bishop   

  

Trish Bishop attended CCHS 1974-1982 and is now Trish Kerrison and for more of Trish’s writing visit her website https://trishkerrison.org 

 

 

 

Return to Menu                                                                                                                                 Next