Sitting in the staff room.

Coffee Circus in Crouch End is one of my favourite coffee shops. But it also seems to be the favourite haunt of half the teachers in Haringey and Islington. I was in “The Staff Room” yesterday and four of them – one wearing open-toed Birkenstocks – were loudly denouncing Michael Gove and the hated Tories. They were also gloatingly predicting the demise of private schools because standards in state schools had risen so dramatically over the last five years. So I couldn’t stop myself asking Mr. Birkenstock a question. Sorry, I said but I couldn’t help overhearing you. (I was tempted to add “Nobody could”.) Now, standards rising over the last five years? Doesn’t that correlate exactly with the reforms brought in by Michael Gove and the hated Tories? Silence. And red-faced teachers looking at one another like guilty schoolchildren. I don’t think I’ll be welcome in The Staff Room again.