Simon Devon (Class of 1986)

I’m an ex-pupil of Reddiford (I left in 1986) who was browsing your website to show my own children where I went to school. I noticed you had an alumni section and just wanted to pass on a few memories of my own. I hope you will forgive me for this indulgence!

I started at Reddiford, I was 7, moving from a state primary school where things hadn’t gone well for me. I was way behind where I should have been and my parents decided that moving me to a smaller school would be a good thing. We looked around a few schools but I just remember the warmth I felt when I looked around Reddiford and the kindness of the headmaster, Mr Smith, who took the time to listen to what I wanted from a school. I instantly knew I wanted to go there and luckily my parents agreed.

I had a fantastic time at Reddiford and my main memory is of the lovely teachers who helped me progress. Mrs Cranfield was my first teacher followed by Miss Hickson, Miss Cox (who you will know as Mrs Batt!) and finally Mrs Wickes. Mr Smith taught us geography and Mr Miles taught us maths, PE and, computers. The school was ahead of the curve for teaching us computers, we had a room full of BBC Micros from around 1984. Mr Miles used to let me sneak in and have some extra time on the computers when I probably should have been in another lesson and obviously rubbed off on me as I have been working in the world of IT and software since 1997 (looking at the image on the Alumni page, I think the picture of the pupils sitting in front of the computer may include Mr Miles on the far right).

I’ve got a lot of wonderful memories of a school I was only at for 3 or 4 years, I think that shows what a special place it was to me. I looked up my name on the honours board on the website and I was glad to see it was still there! I was asked to go back to the school for a reunion just before I began university in 1993. I’m glad to say it still had the same welcoming atmosphere and I’m sure it still does today!