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| | (1 recommendation so far) | Message 1 of 19 in Discussion |
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| Got any newz (or wana find out some) about the old place then leave it here! |
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| | (1 recommendation so far) | Message 2 of 19 in Discussion |
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| This is a collection of random news about the school that has been taken from the discussion about the school from various message boards. Bear in mind that none of this is absolute FACT it just what people have claimed/think! Rick web site probably
contains the most factual evidence for why the school closed (see the links on the Main page).
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The school closed because of dodgy going ons in the child abuse circles and is now used to house immigrants form somewhere!!
Darren Sadkowski
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I thought the school closed due to ever reducing numbers as well as failing several Government assessments (Ofsted Report) which
needless to say didn't improve the recruitment problem. The last time I went there (1992-3) the place was a ghost town/school.
I also heard a little about the abuse stuff, but again that probably was the last nail in the coffin!
Mike Blake
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When Mike Burrows and I were visiting William WW in Plymouth, it turns out Wills had recorded a local news report on the abuse
story. I will find out if he still has it.
It appears that the abuse thing went back years, though there were a few funny goings on - stuff that was not quite 'kosher' that Mike B and I discovered when we went back for a visit in the early 90s. We found Psycho Peters acting as a moneylender to the
Hong Kong Cantonese, and him being very 'close' with some of them. We got to speak to him, and he seemed his old strange self - but the following year when we went to his room located near the patio block, he peered around the door looking rather agitated, saying 'come back tomorrow' - like hell we had driven hundreds of miles to get there!
Mikey and I had all sorts of theories - like Peters getting up to no good with one of his Chinese concubines - anything to do with
the money exchanges we noted the year before? Very, very strange. He was a good teacher, but was there probably because he could
not get a job elsewhere.
Rick
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As you said, "Psycho" was a very good teacher if a little volatile! When I was in School at Taunton (1990-1992) and managed to get a hold of an article in one of the local newspapers featuring a classic shot of Psycho on the front cover, parly obscuring the lens with his hand (holding a pencil of coarse) and looking ready to explode (ala the Cook report)! I'm not sure if I still have this article, and if I do it's in the UK and I'll not have access for more than a few months!!!
Anyway the upshot of the article was that the kids in the year below me were constantly ringing Ester Ranson's Child help line
about him (basically because he made them work) employing methods reminiscent of those used in a different age, namely the Victorian era.
I also saw once a HTV news segment about the school - some guy (now a lawyer I think) making child abuse allegations, but I
never heard anything more about it!
More sad News... Did you know Mr Nick Brooks? Unfortunately he died in a boating accident in about 1992. Very sad. He actually
taught me English and was a very decent bloke. Not only was he a good teacher but I think he actually cared what was happening to
uz in our little world! I guess nobody said the world was a fair place.
Mike
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P.S. On the sad news front, last I heard Peter A. Burgess had retired to Devon/Cornwall to give his heart a rest (probably from
eating too much yoghurt and drinking a criminal amount of coffee) and promptly karked it! This is, of course, wild rumour
Jim
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I heard about Peter A. Burgess when I cam to visit in 1992 (1993?) - the couple at the B&B we were staying at told us that they had seen him walking away from the gates one rainy winter evening, and that was the last they saw of him. We found out that he has passed on - I think you are probably right as to the location.
Rick
As part of my own research both for my own interest and for the up-and-coming history of Quantock School, I have scoured the web
for information. As a result I have obtained parliamentary discussions on Quantock School (whose main 'enemy' appeared to be David Jamieson, MP for Plymouth Devonport). I can only assume that this official line came from complaints from worried parents - might anyone know anything? I also managed to get hold of the GCSE and A-level (!) results for the Somerset LEA, and have spoken to OFSTED this afternoon requesting a copy of their damning report on standards at Quantock.
As part of my research you will be pleased to know that Duncan Peaster is now a Conservative Party Councillor.
Rick
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IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO CONTRIBUTE THEN REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. If you have any questions then list them here, someone may have the answer. |
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| | | From: Gavin | Sent: 6/26/2000 4:48 PM |
If any bodies interested I was actually in a room and saw Mr Burgess up to no good first hand, Matron had a word with me and the others concerned the next day and it was swept under the carpet...........Peter's tried to stick a broom handle up one of my year's arse, he claimed he was trying to punish one of my year.......who knows there were a few weirdo's at the school. It was a big shame about Nick Brooks, he taught me to sail. He was a good man. |
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Hmmm. I knew there were some weird goings-on but this seems a trite fantastic to me - even for Dr. Peters, who was one hell of a character. And as for Mr. Burgess, God rest his tormented soul, I am sure many people had a few bad things to say about him. Maybe you could elucidate on these stories - who, for example, pulled Psycho's cord so much that he was prepared to commit sodomy on him with a broom handle...? Rick |
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I kid you not Deranger. The period that I was at the school I saw things that I will never forget some very good and some pretty bad!! I think there was a massive element of "Let's Sweep that under the carpet" at the school. Personally I enjoyed my time there and had some good mates and good times but let's be honest there were some strange goings on there which had been there for years!! My point regarding Mr Peter's however may be a litle extreme, he meant it more as a punishment as opposed to sodomy but his aim was not spot on. I did actually have a few letters from Mr Langley after I left, I kept in touch with him for a while but obviously no longer, if anybody has an up-date on him I'd like to know he's doing well. Apparently he used to take an ICE cold bath every morning, so he told me anyway in a maths class one time. |
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The character of the school was defined by 'strange goings on' - whatever this might have been. If it were not for this, there would be nothing for us to blather on about!!! So, let us all be grateful for the fact. Long live Quantock School, the weirdest educational establishment in the western hemisphere! Rick |
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| Rick, a while ago (in one of the message boards) you mentioned that you had some video footage of the School that you were thinking of putting on your website, what's the progess on this front - I'm sure we'd all like a peek if possible,
Mike
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Just read this message. When I was at Quantock we never had a teacher called Nick Brooks. So it was with some indifference that I read he was killed while sailing. However after viewing some photos in the site's album under the heading "teachers". I remember a face I've long since forgotten. He was what Quantock School had for the painter. Then his name came to me, it was the very same Brooks who later became a teacher at Quantock. As a painter Nick Brooks would always chat with other members of my year. I remember him because he was the only person in Quantock who was left wing.(that was the time when Micheal Foot was the leader of the Labour Party) Everyone I knew were very right wing so much so, I'm very much surprised that no one from Quantock was locked up as a risk to the public. |
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Yep Mr Brooks was a painter-decorator and plaster before starting teaching at Quantock. In fact until now, I did realize that he actually worked at the School in this capacity before becoming a teacher there - Very Quantock School I might say!
Actually despite his seemingly lowly credentials he really was a Very good teacher, really got you motivated. And yes by Quantock Standards he was certainly considered a radical "Leftie" but in fact was only really a little left of center-ish �?BR> |
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About the video clips, just been a bit busy of late - trying to revolve time around work, work and work. I intend to knock up a few MPEGs and upload them to the site, definitely before Christmas. I will use this as a carrot for those who have not yet sent in biographies to do so - I want to make the site a genuine platform for organising reunions, reading up on old friends/colleagues/enemies etc. Ho hum. As for people with right-wing views being caught and jailed for their misdemeanours, I have to say that I have so far been lucky... :) Rick |
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| | | Sent: 12/30/2000 10:27 PM |
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I have to agree about the strange stuff that happened, i don,t know if getting older and having children of my own has changed my perspective but there were many odd things that happened in my time at quantock, but as we have all said things were swept under the carpet, and children are extremely trusting. I have kept in contact with Paul Watson who for a while was in contact with Mike Donnan (English) We kinda got an insight into the Other side of the argument!! But hey!! thats the past etc....who would have guessed that in would of ended up in the closure of the school!!! Rob graham (Class of 89) |
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| | | From: Naomi | Sent: 3/29/2001 4:23 PM |
Mr Brooks was in fact my geography teacher and he died while I was still at school. I didn't know he used to be a painter and decorator. He always used to play my flute when I bought it to class. Sadly some of the stories you all talk about did come to light after I left- Although Doc and Donan were both there in 1992-4 leaving before my final year in 1995 due to a disagreement with the head master. There aer several theories what the dicussion was about but to save the students involved of any untruths I shall not write in the message boards what I know but if anyone is curious I will write to them via email. Doc and Donnan were both very good to me so I cannot say anything against them- Doc is probably the one that saved me from failing most things but is also the reason my grades did not refelct my abilities!! He left 2 terms before my finals!! damn him! Other teachers I will always fondly remember are Mr Phil- who was always good to me, Mr Langley, and Matron Caple. So even though there were some bad eggs- how about them bad eggs!!! The school closed down for many reasons- it was sad but enevitable!!! thats why I jumped ship before it was too late!! Now- I am going to be graduating next year a biology degree- so quantock didn't do me too much harm!!!!! Other teacher- where are they now?? Chantel Parsons? Anita Gorman? Mr Edwards? Hilliar? Collins? |
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So Mr Brooks got to teach Geography as well? Well I never. When we were there he taught B-form English. The Doc Peters "saving our grades" thing is familiar, as he and his wonderful hand-crafted notes produced on the Bander (or however you spell it) machine saved us from the sort of ignominy that would have befallen us if Andrew Robins had stayed one further year. Robins, for all who may remember him, was a really nice bloke who wore flares and had an interest in model trains (he was behind the model railway club which I think only lasted one year - I was one of the founding membership...) But he was a rather crap teacher. I never saw nor encountered Parsons or Gorman, and met Edwards on a few occasions when we visited the school. Hillier was part of the furniture, so I guess she would probably still be in the local area. As for Collins - get this - the last time we heard anything about him from anyone he was teaching at a school in Bridgy. The subject? RE. rflmao. Hairy Stu teaching RE. Gotta love it.  |
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Mr Collins teaching RE - no fucking way !!!! The world has a brilliant sense of humour !!!
I expect he was no more qualified to teach PE (which he taught at QS) than Mr Brooks and Mark Rowland (a pupil who graduated in 1989 and returned to teach in 1990) were qualified to teach English (& Geog) or Chemistry respectively !!
I guess you can probably teach RE without qualifications ! |
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| | | From: Dale | Sent: 5/31/2001 1:12 PM |
Overload
Just to calrify your point about Mark rowland as it may be casuing confussion for some, I think it was actually Lee rowland you are refering to who returned in 1990, and taught chemistry, his younger brother Steven, was in our year -1991
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