Experiencing the support and encouragement from able bodied students for fellow students who struggle due disability will always come top in my professional memory bank.
One particular student was totally reliant on his two crutches for movement. He was always, without fail, willing to give any sport or activity a ‘go’. Football was his favoured activity as using his crutches largely ruled out hand carried equipment.
The annual Inter House Cross Country competition, in which all boys participated ,was another chance for him to be ‘active’ and help his house mates. Despite the obvious difficulty that the two mile Cross Country course presented, he declared he was “up for it”.
His classmates naturally finished well before him, got showered and changed, and then without any staff suggestion or instruction, each and every classmate, irrespective of which House they were in, proceeded to the finishing line to cheer and clap him as he struggled in.
These boys were very late for their next lesson but ignored the inevitable sanctions in order to support and appreciate the pain and effort their classmate had put in for his House team.
To witness that support made me proud of the values we as teachers impart to our students.