Prior Park Preparatory School, Cricklade
It's thanks to the internet that many of these crimes of child abuse from the past are being catalogued; equally it's thanks to school websites today that one can see how the so-called educational institutions of the past have changed for the better.
So I'm pleased to be able to say that a glance at Prior Park Preparatory School today via its website at http://www.priorparkschools.co.uk/prior_2/index.php has quickly shown me that I would have every confidence in sending my children there.
It's still a Catholic school, but the Christian Brothers disappeared long ago like a bad dream. Searching for them on the school's website yields only 'No results found.'
In a way that's a shame. There were after all some decent Brothers, even if they were not strong enough to stand up and protest against the injustices. And even Brother B, twisted sadist though he was in many ways, did teach me things. The first French lesson that I gave as a teacher at Oundle School in 1974 was modelled on the pronunciation drills which I learnt at Cricklade.
So I'm pleased to be able to say that a glance at Prior Park Preparatory School today via its website at http://www.priorparkschools.co.uk/prior_2/index.php has quickly shown me that I would have every confidence in sending my children there.
It's still a Catholic school, but the Christian Brothers disappeared long ago like a bad dream. Searching for them on the school's website yields only 'No results found.'
In a way that's a shame. There were after all some decent Brothers, even if they were not strong enough to stand up and protest against the injustices. And even Brother B, twisted sadist though he was in many ways, did teach me things. The first French lesson that I gave as a teacher at Oundle School in 1974 was modelled on the pronunciation drills which I learnt at Cricklade.
Brother A: a kindly old man by contrast with some of his fellow-Brothers. Just a shame about his liking for the private parts of little boys in shorts
Brother A, as I told Archbishop Nichols, was a kindly old man who enjoyed playing us children recordings of Irish songs on a wind-up gramophone. It was just a pity about the absent-minded kiddy-fiddling, though that senile groping was hardly a crime compared with what some of the Christian Brothers got up to in other schools.
Cricklade, as we called it, is now a co-educational lay institution with well qualified staff and a curriculum which is designed to ensure that each child reaches his or her full potential. That's no more and no less than what the vast majority of schools claim for themselves today. But on a personal note it means a bit more to me than most school statements. Prior Park Preparatory School is a normal place which seems to produce happy and successful children. I wish it every success.
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