JIM SPENCE: Success for Dundee schools was reminder of teacher who inspired me

Whether your school days are the happiest days of your life, as the old saying goes, depends on personal experiences.

But I was delighted to see two Dundee schools do so well in a recent table compiled by The Sunday Times.

I believe that, just like in the property market where “location, location, location” matters most, in life, the key to success and getting the best start possible is “education, education, education.”

Dundee was represented by Victoria Park (10th) and St Andrew’s (12th) in the top 50 primary schools in Scotland.

Congratulations are well deserved for those at the chalk face for the work they’re doing in giving the kids the best possible preparation for secondary school and then adult life.

I might be a bit biased because I like to claim St Andrew’s is my old school; St Columba’s in Kirkton was demolished, rebuilt, and renamed just half a mile away.

Whether my claim is fanciful or not, it’s great to see both schools claiming such kudos at a time when the quality of education seems to be under constant attack.

‘Crucial component’

Teachers have seldom been under such pressure, between scarce resources and increased demands.

But they’re at the sharp end of giving our children and grandchildren the best possible start in life.

And while the academic aspect is crucial (the scoring in this table marked pupils’ reading, writing, numeracy and combined listening-and-talking), other elements are equally important.

Good teachers help kids to develop their personalities, their confidence, their inquisitiveness, and their all-round life and social skills.

The great ones go way beyond their contracts, volunteering to take the netball or football teams and a host of other activities which aren’t strictly part of their agreed work commitments.

This is very much at the heart of the kind of people they are: caring, kind and committed.

Primary schooling is particularly important because, nursery aside, it’s the first step into the big world for kids being away from home all day.

Great nurturers, carers, and educators, which the best teachers are, form a crucial component in the getting the best possible start in life.

Most of us will fondly remember the teachers who made the big difference to us.

The ones who went the extra mile and encouraged and pushed us beyond what we might have thought we were capable of.

The ones who fired our young imaginations, steered us gently yet firmly, and set us off on the right path to achieve whatever our talents and hard work would let us accomplish.

Dundee teacher who inspired Jim Spence

The late Mrs Maureen Gudmunsen at St Columba’s falls into that category.

Having passed the exam to attend Lawside Academy, which for parents and kids of my generation was something which many aspired to, I wasn’t certain I wanted to go.

My late mum – who’d foregone the opportunity herself as young girl for fear that her own mother couldn’t afford the expense – was desperate for me to accept.

In Mrs G she found a staunch ally.

I’m not entirely sure my old headmaster thought I was Academy material, but Mrs Gudmunsen and my mum formed an unstoppable alliance.

She lobbied hard for me and cajoled and persuaded me that I had the ability and the brains to do it (whether any of my old Lawside teachers agree I leave to them) but I went and never regretted it.