Page 8 - Through a glass brightly

Jennifer Johnson neé Rees (Jenny R.)
After 7 very happy years at QEGGS I left in 1963 with 3 respectable A-levels in English, History and Geography and set off for Bristol to study at Redland College. Here I followed a 3 year course which trained me to teach Commercial Subjects, with English as a subsidiary. As I was tackling 'Commercial Subjects' from scratch, I was taught the basics whilst preparing to teach them to poor unsuspecting Secondary School pupils. Needless to say, on my first teaching practice I had insufficient knowledge myself of all the subjects
(Typing, Office Practice and Commerce – now Business Studies) so filled my timetable with an array of other subjects – including English, Maths and PE; this last would no doubt raise a smile amongst my school friends!
In 1966 I left Bristol with my Teaching qualification – and also with the man who would eventually become my husband – Richard Johnson, a fellow student on the same course. We both moved back into our parents' homes in London and I started teaching at a large Comprehensive School in Hackney. After 2 years in Hackney, encouraged by the local inspector, I applied for the post of Head of Commercial Subjects at a newly formed Catholic Girls' School in North Kensington and took up the post in September 1968, a couple of months after marrying Richard Johnson and moving into a house in Bush Hill Park. There followed 6 busy but very enjoyable years setting up a range of new courses including link courses with local Colleges of Further Education and also working on the Examination Boards for both CSE exams and those of the RSA.
From 1974, I became a stay-at-home Mum to my two daughters. However, a phone call in 1979 from the Miss Goldby, Headmistress of QE Girls' School (now a comprehensive) changed all that. A teacher of Commercial Subjects which QE offered in the Sixth Form, had left her post at very short notice when her husband was posted abroad by the Foreign Office and they were looking for someone 'to fill the gap'. With 2 young children I felt I was not really in a position to help, but encouraged by my mother who offered some childcare I agreed to do two half days while my girls played with their Gran and I went back to teach at the old 'Alma Mater'! From this very small commitment I gradually got more and more involved and finally retired from QEGS in 2005 as 'Director of Vocational Education' and also Assistant Examinations Secretary.
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