Wisdom is a good first word for a column on education. My first school, just after WWII, would never have passed any Ofsted examination.

The school owner was also headmaster, and would take classes himself if no-one else was available. Reliable teachers were in short supply, so he repeated the basics of English grammar. He gave a repetitive grounding in sentences with subjects, objects, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. He also taught how to create a "heap", which is a list of whatever comes to mind before sorting ideas into an "essay"!

RAAC concrete causes buildings to fail when it goes beyond its expected 30-year life. Political decisions based on short term interests made a connection in this column three weeks ago between RAAC and concern about climate change. 40 years ago RAAC concrete was okay, its expiry well beyond the five year parliamentary term. Global warming is a very long term process but needs decisions now for future society in 40 years time and generations beyond.

A picture of St Leonards Catholic School and its appeal for funds was used by The Journal to illustrate that column. This school is in Durham, "oop north", which for Devonians means beyond Bristol! The Education Minister went there to discuss serious problems with RAAC concrete. This was how it got into the column about global warming; now it feels like a guiding hand to write about disrupted education!

For clarity, St Josephs, our own Exmouth Catholic School, has no problems with RAAC. There is some in the Community College but not as bad as the school in Durham.

Parenting is not just a matter of loving the cuddly bundle or enjoying the little darlings, it is the serious business of converting the lively little monsters into adulthood. The old film "To Sir with Love", for which Sydney Poitier earned an Oscar, has a turning point when "Mr Potts" stops treating his unruly class as teenage kids and tells them that they will all soon be grown-ups! Some continued to rebel, but others suddenly realised the enormity of the transition from teenager to adult and set the tone for the others.

Preparing for adulthood must surely include knowing how to find answers to questions and recognising what needs to be done in adversity. Distance learning, using the internet or books, opens the process to finding information beyond holding up a hand in class and asking teacher. The internet has changed the flow of information; what used to be a morning's work in the reference section of the library is now a single question into Google! But social media has flooded the world with good and bad ideas, so it is also essential to discriminate what to follow and what to ignore.

My own university course had one final requirement, to pass an exam with no published syllabus. It was left to students to learn from books and lectures. The lecturers did not themselves set the exam; it was necessary to know the subject, not just remember what teacher said! So temporary lockdowns and periods of disrupted teaching all make for a more rounded experience of adult life as it actually is for most of us.

Volunteers jumping in to fill gaps and teachers working beyond normal classroom patterns in RAAC schools are not fun for staff, pupils or parents, but do make a rounded education.