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TIU: Welcome Ruth! Please give us a little information on your background…
R: I’m Ruth Sadler and I am a primary school teacher in Ulverston at Sir John Barrow School. I currently teach Year 5 and I am also the music lead but I started teaching in the early years so I have taught the whole range of primary school children.
TIU: Have you ever taught above as well, Year 6?
R: No, even in my training placement the highest was year 5 which I enjoy because you don’t have the pressure of SATS.
TIU: So you are in your comfort zone.
R: Yes because I have done nursery all the way up that I feel I could fit anywhere within the primary school.
TIU: Would you ever go back to those nursery years?
R: Oh yes! It is so different but its lovely too – you get different strengths with each.
TIU: How long have you been at Sir John Barrow?
R: I started here in 2016 – I had a year away at St. Pius in Barrow and then I came back.
TIU: A catholic school?
R: It is, yes.
TIU: Was that chosen purposefully?
R: No, it was circumstantial but when I was in school myself in the sixth form I knew that I wanted to be a teacher so I volunteered my Thursday afternoons at St Marys Catholic School just opposite Ulverston Victoria High School. I used to go every week and I had a mentor who has inspired me every single day. I am still even now, influenced by his teaching and what I learnt then I still use now. When my mentor moved to St. Pius I thought it was an excellent opportunity.
TIU: You lived locally yourself and schooled locally from what you’ve said so far?
R: Yes I went to Penny Bridge and lived in Greenodd and then moved to Ulverston. Very local!
TIU: Very rural too. Quite a lot of people I have interviewed have had these similar rural early years. So where did you do your teaching qualifications?
R: Its funny because I went to Bangor University in Wales and I would describe it as being like Barrow but Welsh. Its very similar to here. I didn’t realise that at the time but when I look back its very similar. Its a small city and you can drive ten minutes and be out in the fields. Here we have the lake district on our doorstep but down there you have Snowdonia instead. From my house I could see Snowdon. You have the sea there like we have here and the rivers and lakes. When I look back now I see that I just chose a home from home. I wanted to move away but actually didn’t want to change too much.
TIU: It helps when you do come back you don’t get that sudden change, the culture shock. Have you always been the music lead here?
R: When I first got the job here I was an NQT, (newly qualified teacher), and there was a music opening but as an NQT you can’t lead a subject because you are still training in a sense. However I knew that as soon as I saw the opening that that is what I wanted to work towards because music is my whole life. It sounds very dramatic when I say that. My mum is a music teacher and a primary school teacher. My dad listens to and has exposed me to so much music ever since I’ve been tiny and because Ulverston is such a musical town it’s been everywhere. I’ve had it the whole time I’ve been growing up. I was in the Ulverston Junior Brass Band – I think I joined when I was eight or nine and then I did that all the way up to Sixth Form. When I was in UVHS I was in every single music band I could think of. I would try for the choir, the wind band, the swing band – I did all of that, I ate it up. And eventually I came back here, back to Ulverston, back to the music. This opportunity arose and I decided that music lead was what I wanted to be and I worked towards it.
TIU: What does the role entail?
R: I am in charge of the music lessons so I have to make sure that they are adequate, inspiring, interesting and meet the criteria and then I am in charge of the extras like clubs, visitors and bands.
TIU: And picking up on individual talent like with my son who was made a music ambassador?
R: That was a very exciting moment when he kept sending me all of these songs – seeing that kind of thing, it fuels me. I think “yes, right we’ve got someone, lets go, lets do it!”
TIU: It helps him to see that he can achieve something and that someone else has appreciated his creativity.
R: Absolutely. Its a subject that is unlike any other because its logical and creative and children who may feel like they don’t like school, music is a way that can pull them in.
TIU: Which instruments do you play yourself?
R: I play the trombone, that’s my main instrument.
TIU: I tried to play when I was a kid.
R: Ah, nice!
TIU: I was at John Ruskin School so I had a half hour walk to the bus stop and a half hour bus journey carrying a trombone, (and sometimes a home economics basket as well as a school bag!)
R: Trombone on a bus I know that feeling, its horrendous!
TIU: I didn’t get very far because I didn’t have the physical capacity to carry on with it!
R: Trombone is my favourite I do play the piano but with life stuff that’s dropped off a little bit so I am not confident playing the piano anymore but I used to absolutely love it. Within the school here I learnt the ukulele and I play the guitar and I’ve just joined drum nation so I now drum!
TIU: Is that the group who played outside the recent Heart of Ulverston Awards?
R: Yes, I couldn’t play with them because I was part of the awards ceremony.
TIU: I was going to ask you about that nomination…best teacher! I guess it was a bit of a conflict of interest on that night for you.
R: It really was because I was so honoured to be a part of the awards but I was quite sad to be missing out on the drumming, it was quite a thing I didn’t know where to put myself.
TIU: Do you get involved with any other projects outside of the school other than your music groups? I would imagine as a teacher of young children your leisure time is limited?
R: The job is busy and when you sign up for it you know its going to be a part of your life. You don’t just work to live and you know that when you sign up. The children become part of your life.
TIU: There’s never a day off with kids! I expect you have a lot of early nights!
R: Well with the bands I am in I gig quite regularly especially around Christmas it gets busy with the brass band. In the summer now, (because I’ve only just joined drum nation), I will be busy with them. So it is amazing because the rest of my time is filled up with things I really enjoy.
TIU: As it should be.
R: Yes but I am careful because I don’t want to overstretch myself. I’ve got the personality of , “I’ll join this and this and ooo that will be great!”, but if I had to drop something I’d be disappointed so I choose carefully.
TIU: What are your personal goals for the future?
R: I want to stay in Ulverston I love Sir John Barrow so I have no thoughts of leaving but you never know. With my music at the moment I’ve written my own curriculum so that’s been implemented here and I might try to implement it in other places if I can, pass it on, there are no finite goals but I’ve got pathways I keep looking at.
TIU: How would you describe the children of Ulverston?
R: You know they are the most open children I have ever met. They are so creative, so willing for new things and they are really nice. You hear so much in the news of children growing up too fast and life is really scary for some children. Here in Ulverston obviously we get bits of that but I actually see children being children here, out and about, playing in the parks.
TIU: Right, like with deprivation no town is immune to a certain degree but we don’t have the inner city issues that I have come to deal with through having brought up a teenager in one. The kind of severe things that would take teachers away from the very act of teaching.
R: We always keep up to date as teachers – you want to stay on top of everything but I’ve found, especially with Sir John Barrow School, when I came back here you have children from all backgrounds together in one class. Obviously you will always have issues in any school you go into but in Ulverston there is such a variety of backgrounds and different wealth all coming together which is lovely and very unique I feel. I’ve not really seen that in other places I’ve been.
TIU: Our last school in the city was more of an institution. Stricter with less of a family feel. Rated Outstanding such as this one and very professional and personable but just not as personal. With ninety children per year on average, and twenty three different cultures represented it was always going to be different. Here we still have small year groups which you and I both will have experienced. I mean there were four children in my school year when I left primary! And then I got used to radical city type welcomes which was a drop as everyone is tight knit here I think its taken about a year to gain some trust but its still quite a task.
R: I find it was my own barriers when I came back because I didn’t have a good time at Ulverston Victoria myself. The music was the best part but that’s why I needed to move away just for a short while, to collect myself really.
TIU: I get that, see what else life has to offer. If you have a bad secondary school experience, (and I had one myself), it becomes something you have to work on in later life as an adult.
R: Its very common to have that experience.
TIU: I was never going to get along at my primary or secondary school but it turned around in sixth form. Sixth form was great! Its fantastic that you came back to teach after that experience for a lot of people the bitterness might set in.
R: I knew I didn’t want to do it like that. I am still influenced by my experience don’t get me wrong but I feel like I use it to a strength now. I try to notice children who might be struggling and I really try and help children find some enjoyment in school even if they don’t like school as a system which some kids don’t. I hope that I help them. I try to use music as much as possible. Lots of children come up to me and say how singing assembly is their favourite thing of the week.
TIU: You are clearly passionate about inclusion – was it a case of bullying that you had earlier in life?
R: Yes.
TIU: I had the same kind of thing but better described as exclusion and abandonment. I was happy doing my own thing and comfortable with my own company but I can’t say that it was what I wanted from school life.
R: It stays with you it really does. That’s why I struggled with Ulverston – it wasn’t the town it was being frightened of seeing people.
TIU: History walking around…
R: Yes but now that I do see people here its just so different.
TIU : People can come through as adults, well at least that’s the hope! What is it about Ulverston that you love the most?
R: It sounds silly but that moment when you are coming back on the train and you see Hoad and it feels like home. The Hoad is a beacon.
TIU: I felt that way about the Tyne Bridge and I guess I still do in a sense. But I feel likewise for Hoad too – you can see it from almost any point. My dad used to call it the Pepperpot and tell us that there was a man winding it down as you approached it in the car, did you have that too?
R: Yes I had that also! I’ve always loved Ulverston but when I moved away I was ready to move away. And I found that at that point coming back was quite tricky. Now I am back fully I realised how much I love it and how much I missed the town. Especially walking up Hoad, so accessible. Such amazing views. But then on the other side, there’s Birkrigg. Absolutely amazing. I was there last night for the solstice it was incredible and such a lovely group of people gathered. It was glorious looking out across the bay. In the town itself the festivals are incredible.
TIU: I don’t know anywhere that has as many festivals as we do! Living in the centre of town it can be a blessing and a curse because no matter what, the festival comes to you. I enjoy the vibrancy but perhaps not the intrusion. I am working towards living in a more rural setting albeit still close to the rail station! I recognise how rare the Ulverston set up is however, and I appreciate it at that level.
R: I had a drumming workshop a few weeks ago – they were from Manchester but they drum all over – it really struck me because they were doing a welcome speech and it was all about samba drumming and they said that Cumbria was one of the few places that still holds events and concerts just out in the streets. And I realised, yeah, that’s a thing!
TIU: In Newcastle we had the same kind of street entertainers every year, much more of a spectacle. Here it seems more about community groups.
R: I was reading on your website what everyone else feels about the town and for me it is the music I have never seen a town like it and the performances are so regular. You can be walking down the street and hear something and think, “what’s that?”, and follow it. Its astounding. I feel really lucky to be a part of it and to be welcomed into it because music can be – as you probably know – quite a cruel world.
TIU: Yes I can’t deny that – I found the business of music to be quite precarious especially as a young woman navigating her way through, mainly alone. I was a music journalist and a band manager and my initial diploma is in music management. There can be pinch yourself moments as well though. My ex partner used to promote and was offered The Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand for like £100 each I think it was, some very minor fee!
R: Two of my favourite bands!
TIU: He took the Monkeys on and turned Franz down if I am remembering this correctly. I was about-to -pop pregnant with my daughter so I didn’t go to the Monkeys show. She’s a huge fan of theirs now and studying music production despite the warnings I think it was inevitably in her blood to follow a musical path.
R: I met Alex from Franz he was so lovely he shook my hand. I was in the queue thinking, “I’m cool, I’m fine”, and as soon as I got there I just went, “Hiiiiiii!”
TIU : People get into music because they either love making it or they love listening to it. The business side can be disorientating but at its core I guess it’s one of the most powerful tools we have as people because it unites us and makes us feel good.
R: Absolutely and it is my whole life. With my role as music lead I am trying to link the school to music in town and I have a good relationship with UVHS and our curriculums link up so that our children can move up with that in place. I also have a link with the Ulverston Training Band which is where I learnt to play myself so the children are exposed to learning on a plastic cornet in school and then they are invited to join the training band. So there are good links being made. The conductor of that band comes into school and teaches the children – she volunteers her time to teach alongside me so that when they get to training band they have an established link. I encourage the children to get to the local festivals and sometimes they will see me getting involved.
TIU: Oh the old seeing a teacher outside of school moment!
R: Yes it blows their minds some of them! I show them that I do music outside of school as well and that you don’t just have to do it in school and we have so much available here for them to engage with. It is the Furness Traditions Festival soon which is folk and country based so getting them interested about these things. We do the storytelling events there and we join in but its just about getting them to see how many opportunities are actually in Ulverston.
TIU: I think music was the element of school that saved me.
R: I absolutely know that feeling!
