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Mindful of the perpetual procession of supply teachers, not to mention school overcrowding, I’m often found worrying that we have failed our children. If only we’d pushed harder when they were younger, I tell myself, they might have got into a local grammar school. Or if only I’d worked harder when I was young, we might have been able to send them to private school.

But then I recall certain realities. All of those friends and acquaintances of mine, for example, who went to what were purported to be some of the worst inner city schools in the country who have done so exceedingly well for themselves. What set them aside from me, who attended what was purported to be the top school in our region? That must have been their drive and ambition, for it certainly wasn’t opportunity.

So it is that I hope for the same for our children, despite the disadvantages of a failing education system post-covid, characterised by the instability of inadequate staffing. Tragically, both teachers and students are caught in a vicious cycle accentuated by pandemic lockdowns, of staff resignations caused by poor behaviour caused by staff resignations caused by poor behaviour, on and on ad infinitum.

Of course a private education is out of the question. While I could just about accommodate the fees of the school I attended up north by living very frugally with what’s left over, in these parts the fees would eat up my annual salary entirely. I suppose that’s the promise of the grammar schools in this locality: the next best thing, if you can afford to move into the area and fork out on tuition.

Perhaps we could have tried harder in those early years of our children’s education. But then who’s to say such an environment would be suitable for our children? Was it suitable for me? Did it offer me any advantage over my peers? That’s hard to say, but on appearances it would seem it didn’t significantly benefit me.

In the end, it’s up to our children — as it was for us — to decide what they want to achieve in life. We will, of course, fund whatever educational support they need which is within reach, but putting in the effort is a choice only they themselves can make. Let them find their own ambition and drive.