llanrumney high isn't as bad as this place, although...

reinvigorating a problem school

When my Mum moved us down to Cardiff from North Yorkshire, desperately looking for family support to help her deal with post-massive-head-trauma me (which was no easy task - a head trauma will really mess with your personality) I was sent to Llanrumney High School. As you can see here, in the Education League Tables from 1999, Ball Road (as it is often called by older and younger members of the 'community' due to the fact that it is indeed situation on Ball Road) doesn't rate too highly (and in fact looks even worse here).

After a bit of a mix-up ("we didn't know you were coming...") I got inserted into my year, at the lowest possible skill level (which they deemed me to be due to my injury, despite the fact that in Ripon I was still in the highest sets for everything and was managing to still stay afloat quite happily despite the trauma). This did not fill my heart with joy but, being only 14, I got on with it. Ah, I remember the joy of English reading time, plowing my way through 4 books in half-an-hour, delivering my lashing critques of such classics as "Ben goes to the park" and then being moved up a couple of sets.

Now, I'm not saying I wasn't problematic, because I totally was. Before my accident I was meek and quiet and startlingly intelligent. Afterwards I was aggressive, noisy and generally troublesome (but still intelligent, I might add). I would start fights then run like hell, and I recieved a number of beatings for it. Add to this my massive geek status and you have an interesting student indeed. Interesting in the sense that a naked flame is very interesting to a barrel of kerosene. I was eventually kicked out of the school, them refusing to have me anymore due to the fact that I baited bullies every chance I got and had a really foul mouth and stinking attitude. It's much easier to deal with the one troublemaker than all the bullies, you know?

They recommended that I be sent to Llanedyrn High, because it was better equipt to deal with kids like me, where I was put in at a more fitting skill level, but still not at the top, which I was used to.

I have, for a long time, believed that my time at llanrumney in remedial classes seriously damaged my academic career. By the time I got to a more fitting level I'd missed so much that it was a serious challenge to catch up. Add to this the 6 months of school I missed due to being fucked up and in a wheel chair and you've got a picture of missed academic excellence. I got out of highschool with mostly Bs. if it wasn't for llanrumney they could of been As. Of course, over all, it doesn't really matter if you get As or Bs at that level, apart from to everyone that keeps telling you it really really does, but I must admit I hold a bit of a grudge towards ball road school, and not just for the beatings.