How can I look other headteachers in the eye?

At the time this photograph was taken in 1979, this man was the only (though not the first) black head teacher in Britain. His name was Clee Griffiths. He died yesterday aged ninety-six.

He was extraordinary for many reasons, not least because he was loved by all those who came into contact with him – as pupils, parents and teachers. In this country, nearly all of his career was spent teaching in the London Borough of Hackney, where for many years he was the head teacher of Mandeville Primary School on the edge of Hackney Marshes.

I began my teaching career there in 1979 and somehow he inspired me in a way that no other teacher or head teacher did after that. He allowed his teachers freedom to be creative and experiment. He allowed his teachers to make mistakes and learn from them. He was forgiving and tolerant. He was kind and generous. He was wise and fatherly. I carry his legacy with me every day and I am hugely grateful for what he taught me.

During his time as a head teacher, he was offered public honours, including an MBE more than once. He turned them down, not because he wasn’t patriotic - he was - but because he said: “They’re only offering it to me because I’m black. If I accepted, how could I look all the other headteachers in the eye, knowing they work every bit as hard as I do?”

There are countless numbers of pupils who passed through his educative care and went on to lead good, moral and flourishing lives - including actors, sporting and athletic stars who became household names.

Every so often, I come across ex-pupils on social media or in-person whom I taught during those years – now in their fifties themselves - and the first thing they want to talk about is “Mr Griffiths”.

Griff and I exchanged Christmas cards every year and his handwriting was as clear and elegant this, last December, as it was when I worked for him nearly fifty years ago.

He was a great teacher, a great head teacher and most important, he was a great man. If anyone, anywhere deserves to Rest in Peace, it is Clee Griffiths.