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Please, Miss
Bernadette was just ten years old when her father packed her off to a convent school in Dublin. Seven gruelling years later, she returned home to Liverpool at the start of the swinging sixties. Bernadette had dreamed of being a teacher ever since she was a little girl so she promptly began a course at teacher training college, determined to give children the sort of education she wished she'd had.
Bernadette got her first job at 21, teaching five to seven year olds in a school in one of Liverpool's toughest slum areas. The poverty and deprivation she saw at the school shocked her to the core. Children would frequently turn up shoeless and starving, but gradually Bernadette could see she was making a real difference to their lives, and found that teaching changed her own life in ways she hadn't expected...
Rich in period detail, PLEASE, MISS is an uplifting and moving book that opens a window onto the colourful and fascinating world of 1960s Liverpool.
Bernadette got her first job at 21, teaching five to seven year olds in a school in one of Liverpool's toughest slum areas. The poverty and deprivation she saw at the school shocked her to the core. Children would frequently turn up shoeless and starving, but gradually Bernadette could see she was making a real difference to their lives, and found that teaching changed her own life in ways she hadn't expected...
Rich in period detail, PLEASE, MISS is an uplifting and moving book that opens a window onto the colourful and fascinating world of 1960s Liverpool.
288 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 16, 2026
very sweet and very easy to read, some much needed positivity !!! although not the intended purpose of reading the book, the Irish Catholic anecdotes were making me lol
October 22, 2012
The subtitle of this book is distinctly misleading. The author's training period is covered in one chapter; the book is actually about her entire career as a teacher.
From a Liverpool Irish family, the author went to a convent boarding school in Dublin before taking up teacher training back in Liverpool. She starts her career in a deprived area, and moves to a similar school after a year, before in her third year moving again to a more affluent school. In between teaching she sees the Beatles playing in the Casbah club, gets married, has children of her own, becomes sole breadwinner in the family...
But mostly the book is about the small children she teaches and how much she enjoys doing so. Her enthusiasm for her job really shines through; I'm not at all fond of children but she made it all sound like so much fun!
It's a fairly lightweight book; though she has her share of downs as well as ups, she doesn't dwell on them, preferring to tell of the good things (an attitude with which I sympathise). A quick and enjoyable read.
From a Liverpool Irish family, the author went to a convent boarding school in Dublin before taking up teacher training back in Liverpool. She starts her career in a deprived area, and moves to a similar school after a year, before in her third year moving again to a more affluent school. In between teaching she sees the Beatles playing in the Casbah club, gets married, has children of her own, becomes sole breadwinner in the family...
But mostly the book is about the small children she teaches and how much she enjoys doing so. Her enthusiasm for her job really shines through; I'm not at all fond of children but she made it all sound like so much fun!
It's a fairly lightweight book; though she has her share of downs as well as ups, she doesn't dwell on them, preferring to tell of the good things (an attitude with which I sympathise). A quick and enjoyable read.
June 13, 2023
Not really what it says on the tin, to be honest. The details on teacher training are relatively scant. It's a humourous enough collection of anecdotes about teaching, with some truths about poverty early on.
There's a lot about the author's mostly tenuous connection to the Beatles, which does result in a relevant discussion of Strawberry Fields children's home, which was rather eye opening (in a small way, if you haven't read the likes of Crimes Against Humanity by Benjamin Ricci.)
Entertaining enough, finished it, enjoyed the stories and anecdotes. Felt a little cheated by the marketing, however, and sometimes stories were stopped and started in the more frustrating way.
There's a lot about the author's mostly tenuous connection to the Beatles, which does result in a relevant discussion of Strawberry Fields children's home, which was rather eye opening (in a small way, if you haven't read the likes of Crimes Against Humanity by Benjamin Ricci.)
Entertaining enough, finished it, enjoyed the stories and anecdotes. Felt a little cheated by the marketing, however, and sometimes stories were stopped and started in the more frustrating way.
March 23, 2019
What a cheeky teacher! I enjoyed her conversational style of writing. Felt like she was telling me about her life as a teacher over a cup of tea.
October 16, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and become involved with.
"The true story of a trainee teacher in 1960s Liverpool" is not an entirely accurate description of this book. The book is more like an autobiography with a focus on the authors teaching career. Even though I didn't expect what I got, I am very pleased I read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author put the snippets of her school experience in the context of the events of the time. As someone who was born towards the end of her teaching career I feel I have learnt a great deal about events that have shaped the education system today.
I do wish this was a series in some ways and the different time periods had been broken up into different books so that there had been some more detail about some aspects of the authors teaching experience.
"The true story of a trainee teacher in 1960s Liverpool" is not an entirely accurate description of this book. The book is more like an autobiography with a focus on the authors teaching career. Even though I didn't expect what I got, I am very pleased I read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author put the snippets of her school experience in the context of the events of the time. As someone who was born towards the end of her teaching career I feel I have learnt a great deal about events that have shaped the education system today.
I do wish this was a series in some ways and the different time periods had been broken up into different books so that there had been some more detail about some aspects of the authors teaching experience.
April 27, 2013
Not as good as I thought it would be not enough about being a teacher. Disappointed
July 28, 2013
Loved it!!
April 9, 2014
Interesting read about teaching in the 60s with its social history as well.
August 16, 2014
it was an ok read took me a while to get into it
September 28, 2014
A simple and easy but interesting read, at times it was too simple and easy as there situations that is have enjoyed more detail about that were covered in a paragraph!
February 23, 2015
A straightforward story/autobiography. Very easy to read and quite interesting, if a little smug.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews