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Subject: Drama/English
School Days: 1982-1984
Wildcard Welshman who frowned upon formal discipline and
believed a more informal approach was the key to getting
pupils interested in his lessons. He would always come
to school in casual dress (gaining him the nickname Scruffy)
and did not see why he should have to lead by example
where his appearance was concerned. The pupils loved (and
exploited) his permanently approachable manner and enjoyed
having a teacher who'd readily stick up for them. He was
also an eccentric - forever using long-winded sentences
and, as Tucker Jenkins put it, "takes all day to
say hello!".
Unfortunately, this brought Scruffy into almost constant
conflict with Mrs McClusky, and Scruffy would be called
up in front of the headmistress almost as often as certain
pupils! Yet Scruffy continued to encourage the pupils
to speak out and when he colluded with the fourth year
girls on an underground school magazine, it led to Bridget
finally losing patience and suspending McGuffy. The
result was a mass demonstration to get Scruffy reinstated.
In his final year at Grange Hill, there were signs of
a hardening attitude but by this time he was more respected
by staff and pupils alike. Scruffy had a very young
daughter, Zoe.
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MR
McGUFFY'S SCHOOL REPORT |
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Series 5 Scruffy is pulled up by Mrs McClusky
for his casual dress sense and audaciously tells the
headmistress he finds her attitude "unnecessarily
censorial". He takes charge of the school revue,
the political content of which does not impress Mrs
McClusky, and encourages Matthew and Suzanne to speak
out on bullying and school uniform.
Series 6 A public spat with Mr Hopwood and colluding
with Claire, Suzanne and Christine to produce an underground
school magazine pushes Mrs McClusky too far and she
suspends Scruffy. The pupils are furious and organise
a mass demonstration at the end of the year calling
for his reinstatement. Unknown to the pupils, Mrs McClusky
has already asked him back and they are most surprised
when he appears in the main hall at the end of the demo.
Series 7 Scruffy takes the fifth year pupils
on a UN weekend but his car breaks down en route! Suzanne
develops a crush on him and when she is too proud to
admit she did the wrong thing in leaving school, Scruffy
organises an interview for her at the local sixth form
college. On the last day of term, Scruffy and Mrs McClusky
share a dance.
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ASSOCIATES: Mrs McClusky,
Mr Hopwood, Mr Smart, Suzanne Ross, Glenroy, Claire Scott,
Christine Everson.
REASON FOR LEAVING: All
the staff had to re-apply for their jobs when Grange Hill
merged with Brookdale and Rodney Bennett - Scruffy thought
it was time to move on.
CURRENT WHEREABOUTS:
Unknown.
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