During Summer 2021, Geoff Riley returned to RGS to wander the halls and reflect on his 10 years of teaching Economics at RGS, before leaving us to join Eton as Head of Economics and Politics. Geoff muses on some of the colleagues and Old Novos who made RGS the place he will always call home…
ECONOMICS AT T H E R G S BY GEOFF RILEY FRSA (STAFF 88-00)
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raduates fresh out of university often arrive at a new school all guns blazing thinking they truly know their subject, although little about the nuts and bolts of teaching it. I fell firmly into that category when Alister Cox (Staff 72-94) appointed me to relocate to Jesmond in the summer of 1988 still soaking wet behind the ears from my degree at Cambridge. That said, with the benefit of hindsight, if you were to hand-pick a school, community, and a Common Room perfect for launching a teaching career now stretching well into the fourth decade, life and work on Eskdale Terrace could simply not have been bettered. In truth, it was a little intimidating at times. The department was led by the charismatic Trevor Regan (Staff 74-90) along with Jon Punshon (Staff 82-86), Richard Hughes (Staff 86-88), and the legendary Gerry Keating (Staff 72-04). My early timetable involved an eclectic journey around the labyrinth of the old science
