Belfast Boys Model School

From rocker to Headmaster, from playing with legends such as Roy Orbison to running a school of 1000 boys and 130 staff, enthusiasm and passion have pushed the Headmaster of Belfast Boys’ Model Jim Keith to excel in a diversity of arenas.

Born in Rathcoole on the outskirts of Belfast, Jim had big dreams of what he now describes to his students as "fantasy careers" such as being a world class rugby player or rock star. Later he thought about medicine but the experience of studying science at school soon made him realise that was not for him.

“I drifted into teaching,” he said “I had applied to do law at Queen’s but then one day I went up to the QUB library which was then a small Dickensian room with a very distinct smell. I thought there is no way I could stick this."

While he was studying, he worked in the sorting office of the Post Office at Christmas periods, at a holiday camp in England and even at a fish factory in the Shetlands one summer. His most boring job was putting sticks into lollies!!

Playing bass guitar with his band "Omen" in Belfast was where his passions lay at this stage. However he found himself studying to become a teacher at Stranmillis Teacher Training College and immediately got a job teaching English at the Belfast Boys’ Model in 1971. After 37 years at the school, with 13 as Headmaster, Jim has reflected on his career.

"It’s very unusual for someone to have stayed at the same school for so long,” he said. "My first few years teaching were really tough. This was also at the height of the Troubles in north Belfast, I was living in east Belfast and had to cross the city every day to get to work. They were very difficult times."

His first experiences in the classroom were made even more trying by his determination to stick to what he believed was right when it came to corporal punishment, commonly used at that time. "I never used the cane, I didn't believe in it and I think some of the kids thought I was a soft touch because of it," he said. However, Jim found a more effective way of earning the youngsters respect through the medium of sport. "I was always involved with rugby outside of school hours which helped me to get to know the boys and them to get to know me," he said.

Jim is clearly very proud of his rugby players pointing out that Belfast Model is the only non grammar school in Northern Ireland to lift the Schools Cup. He described a former Headmaster Ernie Davis as an inspiration.

"He was here for 42 years and was one of the most charismatic people I have ever met," he said. "He worked so hard for the school and inspired the rest of us teachers to do the same. He was the man who first started off rugby in the Boys Model and he would be someone I would always be trying to live up to."

Jim described his day to day work as mostly reactive. "I used to sit down and make a list of things to do in the morning and between one thing and another, that list would not get looked at again until the end of the day," he said. "But then one day I made a list of all the things I had done by the end of the day and when I looked at it I realised they were more important than the list I had made that morning. Saturdays are really my only day off, I usually unwind by going to a rugby match."

On valuable attributes for the job, Jim said it was important to be flexible, good at communicating and above all passionate about your subject. "You have to be able to form good relationships with the boys and their parents and be able to work and get on with people, being open to change and adapting," he said.

"You also need to have patience and always looks on the bright side. Having fun and enjoying the work is also important, a lot of people take the job far too seriously. If you show real enthusiasm for your subject, you will be more likely to get the youngsters interested and excited about it too."

Jim said that most important to him in his work were the boys and working to help them succeed. "Some of them come from very lowly beginnings and quite difficult circumstances," he said. "Watching them overcome these and go on to do well in life is one of the most rewarding parts of the job."