write a speech for school leavers about attitudes to work

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A few parting words: perfecting the end-of-term speech

I'm one of those (perhaps unusual) people whose favourite part of a wedding is the speeches. Something about the theatrics of it all really appeals. Normal conversation ceases, time becomes momentarily suspended and people are joined together to listen, laugh, wince and share in a personal story. And so it is with the school leaving speech.

There's a general belief that students can't imagine their teachers as real people with lives beyond the classroom. Arguably, teachers are equally guilty of this imagination deficit, lacking the time, or possibly inclination, to get to know colleagues (seen every day in the corridors for years) beyond their professional role. So, the leaving speech can be an unexpectedly revealing experience, a glimpse beyond the job title into a person's life.

Yes, there are the cliches, the jibes and retaliations, the awkward silences after a joke about target-setting falls flat, but this comes with the territory. Similarly, there's a danger in taking the occasion too seriously, mistaking the school canteen plus bunting for Hollywood and thanking all those wonderful people in the wings. Providing the speaker doesn't do a Winslet and thank absolutely everyone (and hell, even if they do) this sense of gratitude taps into another important part of the occasion; the recognition of the school as a wider community.

I've heard some brilliant leaving speeches in my time: the teacher returning back 'up north' and singing a rousing rendition of On Ilkley Moor ; the caretaker reminiscing on the unexpected education provided by toilet graffiti. There are the recollections of school trips from that mysterious and opaque period known as 'the 1970s' which invariably start with the phrase: "In the days before risk assessment," and which reveal some jaw-dropping incident, the stuff of nightmares and/or tabloid headlines, before ending triumphantly with the words "character building" and "invaluable life experience."

There is the spontaneous and prolonged standing ovation for the teacher leaving after 30 years in the same establishment; the teacher who had miraculously kept her relationship with a colleague secret for an entire year who opened with "I wrote this speech first thing this morning...lying in Steve's bed," to whoops and cheers from the rest of us and the teacher entering retirement who claimed: "I've looked into it and I'm confident my pension should be sufficient to see me through… providing I don't spend any money."

And so, as mocks, the end of term and, most importantly, the Christmas party, all approach, there should be plenty of opportunities for participating in this unique ritual. Ultimately, the leaving speech is a reminder that the people around us matter; the working day might be defined by time in the classroom but, along with the students, it's the relationships forged with other adults over the months and years that make work meaningful.

Debbie Bogard teaches history and politics at City and Islington Sixth Form College in London.

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