I took a trip to my old school, Teesdale Comprehensive, last week. Part of the job now, you see, and so I'm often there covering everything from school plays to teenagers with enormous feet.

I haven't quite got used to being back in the corridors that I used to run around for 7 years of my life and it's always a strange experience being back there.

What I can't get my head around is the teachers - the ones that are left over from my day. I remember talking to the head teacher on the phone some time last year. The start of the conversation went something like this: Will: Hi Mr Harrison, it's Will from the Northern Echo...

Mr Harrison: Ah, hello Will. It's Paul now... you call me Paul.

Will: Ok, yes, sorry Mr Harrison, sorry.

It's like I've been trained to do something for 7 years of my life and now they are asking me to forget what I've learned. If I called him Paul ten years ago I would have been detentioned quicker than you can say: "Itwasn'tmeitwashim".

I only left school seven years ago but already teaching seems to have changed. I get bemused when students and teachers talk about interactive whiteboards and a virtual learning environment. The nearest thing I came to a virtual learning environment was daydreaming during a particularly tedious RE lesson in 1996.

Another thing I can't get my head round is the names they now have. Caretaker is now site manager. They have directors instead of heads. What was Staindrop Comp is now Staindrop Business and Enterprise College.

I also bumped into one of my primary school teachers, Mrs Davies, who is working in Ingleton. As all 6 foot 3 of me stood talking to her, I couldn't help but think back to 1990 when she picked me up and carried me to the first aid room when I split my head open after leaning back on a chair and headbutting a cast iron radiator. (Four legs good, two legs bad... I have the scar to prove it). I did think about asking her if she could give me a fireman's lift to the exit for old time's sake but I think she probably wouldn't remember what I was referring to. I was probably one of many clumsy children who she had to take care of.