My father, Philip Jones, who has died aged 77, was a remarkable teacher who had a gift for understanding exactly how to spark enthusiasm among his pupils, whatever the focus of study.
Among other things, he set up a tannoy system for a school radio programme to help with lessons on communication; had pupils making papier-mache models of Viking ships and Concordes for a project on transport across the ages, and created puppets to put on regular shows for other classes. Such imaginative work was frequently cited by school advisers as an example to others, leading to his secondment to advise probationary teachers in south Wales and, in the late 1980s, to an invitation from the Mid Glamorgan department of education to visit Copenhagen as part of a team examining and exchanging good teaching practice.
Philip was born in Rhymney, south Wales, in 1937, the youngest of three children, to a collier, Griff, and his wife, Nansi. He went to Lewis school for boys, Pengam, and, on leaving school, served two years of national service with the Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in Germany before training as a teacher at Caerleon College near Newport.
On Boxing Day 1959, at a dance in Rhymney, he met Eirwen (nee Owen), a primary school teacher from the same town, and they married in 1963. By then Philip was teaching science at Father Hill secondary modern school in Newport. Shortly afterwards he was made deputy head of Brookfield primary school in Cwmbrân and in 1974 moved to Machen primary school, becoming the youngest headteacher in the Rhymney valley.
Coming from a part of Wales where Welsh had started to lose ground, Philip did his utmost to help foster his native tongue. He helped to establish a Welsh-medium school in Cwmbrân, initially with a staff complement of just two, but today a flourishing school with 34 teachers.
A member of Rhymney Silurian male voice choir, he loved choral singing. Other favourite pastimes included reading about ancient civilisations and walking in the Brecon Beacons, which he often described as “God’s own country”.
He is survived by Eirwen, by his daughters, myself and Sioned, and by two grandchildren, Lowri and Dewi.
