From the High St: School’s out for summer

Even I am not old enough to remember the release of School’s Out, the title track of Alice Cooper’s fifth album in 1972. It was the only single released from the album and probably one of the best known songs of the last 50 years or so. I do hope that Mr Cooper has made a tonne of royalties on the back of it.

You might have heard this track recently as schools throughout the country break up for summer, it tends to be on adverts for holidays and, perversely, back to school promotions by supermarkets. Of course, schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland tend to break up a little earlier than in England and Wales. By the time many are reading this, we might be approaching what a former colleague playfully instructed me was known as ‘busy parent fortnight’.