·        Student: “The luge is safe!”

Mr Aquino: “Yeah, you can see death coming!”

·        “I like dogs. Taste lovely on a barbecue”.

*dial tone* Hello, RSPCA?

·        “You worry me …” (Said on countless occasions to his students)

·        “A homeless person shouted at me … but at least I have an f****** job!!”

(In response to the question, ‘How did the strike go yesterday?’)

·        “You’ve written 80 words, and you’ve only got 200 … don’t go nuts”.

(Mr. Aquino’s advice on how to answer the final question on a A level French exam paper)

·        Mr. Aquino: How did you get out for your oral?

Student: I said to Ms. Wilshaw, ‘I’m going to my oral now, bye!’

Mr. Aquino: You’re still with us?!

(Mr. Aquino asking myself how I managed to talk Ms. Wilshaw into allowing me to leave the all-day English revision session)

·        Student: You have such a pretty face

Mr. Aquino: You’re gonna get a punch!

·        Student A: “I used the wrong ‘there’!”

Student B: “Mrs Wilshaw will have you shot!”

Mr Aquino: “Nah, she wouldn’t waste the bullet!”

·        Student: “He’s gonna kill me”

Mr. Aquino: “You’d better run…”

Student: “I’m gonna run…”

Mr. Aquino: “You’d better run faster!”

·        “It looks fast because all the dots are closer together! That’s how ignorant I am with music!”

(Leo in the presence of Grade 8 clarinet music)

• “Come on – choose an answer. With every second, my death becomes sooner and I get closer to the grave…”

(Mr. Aquino’s disturbing response to the silence caused by his class of three students not knowing the answer to his question)

• LA: “Was it in there?”

Student: “Yes”

LA: “YEEEEEEESS!!”

(Aquino when proved right that a certain French grammatical question is always in the exam paper)

·        “Slimy vegetable head”

(Aquino describing aubergines … you can tell he likes them)