Page 103 - She's One Crazy Lady!

how disappointed I would be. I was disappointed for them. But this time, when I rang them it was a ‘Yes’ from me and it was so, so lovely to hear the whoops of delight from Mum and an emotional, ‘Well done, chick-chick’, from Dad. Even though Dad was struggling with Alzheimer’s, he was ‘with it’ enough to understand this very important piece of good news. I valued that.
After more noisy and excited phone calls to friends and family I went over to Mum and Dads in Barton Seagrave to give them such a big hug, for their support and belief had been forever constant and I desperately needed to share the moment with them – they, like me, were so relieved and excited about the future.
I’d done it!
After a busy night on the phone to friends and family, who were equally pleased, and with Marilyn saying I should have a party to celebrate, the next day in school was also one of celebration – a completely new experience for me and extremely humbling. The champagne bottle was popped open – Des giving me the cork with a £2.00 coin pressed in it – to wish me good luck, wealth and happiness in the future. I still have that cork – and the £2.00 proudly on display. Des also, somehow, had discovered a photograph of me from when we had previously taken a group of children on a residential – an activity week at Govilon in Wales, where the children had donned cabbage leaves on my head for fun – hence the name ‘Cabbage Head’ from Des!
The school was entering a new era – it was a wonderful place to be – everyone was really buoyant and
determined to continue with the
hard work to remove the school
from Special Measures. Life was still crazily busy but we were on track. Des gradually reduced his hours but kept in regular contact and readily gave advice or made suggestions. We didn’t have a substantive Deputy Head in place so had to advertise for this and appointed a very good teacher from a neighbouring school in Kettering who I knew I could work with, and who I knew could bring more expertise and stability for the school. Sandra would start in September when I, officially, became the substantive Head. Everything looked rosy until...
103