Page 115 - She's One Crazy Lady!

them. Had any of them been in my situation? I’m sure they had. No, I wasn’t the only one, although it did feel like it. Despite Des telling me to stay at home I had to go to work – I had to go to school.”
7.30am – Julie: “I knew she’d be in, I told you she’d be in!” Des stood there, open-mouthed. We all hugged.
“How do you want to handle this?” asked Des.
I asked if he would be happy for me to call an early staff meeting so that I could tell everyone together. I owed them this. I had to be open and honest. This was not fair; this was not good for the school. We had already gone through so, so much together; we were such a strong team. Now this? I felt guilty that I was letting them down.
“You OK?” asked Julie. “Deep breaths!” We laughed. Our eyes met. We could have cried as we walked along, arm in arm, to the staffroom, but we didn’t.
All the staff were there. You could have heard a pin drop. They knew I had been for tests, so all anxious and nervous eyes were on me. My thoughts went back to Mr Stewart’s words. He didn’t hesitate in his approach to giving me the results so I took the same stance and hoped I was professional, matter of fact, yet personal and caring enough to break the news as best I could so as not to induce tears or any distress in the team. I also tried to reassure them that I’d be back, that this was only a blip, and we’d all get through this. There was no time to say more for the school bell went and the children needed to be brought in. As each member of staff left, they, each in turn, gave me a hug. Only Des stayed behind. Bless him, he was crying. I was fine and found myself consoling him by saying it would all be OK! He said he understood that I didn’t want any fuss but wanted me to listen to a proposal he had. He told me that he and his wife, Anne, were going to Canada for the duration of the summer break so, in handing me a bunch of keys, said I was free to use his house at any time, for as long as I wanted, so that I could escape and have time to myself: “Nobody will know where you are.” What a wonderful gesture but I didn’t take up his offer.
Des also wanted me to know why he was so concerned and why he asked so many questions.
“Glennis, I’m married to a most wonderful lady and I need to know everything just in case, God forbid, Anne is ever in your situation. As a man, I need to know everything to help her.”
He went on to tell me that I was not to worry about the school; that the LEA would pull out all the stops to ensure the momentum continued, should I still be away at the start of the new academic year. I knew then with Des leaving Highfields, how much I, and everyone, would miss him.
For now, I was thinking of the children. Should I tell them? Would they understand? Was it right to tell them? Yes, it was. I knew the children. I knew my class of Year Six children – children that had endured years of change, lack of leadership and lack of a good all-round education and TLC. They were a challenging, very streetwise lot when I first had
“
As each member
of staff left, they,
each in turn,
gave me a hug.
Only Des stayed
behind. Bless
him, he was
crying. I was fine
and found myself
consoling him by
saying it would
all be OK! ”
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