School Dinners

​I can’t remember what I have reported regarding the latest news, but my portfolio of job roles now includes another twelve hours work at Andoversford Primary School.  Andoversford (APS) is a small village about ten miles from Cheltenham (on the Oxford Road) and the school roll is just 81 children.  Although the new job starts officially in January, I am covering some ‘induction’ time before the end of term.  

I will generally be covering on a Tuesday (part of the day) and a whole day on a Wednesday.  My other school (Temple Guiting – “TG”) is usually a full Friday.  The schools are of a similar size but are as different as chalk and cheese by way of management and administrative structure.  

But kids are the same wherever you are in the world! 
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Yesterday at TG we enjoyed our Christmas Lunch and, of course, it was absolute carnage!  Noisy with a large dose of high excitement to complement the Christmas crackers, poppers, paper-hats and jumpers!  Afterwards, in the playground, one small child quizzed me as to “why are you shaking that tree?”. He did seem perturbed.

​I gently explained that I was, in fact, attempting to straighten it up as it was very lop-sided, in danger of falling down and losing all its decorations and baubles.  To which he looked at me askance, rolled his eyes and nonchalantly walked on…  

​Later in the afternoon and after my colleague (the School Business Manager) had left for the day, another small boy came into the office to collect some material off the printer / photocopier.  Without ceremony he barged into the office, looked at me and said with a suitable amount of awe “Mrs Green, are you pretending to be Mrs Jameson?”.  To which I replied, “Well, Henry, I am pretending that I actually know what I am doing”, and he nodded in agreement, picked up his paperwork and left the room, seemingly satisfied.   So, that told me!