Secret TA: Gossip Has Got Me Giddy!

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Bite Marks: 0

Stress Level: 2 (adrenaline level is 14,276 because of school gossip though!)

Holiday Countdown: 4 weeks

Never mind the bites, the tears and the little tykes - what I’m really here for is the GOSSIP!

“Have you heard?”

My classroom teacher grabbed me this morning before I could even get to the staff room for my morning coffee. She was giddy with excitement and - I must confess - it was immediately contagious (although I was a bit scared that she was going to warn me of another dressing down like last weeks...  more about that in a bit!).

I just raised my eyebrow, scared to commit to knowing anything at all.

“WELL!” [pause for dramatic effect] “hold on to your hat!”  Even the preamble to school gossip has a 1920’s feel to it sometimes.

“Mr _______ saw Mrs ______ getting out of Mr ______’s car this morning!”

“Oh, for God's sake!” I said, “that’s ridiculous and you should be careful. It means nothing!”

I swear, her excitement had now reached the level where she was holding on to my forearm with exhilaration...  I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Stop laughing! If it’s nothing, why did he drop her off two streets away and then carry on driving while she walked in?”

She folded her arms and leaned back onto the wall, the smug look of a winning lawyer on her face.

“You need to get out more.  Come on, let’s get coffee!” I grabbed our schools equivalent of Miss Marple and led her into the staff room.  We were heading to our class when we walked past Mr _____’s classroom, just as Mrs ______ was closing his classroom door... from the INSIDE!

Cut to us having to clean almost a full cup of coffee off the corridor floor before the kids came in!

Nothing else has come to light just yet, but we have made it our mission to follow this closely.  Maybe I need to get out more too.

Later in the afternoon we had a meeting with the Head to discuss that horrible briefing from last week.  My teacher and I had arranged it to talk about what had happened in class immediately after.  It felt like a million things had happened in between then and now so the issue itself didn’t feel that big of a deal anymore, but we had made the appointment, so it made sense to see it through.

My class teacher led, telling the story of what had happened with the two bites and the red heart card that followed.  What followed was a heavy silence and then the Head let out a despondent sigh.

“You know, it’s so easy to get caught up in the ‘bits’ of this job, that the big picture becomes a blur sometimes”

I was squirming in my seat, fully expecting to be told what a disappointment it was that we were bringing such a small issue to a busy person with a huge job.

“Thank you” he rested his chin on his hands, “for reminding me that we are here for the children.  We expect them to strive to be the best that they can be and yet here I am, forgetting to do just that”.

He looked up and whispered, “Now we’ve got that out of the way, have you heard the gossip?”

The three of us burst out laughing, it’s going to be a good week!

Next: Oh no, it's Ofsted.