Tying Up Loose Ends

BE quiet, please! That's better." Amy took her hands from her ears and beamed B at the class.

"Well done, Year Seven! Let's try the twelve-bar blues again, shall we? "After four, from the top." Mrs Darling, the headmistress, stole away from observing Amy's music lesson through the window in the classroom door and hurried to her office, ears ringing.

A whole class of children thrashing percussion instruments was an interesting but somewhat overwhelming sound.

She had no idea how her newest member of staff, Miss Amy Lavender, put up with it, but she did, and the kids were having fun and were under control.

Mrs Darling sat down at her desk and ticked off an item on her to-do list.

Make sure Miss Lavender is coping with Year Seven.

The only sound in the office was the tick of the clock on the wall and that was how Mrs Darling liked it - organised and calm.

She'd run the school for 20 years, steering through the choppy waters of educational change.

For the last 10 of these years, Veronica Darling had been a widow.

Ron had passed away before his time and she would always miss him.

Mrs Darling sighed, then shuddered as she remembered the first item she'd had to cope with on today's list.

See Jonnie Wilson's parents to explain why it had been necessary to give him a double detention.

When Mrs Darling had been a pupil at school, parents wouldn't have dreamed of questioning the head teacher's decisions.

But that was exactly what Mr and Mrs Wilson had done this morning.

The discussion had got heated, but in the end the parents seemed to understand why the school took a dim view of Jonnie's decision to flush a fellow pupil's PE kit down the loo.

Now for number three on the list: Coffee with the governors while we discuss the school finances. Give them tickets for the Christmas musical.

Mrs Darling's heart beat a little faster when Brenda, the school secretary, rang.