School is in Session

Hi Friend!

How are you?

Summer is well and truly over as we plough forwards through a particularly wet autumn towards the bitter winter. While I love the crunch of crispy autumn leaves beneath my feet, I do not love the slimy sludge those leaves become after endless bouts of rain.

That’s where we are right now,. Tentatively stepping along the pavement so as not to slip and face-plant onto the cold concrete beneath.

School is back in session and I have certainly had a trial by fire!

As a parent, I hadn’t really considered all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a school. Why would I? All I needed to do was drop my child off and speak to their teacher when necessary. Most of the office staff were a bit short with parents anyway so, there was no need to make conversation with them. Right?

How the tables have turned…

I am now said office staff and there is a lot to do. From managing attendance, to calculating school dinner numbers, to managing clubs and the various payments; sifting through emails (many of which are agencies peddling their recruits), answering parent queries and keeping the stationary cupboard stocked amongst many other things.

But dealing with parents is a huge part of the job and these are a few of the characters I’ve met along the way.

The ‘I’m So Helpless’ Ones

While I have managed to not let my smile slip (forced or not), I can absolutely understand the curt responses, the tight smiles, the quiet frustration of School Admin. I get it after hearing the same question asked by ten different people within the space of twenty minutes. I understood it today, in fact, when a parent walked up to the door and I sighed inwardly before he’d even reached the buzzer to be let in.

Because I knew what he was going to ask. Because he’s asked me before.

More than once.

He was having trouble with the payment app, trying to hand me his phone so that I could do it for him. “My English not good” he said as he cocked his head to one side and gestured to the phone again.

I could feel my smile slipping away. My colleague was on lunch so there was no one to rescue me.

He stood in the office for twenty minutes. I repeated the same steps; I explained that I didn’t know his password, which he eventually changed himself but the trip he wanted to pay for wasn’t showing. None of my suggested solutions worked so, in the end all I could do was advise him to contact customer services to see if they could help.

We eventually came to a stalemate (meaning I went into the back office to grab something off the printer and he left…)

The Late Ones

Some parents are late every. Single. Day.

Most are apologetic but some blatantly don’t care, strolling towards the door like it’s an easy Sunday morning rather than a manic Monday.

As a parent, I think: Do better. But as School Admin, I’m not there to judge. I smile, I make a joke with the children and parents, I put people at ease. Let’s face it, some children find it hard to come to school and I’m not about to make it harder by being mean – what would be the point?

The ‘My Child Won’t be in Today’ Ones

There are the parents that call in to say their child has a cold and it’s raining so, they’re keeping them at home…

I had one parent say their child had a 10am dentist appointment so they’d be off for the entire day! And we also have an increase in ‘feeling unwell’ calls if it’s a Friday or it’s pouring with rain.

The winner in this bracket is the parent who called in saying all three of her children were unwell and wouldn’t be in. This was a Monday. For the rest of the week I called – as is my job – to check on the children and gauge when they might be back in school. But none of my calls or messages were answered. On the Friday, I spoke to the older sibling of the children who was calling to (her words) ‘be a little snake’ and tell me the family were actually abroad..!

It didn’t help their case when they came back, the mum insisting they’d been unwell all week whilst all of her children showed off their newly tanned skinned and one of them told his teacher they’d been to Malaga…

The ’I’m in Charge’ Ones

My favourite has to be the mum who’d come to pick up her child early as he wasn’t feeling well. His teacher told her she’d put a homework sheet in his bag.

“We don’t do homework in my ‘ouse.” She said. “I don’t believe in it (like Father Christmas??). And anyway, I’m already home-schooling one child so that’s more than enough work for me.”

I’m sure there are plenty more characters congregating at the school gates – who did I miss?

If you take anything from this post, let it be this: Be kind to your child’s school office staff and if they’re grumpy, cut them some slack as they might have dealt with all of these characters in one day!

Speak soon xx