The Wha’?

I know I’m going to sound proper old once I get into this rant – but here goes anyway!

I dropped my wonderful niece at “Big School” this morning for her orientation day. That in itself is a pretty dull piece of news, but unfortunately such is the life of the almost-single mother.

I don’t know the school at all; it may be the nearest secondary school to our house, but I chose on more than simply geography and elected to make my kids walk a mile and a half across town instead of attending this one – and I am glad I did.

So I roll up to what appeared to be the main entrance; a large, imposing building with a sign on the wall saying “Reception”. I walk into the building to find only doors to what appeared to be classrooms and two surly girls standing in the entrance. I asked them “Could you please tell me where I might find the reception?”

Seemed a simple question; I thought.

After staring at me for maybe three seconds or more, one girl asked “The Wha’?”

Now this is neice’s first impression of the school and that which she will carry for the rest of her life – I wonder if she will ever feel able to ask for help in her early days at the school as she thinks back on the way these girls responded to such an easy request.

These two vague, unhelpful creatures continued to stare blankly until the arrival of a staff member.

A teacher – that should be more useful, shouldn’t it? “Do you mean the main reception?” Erm… how many receptions are there?

Once I explained our reason for being there, he was able to direct us to “that tall guy over there” adding that “if he doesn't know anything about the taster day himself he will at least know more about where you should be!”

The tall guy, it seemed, was the head. You’d think the staff member would have thought to mention that, but I guess people find different things important.

Either way, I am glad I made my older kids take the long trek to their school each day; a school which uses the older kids to help out on these events and encourages them to greet parents and new pupils with a smile and a warm welcome; one which signposts the reception where it is, rather than on an entirely separate building; one which teaches respect and the importance of the letter T.

In honour of these girls, I would have linked to the Cranberries hit Zombie, but since I used that song recently I shall instead pick this song for no other reason than that whilst writing this I am listening to the fabulous Bethan Elfyn who just happened to be playing this tune which grabbed me:
Enjoy "Animals" by Kids in Glass Houses