Jason Benard became the first teacher since the take over of the school to drop in with a request that we should send out a note to all parents to remind them that Saturday music club is not on this week and that orchestra rehearsals start on Monday.   We told him to stick it on the internet.   He looked singularly bemused as he left.   I said it was a diktat from Ms Bland.  He said, “who?”   Sometimes I wonder what the teaching staff do all day.

Deborah (previously the head’s PA, now underling to the deputy head) popped in with our contracts, asking what was going on.  We asked how she had got hold of them.

I explained the background, and she said that the deputy head had simply passed the paperwork to her to “deal with”.

“Tell him to sign them,” Janice suggested.

“Not until I’ve copied them and written up my own,” said Deborah.

We now have total access to the CCTV system around the school, and spent much of the day watching the comings and goings.

A new patrol system has begun using a new group of “Volunteers” who apparently have signed up to a charter which expresses the fundamental aims and beliefs upon which the school is based.   Now there’s a thought.

One thing that is impressive about this new system is that the patrols seem so effective.  I watched two pupils get too close to one of the new paintings that are in every corridor, and within seconds a patrol was there, had a word, and then the potential miscreants quietly moved away.