I sat at my
desk looking at my phone and wondering whether or not to ring Karl. Should I tell him that MP’s were now coming
into school because of our son or should I wait to see what it was all about
first? Probably better. He’d only irritate me and I wanted a bit more
time to lapse between us from after the brownie incident. I couldn’t possibly go to school this
afternoon because I’d already rolled in late but being late again tomorrow was
just royally taking the piss. I put my
phone down and went to Colin’s office. He was on the phone but beckoned me in
to take a seat until he’d finished.
“Colin, I
need to take a few days holiday.” I said quickly.
“Oh? Late deal or something?”
“I
wish! When do I ever go on holiday Colin?”
I laughed. However it wasn’t funny. I could die for a break somewhere in
Europe. The sun glistening on the blue
Mediterranean; flip flops and floaty frocks; long glasses of sangria and lazing
by the pool. I couldn’t afford such
luxuries and I wouldn’t leave Brendon with anyone else and he would not go on
holiday unless it involved sport and snow.
My time off was usually spent decorating, gardening and catching up with
the ironing.
“I need to
go into school again. Apparently Victor Churchman has been in regarding Brendon.”
“Victor
Churchman? What the hell for?” Colin looked quite surprised.
“I’ve no
idea. They will only tell me when I get
there. It’s Mr. Fothergill’s way of
asserting control, like I’m one of his pupils or something. I was thinking about going tomorrow which is
why I need to take a few days. I’ll still work at home but I’d rather take it
as holiday.”
“Just go,
it’s not a problem.” He smiled.
“No Colin.
It is a problem. It’s very good of you
to be so accommodating but it’s not fair to everyone else. It makes me feel bad and like I’m getting
preferential treatment. That’s going to cause resentment sooner or later.”
“Everyone
knows how hard you work Soph.” He sat with his chin resting on his hand looking
at me as though trying to figure me out. “It’s only a phase and you get your
work done, so I don’t mind.” He gave a hopeful smile.
“But
Aspergers isn’t a phase. I need to get him sorted out Colin and I’d
rather take it as holiday but still work in-between to make up for my time
off. Please." I urged.
“How long?”
“Maybe three
days, starting tomorrow?”
“OK – It’s
yours.”
“You’re the
best Ed in the world.” I grinned at him as I stood up to leave. He leaned back in his chair smiling as he
watched me leave.
I got my
head down for the rest of the day which was a lot easier without Johnno there.
I’d received a text back from him.
JOHN SMITH: I’m in severe pain Soph,
but scored a hat trick! Better than
Frank.
SOPHIE RHODES: You’re not even in
Frank’s league Johnno – He’s premiership material. Plus he wouldn’t be wussing about a little
groin strain!
JOHN SMITH: I bet you’re missing me!
SOPHIE RHODES: How can I miss you when you won’t stop
texting me. Go away. I’m busy.
I actually was missing Johnno but I’d never tell
him that. It was nice to have a bit of
banter whilst you worked and he was so easy to reel in.
I arrived
home about 6.30pm to find Bryony, Brendon and ‘new girlfriend’ at the Starship
Enterprise watching youtube videos. I’d
wanted to talk to him about the ‘MP’ coming in and get the heads up on what
he’d done. However, when I’d rang Janice
Armitage earlier to make an appointment she’d asked me not to so we could all
go through it together. I hated being on
the back foot.
Brendon came
through to the kitchen with his new chick. “This is Jessie, Mother.” He said as
he put his arm round her neck.
“Hi Jessie”
I enthused “Lovely to meet you and I LOVE that scarf you’re wearing.” I picked
up the delicate turquoise material around her neck that was imprinted with multicoloured
butterflies.
“Oh, you
too! And thank you.” She smiled “It’s
from Top Shop.”
I loved her
instantly. Well spoken, friendly and
pretty to boot.
Brendon
remained on his best behaviour all night and even sat at the table for dinner
because Jessie made him. Who’d have
thought that all we'd ever needed was a nice girl to sort him out.
The
following morning I let Brendon and Bryony walk to school together whilst I did
a bit of work from home. My appointment
wasn’t until 10.am and they wanted to see me on my own first.
I arrived at
reception and Janice was already downstairs waiting to meet me. We went up to her office and sat down.
“Right.” She
said as she removed a piece of paper from a file. “This is what’s
happened. Apparently Brendon is unhappy
with the way the IT department is being run and so a few weeks back, he took it
upon himself to write an email to Victor Churchman. Quite frankly, I think it’s a very well written letter for his age but it is
Brendon we are talking about! Mr.
Fothergill is slightly upset as we had an impromptu visit from Victor who is
now looking into the school system." She handed over the printed e mail for me
to read:
From: Brendon Rhodes
To: Churchman, Victor
Subject: Hillfields School
Improvements.
Dear Victor
I am a pupil
at Hillfields School and I would like to address a few issues with you seeing
as you are our MP.
Firstly, I
have no big problem with the school.
I’ve learnt a lot in the past few years, not just from an intellectual
point of view but also socially.
However, there are a few things bugging me that I think you may be able
to help with.
Well, first
off I think the technology is very, very behind- this includes all Adobe products
(around 5-6 years behind) and the computers are even further back than
that. Seeing as this school is a
technology college I find it incredibly annoying and frustrating that we don’t have,
I hesitate to say a new...but at least up to date technology. Adobe CS6 has been launched and I have tried
and tested it myself at home, the school has Adobe CS3, which, as I said, is
half a decade behind. What’s the use of
teaching someone to edit in Photoshop CS3 when there’s a different, easier way
in CS6. This will negatively impact the
jobs of pupils in the future when they’ve only learnt about CS3. This happens with all programs in school
associated with Adobe. Another thing is,
in my information Technology
class, we’ve been learning to create websites in Dreamweaver CS3. I was very excited to help out my class mates
because I learnt about this at home (mostly because I was so interested, I
finally began to create sites for my family with up to date methods) And when
it came to the lesson, the teacher started to teach them how to work with
tables. You might not know, but if you go to any website in the entire world you’ll only see them made with CSS, which is a programming language, easy
enough to learn, in Dreamweaver. I was
extremely disappointed finding out that the school were teaching people wrongly
so I told the teacher that he should show the class how to make websites using
div tags and CSS. His reply was, “What
are those?”
If you
haven’t got my point already, then I’ll put it clearer. This school has many
people that would like to work in the IT department. It’s one of the reasons I chose this school
from others and I’m extremely disappointed finding out that all the years I’ve
been here that I’ve been taught the most out of date methods ever. If there’s anything you can do I’d be
extremely appreciative. I realize it’s
not the schools fault that they haven’t got the budget but I think you could
remedy that situation. I have even made
a tutorial on how to create websites using CSS and div tags and sent it to the
entire class year. This hasn’t made a
significant impact but at least I’m trying eh?
They may not
have the biggest budget what with the 6th form center being burnt
down and money being invested in other places, but the whole of CS6 – which
would drastically improve learning and success rates- is only £800.00. They could pay this onetime fee and install
it on their servers during a half term and it would be ready for everyone to
learn to use. If they have problems with
CS6, which I don’t think they will, why not get CS5? They’re neglecting the schools IT department
and whilst most other schools won’t have it, THIS school is based on technology
and I don’t see any reason not to pay £800.00.
Don’t think of it as a program but as something that would increase
learning to those interested in IT, designing, etc,- by 10 fold – CS6. Maybe also update their computers, though
this is not a necessity because of the massive costs.
I really do
hope you can help and I’ll thank you in advance for just giving your time to
read this letter/ email.
Regards,
Brendon Rhodes.