I started off my working career as a secretary/receptionist for a firm of Solicitors when I was 18. I went along to my very first interview straight from the Careers Office in Dorking to the small office in Chessington where I met a lovely lady who was to become my boss. She reminded me so much of my mum, the way she spoke, looked, held herself that to be offered the job was natural. I felt like I was working with family! She treated me like her daughter too. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was exactly the same age as mum and had a daughter my age, therefore she became my second mum.
The firm quickly expanded and she and I moved to the Kingston Office and I was promoted to secretary. Over the years things changed, I left, came back left again, came back again and finally worked for the Managing Partner who was such a sleaze bag that when he tried it on with me, I jacked the job in there and then, went to see my second mother to seek her opinion, only to be told, "well you are the Managing Partners secretary, what did you expect, it's what he does!" There endeth my relationship with that firm of solicitors. Sadly for him it came to a very nasty end when he was discovered to be embezzling funds from the clients account and committed suicide in a locked up garage somewhere with a hosepipe attached to the exhaust. I really felt for his family and for my second mother, who had somehow got herself all mixed up in the Company by becoming a silent partner or whatever it was. I wonder how many times she slept with him to get there!!
Anyway I digress, because my main reason for blogging today was because I went to see a good friend of mine yesterday at her Childrens Centre not far from me. I use to work with her at my local infant school where I was a Higher Level Teaching Assistant and she was an NNEB. It all sounds very posh but effectively I was the Governments cheap way to cover supply in schools and she was a Nursery Nurse. I loved that job, I loved to be able to watch the children progress from not being able to write their name or anything educational to florishing and writing pages of stories, solving mathmatical problems and to know that I had contributed to that success was exciting.
Looking at where she worked yesterday was an eye opener. She is now an Outreach Worker, working with parents with needs to help with parenting and just every day parenting issues that don't always come naturally to some parents. She holds play sessions for parents to bring their babies and pre-school children and teaches them how to learn through play in this extremely light, bright and colourful environment full of exciting things for the children to do. Display boards showing bright and eyecatching information on the topics the children are learning, a sand pit, mud pit, climbing frame for the toddlers, upturned plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off, soil put in and green plants with bright red tomatoes hanging from them, ready for the children to pick and eat. We had a cup of tea and I sat in her lovely airy office and thought I want to work here. How can I get to work at her Childrens Centre. I have offered my services..
Due to the Scoliosis and the pain it causes me with working with the younger children, I no longer work directly with the children, I am now a very poshly named 'Schools Communication and Relations Officer', basically I'm now the school receptionist, dealing with the day to day, face to face problems of the parents! I am slightly bitter that my back has seen to this, my life has changed so much over the past year and i've now been out of teaching for approximately 6 months and to say I miss it is an understatement, I miss the children, watching them florish, answering their questions, dealing with silly childish issues of 'who picked on who!, 'she called me a nasty name' 'oh dear, what did she call you?' 'she called me rude!' I love it and I miss it.
My goal after my operation is to get back to teaching or into my friends Children Centre and get back to where I belong.
No comments:
Post a Comment