I began at Millbrook Community Primary on 1 September 2004.
At Eastbrook, I had grown into the job over twelve years. At Millbrook, I arrived as the senior administrator and was expected to know what that meant before the first parent reached the desk.
The office had networked computers, email and a pupil management system. There were still files, forms and registers, but the computer held information that had once required several cupboards and a good memory.
Janet Hargreaves, the headteacher, met me at eight thirty.
‘If something can be dealt with in a short note, don’t arrange a meeting,’ she said.
This was the first thing she told me after showing me the fire exits. I liked that.
My user account worked. My password did not.
The technician reset it and asked me to choose a new one. I chose something I could remember. The system rejected it because it was too short. I chose a longer version. The system accepted it, then required me to change it a month later.
At Eastbrook, Pauline and I had known where every piece of paper came from. At Millbrook, a message could arrive by telephone, email, printed letter or a note carried by a child who had been told not to lose it.
The first morning included a late admission, two dinner-money questions and a staff member who could not open an attachment. I could not open it either, but I did not announce this until after I had tried twice.
Janet appeared in the office before lunch.
‘How is it?’
‘Busy.’
‘Good. It means they’ve found you.’
I missed Pauline. We had worked beside each other long enough to finish some discussions without speaking. At Millbrook, I had to explain where I was up to and ask which version of a form people meant.
Pauline rang after work.
‘Have you resigned yet?’
‘Not today.’
‘Promising.’
The new systems were useful. Pupil records could be updated once rather than rewritten in several places. Attendance figures could be checked without counting marks by hand. Email made some messages quicker.
It also allowed people to send a question at four fifty-eight and consider it dealt with.
By the end of the first week, I knew Janet’s expectations, the office routine and which printer stopped when given more than one job. I was still checking staff names against the internal list.