The Nursery

Chriss turned around as she felt an abrupt prod on her left shoulder which jolted her into a horrid sense of foreboding. She just felt that somehow what was to follow was not going to be easy and she felt nervous and agitated all over again.

She had been enjoying the morning so far, with the children and also the staff, as they all worked so well as a team. The jolt came from behind her as she was finishing her regular morning chat with the staff in the 'baby's room'. The look on the faces in front of her told her something horrid was about to happen and they turned away in an attempt to ignore the huge negative person standing behind her. 'Oh god!' Chriss mumbled to herself.

She turned her head slowly and attempted to put a brave smile across her face which did not appear to be able to reach her eyes, and deep inside she felt bad, really bad and scared too.

'Oh hello Mrs Tanner' Chriss said with her smile.

'I wanna talk to ya nour!' Mrs Tanner replied in her awful brusque 'norfolk' accent. She was a farmer's wife and very wealthy (as incidentally a lot of norfolk farmer's are) although they will tell you if you know nothing about farming, that they have a really tough time. This negative bully was a tough boot and a member of the group of parents who spent their time gossiping and avoiding eye contact with people they did not like or accept. Here in Norfolk, you were not just not accepted, you were not part of the league - you were disliked immediately if you were new and especially if you came from the 'so called' affluent south.

The woman started shouting at Chriss, for no apparant reason as far as Chriss was concerned, so Chriss gently ushered her toward the wooden stairs that lead to a room which she knew was empty.
'Let's talk upstairs' Chriss said and walked in front of the woman, leading the way.

To this day, even now, Chriss cannot remember the exact details of what was said and why, as the only really vivid memory of this occasion (which so many teachers face these days), was of a nasty excuse for a human being, violently wagging her finger an inch in front of Chriss's face -
her aggressive wide face right in front of Chriss's and screaming at the top of her voice (Chriss could feel the breeze from her breath flicking at her fringe),
'You liar! You are a liar! You bloody liar! and so on.

Chriss tried to calm her down gently reassuring her and telling her that she was not a liar and she did not understand what she was talking about. 'You said that you were going to talk to everyone and introduce yourself when you first came here' the woman was adding now.
My husband and I were appalled because you didn't come up to talk to us!'.
'Well I distinctly remember coming over to say 'hello' and shake hands with you both.
'You liar!' Mrs Tanner screamed again at Chriss's face. 'You didn't even bother'
'Well, I don't want to argue about this Mrs Tanner, and you have accused me of other things which are untrue, I suggest we finish talking to each other now, and your son is ready to be collected' Chriss answered, she could now feel the warmth in her face as she was trying not to become angry with this awful woman. 'We all know how you lie and how you run this place for your own benefit' Mrs Tanner screamed again this time almost pushing Chris over as her face was now within the safety limits of Chriss's face.
'I think this is enough!' Chriss answered.
'This school is my business and I make the decisions here' Chriss explained. The woman however was not allowing her to speak, she interrupted incessantly and abruptly by shouting over Chriss's calm voice.

Chriss could feel herself becoming very nervous and anxious and it was beginning to show in her voice as she felt a lump in her throat which resulted in an unnerving shake in her voice as she tried to answer the woman. She thought this parent was actually going to beat her physically as well as mentally and emotionally with all her vocal abuse and angry shouting.

As Chriss went to open the door, she heard a little voice at the bottom of the stairs saying,
'Why is mummy shouting at Chriss?' A member of staff knelt down beside him and said softly, 'Mummy is just angry, Chriss is ok, don't worry'. The little boy was worried and didn't like his teacher being shouted at by his mummy who was always so angry at home.

'I suggest you go, I think you have said enough!' Chriss answered professionally and jestered towards the door. The little boy came running upstairs,
'Mummy why are you shouting at my teacher, I don't like you shouting'. His mother grabbed him roughly by the hand, and said 'Come on, we are going now and I am not shouting'.
The little boy followed reluctantly as his mother dragged him along, jolting him forward every now and then. Craig, the little boy, just looked anxiously at Chriss but Chriss smiled,
'See you tomorrow Craig'. Craig waved as he was jolted out of the door.
'You haven't heard the last!' the mother managed to squeeze in before she slammed the door behind her. Chriss knew the child would not be back (this had become a regular pattern now).

'What does she mean?' the staff were asking Chriss now.
'Oh' said Chriss 'another Ofsted visit of course!'. She was used to the Ofsted inspectors turning up at the nursery out of the blue, ready to ask questions of her, like the Spanish Inquisition.

Kitty came up to Chriss, 'Are you alright Chriss, we were worried and were about to come in and help you'. Chriss looked through glassy eyes at her deputy manager,
'I'm ok, I just need to go out for a bit'.

Chriss walked out of the Barns, the wind was blowing, the day was over, the staff about to go home and Peter was due to arrive any moment now. Her head was heavy with negative thoughts and feeling and the awful feeling emerged like a tired 'jack in the box' ready to take grip again, the feeling that just would not go away.

'I don't know how much more of this I can take' Chriss said to herself as the tears dripped slowly down her cheek. She wiped them away quickly and inside she knew she was beginning to break apart but she had to be strong and show defiance against these nasty, agressive and negative people. It was not the first time, nor, she knew, would it be the last. They were coming in thick and fast and she felt she had a real battle on her hands. How she kept her head above the water in the last months of nursery hell, she did not know, but she did and that was what made her feel stronger.

A new young girl, who seemed so sweet natured, had joined Chriss's team....Tracy....she was only 17 years old, a lovely quiet girl who was training for her NVQ (national vocational qualification) in childcare and needed to work at a placement facility for her practical training.

Tracy was given over to Elsie, so that she could help her with her rather large group of children, one of two of whom were quite badly behaved. Elsie was a promising Montessori Teacher and was well trained and experienced. Chriss felt she could place the younger Montessori group with Elsie, who enjoyed the challenge and the fact that she had her own group of children.

One day, Tracy left early, without asking permission and Chriss wondered where she had gone. It was only midday and Elsie needed help.

'I don't know where she is' Elsie replied 'She had been looking rather sad this morning'

Chriss decided to ask the staff in the baby room. They were gossips and spent most of their time eating the baby lunches if the babies didn't require anymore, sitting on the floor and enjoying doing nothing when the babies were asleep. Chriss felt rather resentful towards them as they were paid well, refused to help any other members of staff if they needed help and were hopeless at cleaning and sterilising the baby units and hoovering the floor and....and... well many is the time Chriss had to finish off their cleaning for them after everyone had gone home (on the dot) of course.

Susan called Chriss over to one side. 'Tracy isn't coming back' she whispered.
'What do you mean, she isn't coming back' Chriss asked with a slightly raised voice.
'There is trouble with Elsie' answered Susan
'Oh no, what is it now?' Chriss asked.
'Well Elsie apparantly got hold of Tyler and pulled his arm and told him off' Susan answered.
'Tracy was in tears and didn't like what she saw, so she went home'.

Chriss knew more trouble was about to start and she was beginning to hate the place, she drew in a deep breath and prepared for the worse. She felt tired and drained.

That afternoon, a rather angry father arrived at the nursery, demanding to speak with Chriss.
'I wanna speak with the owner' he splurted 'I'm Tracy's dad!'

Susan came into Chriss's buzzing, peaceful class of children, all busying themselves before their parents arrived to collect them and Kitty had just called out 'Circle time' when Susan burst through the door.

'Chriss, Tracy's dad is here and he is cross and he is asking for you!'
Kitty and Chriss looked at each other 'Kitty, I'll be back, keep going for me' Chriss had said.

With now, a pounding heart and what had become by now a regular fluttering in her chest, Chriss approached the father.

'Can I help you, I'm the head teacher here' Chriss smiled

'I wanna private talk about Tracy' the gruff man said.

'Let's go upstairs' Chriss answered. 'Oh god, here we go again' rang in her weary, aching head.