Margaret It is, isn’t it, quite impossible to sum up Margaret’s character, and the many thoughts and memories that her friends and colleagues have of her, in only a short time. I am not here just with my own thoughts but here trying to represent the thoughts of those people she touched during her working life. I have been fortunate to receive so many stories, memories and feelings from children, parents and staff members. Thank you! It would be impossible to repeat them all today. I can merely provide a taste of what Margaret meant to so many and to me. Perhaps you may think that, as a former head teacher I am not the person to speak of Margaret for she was not always keen to listen to head ‘teacherly’ words. In fact it was Margaret herself who told me, not long after we met, how one day when she was working in a school with a very illustrious head, she had a message to go and see the head at the end of school. Margaret knew that she had displeased the hierarchy in some minor way so, to avoid what she thought might be a difficult interview, she did that most Margaret of things and escaped through the classroom window. I don’t know whether she ever felt the need to climb out of the window to avoid me but there were times I’m sure when she smuggled her posse of children past my office on some mission of which she thought I might disapprove….…. But they were always schemes that would provide great excitement and fun for her children. Reading the children’s memories it’s amazing how many recall raiding the staffroom for cakes and biscuits. ------------------------------------------- Like everyone here I suspect, I have a clear memory of my first meeting with Margaret, in my case some 20 years ago. On the day of my interview for the post of head teacher of the soon to be built Mountfields Lodge, all of the candidates were led to Lodge Farm to meet the staff and spend time in classrooms. In most rooms we entered, a quiet and easily manageable activity had been arranged. … Not in Margaret’s nursery. The nursery was awash with trays of bright blue finger paint mixed with glue. So there, in turn, in our interview finery, Margaret put the six candidates through her own interviewing test. I don’t know how the others performed but I know that for me it relieved the tension of the day, for a while at least, and that the children enjoyed seeing how widely the blue and glue could be spread…. I don’t know if I passed Margaret’s test but what an experience we all provided for the children. (I don’t think I ever got all of the colour from my suit.) I think that this memory illustrates some, at least, of the many sides to Margaret’s character. As we will all know, Margaret, loved the unorthodox and would question what she thought were unnecessary restraints, particularly on the range of stimulating activities for children. And this is the overwhelming theme that comes from so many of our memories. Parents, children and staff all focus upon the wonderfully special environment that she created. I can’t begin to retell all of the stories that I have received. Perhaps the best way is to recreate some of the pictures that have come into our minds when thinking of Margaret over these sad days; for the pictures are not sad and Margaret would be the last to want our sadness. We all share pictures of Margaret sitting barefoot on the floor, surrounded, almost covered by children wanting to be close to her, while she told or retold a story that had the children eager for every word. Or perhaps in our minds we hear her singing a mischievous song, intended to shock the children into uncontrolled giggles. One person who worked with her described Margaret as having a unique approach to teaching; a view I think shared by us all. This was an approach that had a huge influence on others. Her working life with children and the humour that her colleagues so cherished, was built upon a conviction that, at all times, children must feel valued. Another picture in our minds is of Margaret, at the back of a staff meeting, wishing she weren’t there and endeavouring to find the humour in every occasion, even in the joys of the Foundation Stage guidelines. We can see her whispering and sharing looks with others to keep up their spirits, often, in one colleague’s words, saying things that she shouldn’t say and doing things that she perhaps shouldn’t do. I know, however, as I suspect all of those sitting at the front of those meetings knew, that despite her, how shall I say, individual ways, Margaret was the most supportive and encouraging of friends for those working around her. --------------------------------------- She was, someone wrote, an exuberant life force, leaving mini whirlwinds behind her……… Sometimes for others to clear up! She may have been an administrative nightmare when it came to the dinner book or to collecting trip money but we all knew that she ensured that children did not go without and that we and they were working with an inspirational teacher. And despite what I have read from her accomplices, I have to say that I never saw Margaret throw the first Brussels sprout during Christmas lunch………. but I’m sure she did. ---------------------- Margaret was so often the first real contact parents had with school. Many have told me of just how approachable she was for them. Those first steps into the wider world that children take when they begin nursery or school provide such fears even for the most confident of parents. The ease with which they could approach Margaret helped enormously. I know from things that I have been told and from what I was able to observe just what an influence Margaret had on children’s parents. Several have described how she boosted their confidence and provided solace at difficult times. Many became continuing friends, a group who would know that they had Margaret’s ear whenever they needed support… or a trip out. Things might not always have run smoothly. Margaret rang up one mum to ask if her daughter had her hair cut in a fringe when the day started. The mum, rather surprised, replied that she did not. ‘Well … she does now,’ Margaret told her. This could have been the start of a major row but the mum believed in Margaret and, no doubt when she got over the shock, she did not feel the need to write to the head or chair of governors with a complaint. Parents got to know Margaret as well as anyone in school. They knew that Margaret was providing, in one parent’s words, ‘an amazing start to school life, a widely shared view. -------------------------------------- And so to children. What do the children say of Margaret? One of her colleagues described her as ‘a pied piper who children flocked to,’ and this brings another picture to mind…. of Margaret standing surrounded by a group of slightly abashed boys and girls while another adult looks on. “Who is your favourite teacher?” Margaret is saying encouragingly to the children. But the children didn’t need convincing. I have read lots of letters written to Margaret telling her the answer. She gave them cuddles, she made them laugh and sometimes cry with emotion. She provided just that touch of fear and danger that children love when they know that they are in a safe place really. (The availability of lunch at 9:30 and the promises of biscuits were not necessary but they helped too.) There are also lots of examples of the answer in the children’s writing. ….Picture the little boy who wrote about his Halloween experience of delving deep into cold spaghetti for looking for sweets. Not too horrific it would seem. It was, he wrote, ‘the best thing he’d ever done,’ ………well it was that day anyway, for other excitements would follow on other days. ….Or the little girl who feigned dismay at finding her teddy suspended from the ceiling in a toy adventure of Margaret’s invention. She knew that really it was for fun and that her bear, like her, would be quite safe. Several people mentioned the saying that everyone remembers their favourite teacher. Well Margaret didn’t really have to ask. For so many of the children who she cared for, Margaret will be that most remembered and favourite teacher. And for many parents and colleagues too. ………………………… One family sent in a poem which sums up their thoughts on Margaret it includes the line, ‘A special smile, a special face,’ There is no doubt, Margaret has a special place in all our memories. My last picture and one I know that many will share…. Margaret is standing paint splattered, with paint splattered children attached to her arms and legs….. and she has a slightly mischievous grin on her face. Margaret was, above all, a great friend to many people at Mountfields Lodge and schools before. Her work with children was only part of her influence on those whose lives she touched. We all are thankful to her family who shared her life with us. I’m confident that the many very happy memories we have of her will, eventually, provide a balance to our current sadness.