The Bereaved Teacher

This is extraordinary and not something that I've ever experienced, but today, I am experiencing what can only be termed as "job bereavement".

Now before you think I'm going doolally, I should explain that it's the teachers I'm missing, not the students! Working as we do in a challenging environment, I for one, feel as though these people are members of my extended family. Over the year or two we spent time together, we went through so much, that the resulting wonderful friendships we formed mean a great deal to me.

As a result, I am finding it hard to contemplate never working with these fellow teachers and friends again.

If you are a teacher, you will probably understand exactly what it is I am trying to express here. Teaching is not like an office job. We don't say goodbye at 5 pm and disappear into the ether of the weekend. Some of us still communicate with each other when the school gates are bolted and the lights in the building have long been extinguished - and this is the bit that I'm finding the hardest to accept.

So if you're a teacher and you know where I'm coming from, please send me some positive thoughts, because right now, the idea of starting at a new school in September without my special teaching buddies fills me with nothing but dread.