Day in the life of Sarah Perrin…
I like to be in work by 7.45am each day as it gives a lovely quiet hour to get some paperwork done before the chaos of a school day ensues, Thursday was no exception. I have three main roles in school I teach Geography, I’m Head of Year 7 (which means that I have responsibility for the social & moral wellbeing and academic progression of 250 pupils) and I mentor failing/struggling teachers. 
Before school a couple of kids popped into the office to collect their daily report that monitors their behaviour. Then during form time I saw some girls who were worried that their friend was being bullied, promising them I’d sort it out before the end of the day (adding it to my long ‘to do’ list). Period one I was working with a teacher on behaviour management, she has a class of all year 10 boys – rather her than me – but she is making good progress. During break time I had my weekly meeting with my form representatives. After which I taught three lessons in a row.
When lunchtime finally arrived I made it back to my office to touch base with my pastoral assistant, to see what has been going on with the year group. Fortunately it was a quiet morning so we sat down for a quick 10 minute lunch and had a chat about our plans for the weekend, which for me includes talking about going to church.
It isn’t long before I’m talking to various people about a number of ongoing (and a couple of new) issues. In between all this I sort through my ‘to do’ list deciding what is most important for the rest of the day. I phoned a couple of parents and responded to a few e-mails that have come in before I saw the pupils involved with the alleged bullying incident. It was very sad talking to the girl involved as although I wouldn’t necessarily label it bullying a few people haven’t been particularly nice to her. However combined with this she’s been keeping a lot to herself for a number of weeks which have compounded the problem, so we had a long chat about how to deal with such issues. I then saw the other pupils involved who fortunately were very honest and admitted their part in it and accepted their punishment gracefully.
It was soon time for year 10 parents evening for, which lasted for 4 hours, by the time I got home, I was incredibly grateful to my lovely housemate who had made dinner.
So how is this a life of rescue? Well as can be seen I come into contact with a huge number of people per day (on Thursday I would estimate it was 150-175), and each one has their own issues. Whilst I am not allowed to be overt with sharing my faith with pupils I try to show each one of them that they are valued by the way that I treat them and by showing interest in each one of them. Also when I am dealing with problems and giving advice I try to use biblical principles for how to act. With my colleagues I can be more open although with most of them this is normally just mentioning church in conversations about the weekend etc. I also would hope that they would say they see a difference in how I treat them and how I deal with pupils. All I can do is continue to pray that God will use me and continue to give me the patience and strength to deal with the huge range of issues that arise on a daily basis.
