First Day Back

What would happen if a teacher absconded, during a school trip, with an ex-pupil? Would the pupils in her care return to school safely? How would their parents be likely to react? How would the school cope? What would staff members think? What would the Headmaster do? These, and other questions are answered in Keith Redfern's first novel, which provides some of the back story to Apportionment of Blame. Set in the late 80s, it describes the first day of a Spring Term in an English Comprehensive School. Fresh and well rested from their Christmas break, everyone should be ready to face the challenges ahead. But staff members are frustrated by current changes in education, and particularly those which affect the running of their school. Many are considering leaving the profession, and the Head of Music appears to have found the ideal route in Corfu, during a Mediterranean cruise. But she is with a man ten years her junior. Someone of dubious reputation, who has swept her off her feet, causing her to forget the likely consequences of her actions for those in her care, for the colleagues she has abandoned and for her own professional future. The mild mannered Headmaster is thrown into a panic of confusion. What should be done? What can be done? With visits from a school inspector, members of the press and a drunken caretaker, then a Governors' Meeting to cope with, this is his day from hell. As money is tight, schools are now controlled by accountants. Bizarre changes have been enacted, including the introduction of a footballer style transfer system for teachers, and classroom lights which switch off automatically when a lesson ends, in order to save energy. Sniffing a new scandal, members of the local press clamour for information where it can be found, from pupils, members of the cruise party, irate parents, and members of the school staff, if they can be persuaded to talk. Meanwhile teachers try to get on with their day as normally as possible. Rumours abound and the unfolding situation only makes the day harder for those who have additional responsibilities than just teaching. The author's personal experience as a Head of Department in a Comprehensive School gives his account a level of authenticity rarely found in novels in this setting. Events occur at such speed that the reader finds it almost impossible to put this book down before the surprising and amusing denouement is revealed.