Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
‘Are you ready?’ Annie leaned her hands against the doorframe as she peered into Gemma’s classroom.
‘Yep, just coming.’ Placing the planning sheet she had been annotating back on her desk, Gemma picked up her notebook and pen.
She could feel her stomach churning with nerves.
She hadn’t been able to focus all day, what with the anticipation and worry of the news her colleagues were going to learn in this meeting, and because this would be the first time she’d be facing Jonathan since their talk yesterday.
‘Tania is meeting us there, she needed to go and check something with Joanne.’
‘Okay.’ Standing aside, she let Gemma pass before they walked along the corridor towards the hall. ‘What do you think this is going to be about then? Adam reckons it’s some exciting news, such as a royal visitor or dates for the remedial work on the building.’
‘We’ll find out soon enough, I guess.’ Piercing her pen through her messy bun, Gemma held her notebook against her chest. Adam was sure going to be disappointed.
They all would be. Nothing like this had ever happened before in Woodland Primary, certainly not in her years of teaching here, anyway.
They’d been new jobs being created, new staff members, not this.
Not redundancies. People wouldn’t expect this.
Jonathan’s news would be a complete bombshell to them. And she’d encouraged him to tell them.
‘We’re in the hall, remember.’ Lydia exited the staff room with a mug of steaming coffee in hand before pulling the door to the hall open and holding it open for them.
‘Thanks.’ Stepping through into the hall, Gemma paused.
She wasn’t sure the last time she’d seen so many staff members in one room before.
Their Christmas celebration meal, probably, but even then, there had been so many of them that the pub had had to split them across tables.
Here, though, Jonathan had fashioned the chairs into a huge circle, of which most of them were already taken.
‘Come on, there are some chairs over there.’ Annie tugged on Gemma’s jumper and led the way towards the further edge of the circle.
Slipping between the chairs, Gemma sat down and then realized she was positioned directly opposite Jonathan, of all people.
Meeting his eye, she gave him a quick, encouraging smile.
This was the right thing to do. She was sure of it.
Even more so now that she was here in the hall with all her colleagues.
Each and every one of them deserved to know the truth, they deserved to know what was happening and how rocky the future here at Woodland Primary may be for them.
Jonathan flicked through a folder on his lap as he waited for the last of the seats to be filled. Gemma could see the nervous tic in his jaw, and it was taking all her restraint not to rush over there and stand by his side.
Finally, Adam, the last of all to arrive, slipped quietly into the last vacant chair, and Jonathan stood up, carefully placing his folder on the chair behind him.
Tugging at his tie, he forced a smile. ‘Thank you, everyone, for coming. I appreciate that this meeting is in addition to your required hours and that you are all here in your own time. I shall do my best to repay the favour.’
‘We’re just excited to know what the news is.’ Adam was the first to speak up.
‘Ha, he reckons you’ve had news we’re having a royal visit.’ Lydia crossed her arms. ‘I told him it’s more likely to be an Ofsted visit.’
An audible groan erupted from those seated, and Gemma caught Jonathan’s eye again, this time giving him a small nod as though to say, go on, tell them.
‘Er, no, we’re not due Ofsted for a while yet. Hopefully.’ Jonathan held his palm up to silence the sighs of relief. ‘But the news I have may be worse than that.’
‘Really? What can be worse than having to endure the stress of Ofsted?’ Tania shook her head.
Jonathan tugged on his tie again. ‘Ever since arriving here, I’ve been debating whether to share this information with you at all.
But after discussions with someone whose opinion I trust, I have decided you all have the right to know and that perhaps we might just be able to work together for the good of the school. ’
He trusted her opinion? She tried to catch his eye again, but he was looking around the room, as though to weigh up what the reaction might be.
‘There is no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come straight out and tell you.
The school is in financial trouble. We are two hundred thousand pounds in deficit to be exact, and I have been asked to make up the shortfall.
’ He paused, waiting for the shocked chatter amongst the staff members to subside before he continued.
‘The easiest route, and what the academy trust is expecting, is for there to be redundancies.’
‘Redundancies? Who?’
‘We’re going to lose our jobs?’
‘How many of us are going to be made redundant?’
Jonathan stood stock-still as people flung questions in his direction, and Gemma could almost see each one cause as much damage as a true punch would.
After a few minutes, when the hall had lapsed into an uneasy silence once more, Jonathan reached down and picked up his folder.
Tapping it with one hand, he looked around the room, his eyes meeting every single person’s gaze except for Gemma’s.
‘In this folder there are budget sheets, cost analysis and all sorts of other spreadsheets I have changed and tweaked in an attempt to locate the money but the truth is, even if I was to tell you there would be no ordering of resources, no paid visits in or out of the school and the roof would remain in its current state for another year, there just aren’t enough savings. ’
Again, the room erupted into nervous chatter, and Gemma watched as Jonathan sank into his chair. She couldn’t just sit here and watch; she had to do something, say something in support of him. Just as she was about to stand up, he untied his tie and tore it from his collar before standing up again.
Taking a deep breath, Jonathan held a hand up to silence the room and spoke again.
This time his voice was firm, authoritative, hopeful even.
‘I’m not telling you all so you go away and worry about what might or might not happen, I’m being open about this as a problem because someone advised me that this school is strong, that you’re all here because you believe in the good work you do, because you care for the children who attend and the families and the local community.
I’m telling you because I’ll be damned if I’m walking into this school and making redundancies in my first term here.
I’m telling because I’m asking for your help.
I believe we have hope, and between us we might just be able to work together and fix this. ’
Gemma looked around the room. Everyone was silent, an almost tangible air of hope hanging between them all. She grinned. She’d known he’d be able to do this. She’d known he’d be able to encourage the support he needed, the support they all needed.
‘With some help, I’ve found places where we can save money and also ways to build our income as a school, such as hiring out the hall to more clubs.
And I’ll want you the next few years won’t be pretty, we’ll have to make cutbacks, and there’ll be no new laptops, no fancy theatre company visits, heck, no unlimited supply of poster paints, but I do believe if we can all pool our ideas and work together, then we stand a chance. ’
Lydia raised her hand, waiting for him to nod at her before she spoke. ‘So, no one will lose their jobs?’
Jonathan rubbed his palm across the stubble on his chin, another sign of the stress he’d been under recently. ‘Not if I can help it. I can’t and won’t make any promises, but I will reassure you all that redundancies will be the last resort.’
‘Right, well, what can we do to help then?’ Adam spoke.
With his shoulders visibly relaxing, Jonathan turned and nodded towards Joanne who had been waiting patiently at the back of the hall, holding a box of paperwork.
‘Joanne will pass around copies of the basic budget and the current list of ideas to save and raise money. All I ask is that you each take a look and if you see anything where money could be saved or ways in which we can increase our income, then add it to the list.’
‘Will we be able to discuss our ideas? All together?’ Bertie asked.
‘The last thing I want to do is ask you to give up any more of your time.’ Jonathan frowned.
‘I’m happy to come in at the weekend and talk our ideas through.
Perhaps we could have a quick audit to see what resources we already have?
’ Lydia glanced around the room, waiting for people to nod in agreement before she carried on.
‘I know there are resource cupboards in every year group. And we all probably know of stock we won’t be using in our classes.
We could check to see what we have and if other classes can use them instead of ordering new stuff? ’
‘That’s a good idea. We’ve got loads of clay in our ear group, and we don’t even use it.’ Adam shrugged.
‘It won’t raise much, but every little will help, won’t it?’ Lydia asked.
Jonathan dragged his hand across his face. ‘Yes, thank you. This is what we need; we need to find creative ways to save money.’
‘That’s decided then. I’m coming in Saturday morning. Anyone else?’ Lydia looked around the hall as the majority of staff members raised their hands and nodded in agreement.
‘I can’t pay you...’
‘We know, but you’re right, we all love this place, and we won’t allow redundancies without doing our best.’ After taking the paperwork from Joanne, Lydia stood up and waved it in the air. ‘Right, I’m off home to read through this. I’ll see you in the morning.’
With Lydia leading the way, almost everyone else left behind her, clutching their paperwork. Many passed and threw a heartfelt ‘thank you’ or words of encouragement towards Jonathan on their way out of the hall.
‘I can’t come in on Saturday. I would if I could, but I can’t.’ Annie turned to Gemma and waved her paperwork in front of her as though cooling herself down. ‘I feel awful.’
‘Don’t. You weren’t to know, and Jonathan himself said he doesn’t expect everyone to. Heck, it wasn’t even he who suggested it.’ Gemma placed her hand on Annie’s arm, stilling her paper.
‘But what if he thinks it’s because I don’t care? What if that moves me up the list of possible people to make redundant? I can’t lose my job, we won’t cope on one wage alone. We’ll lose the house, the cars, the...’
‘Annie, stop. Jonathan hasn’t got a list. He’s told us all and asked for our help because he doesn’t want to make anyone redundant. You’ll be fine.’
Annie nodded. ‘Okay, okay. I’ll go and speak to him. I’ll explain this weekend’s trip to Scotland has been arranged for months, but I can come in any other time.’
‘Good idea.’ Gemma smiled as she watched Annie gather her things and go and speak to Jonathan.
‘Well, this is all a little wild, isn’t it?’ Tania sat down in the chair Annie had just vacated. ‘Good though. It’s good he’s sharing this all with us. And if we can’t save the money together, then at least we’ll know he’s done all he can to prevent anyone from losing their jobs. That we all have.’
‘Yes, it is good.’ Gemma nodded.
‘Right, well, I’m going to get off now. I’ve got a hot date this evening, but I’ll be sure to take a read through these before I go to bed,’ Tania stood up before looking down at Gemma. ‘Chin up, girl. Everything will turn out for the best.’
Gemma looked down at the budget sheet in her hands.
She wasn’t so sure of that. Maybe, hopefully, things would be fine in regard to the school, but her and Jonathan’s relationship was most definitely a non-starter.
And she had to admit, it broke her heart.
Jonathan was the first person she’d had feelings for since Reece, and yet here they were trapped in an impossible position.
She pushed herself to her feet and left the hall.