Mixed emotions

On Wednesday night, my son was in the Rock Challenge, http://www.arrowsmith.demon.co.uk/cal07.htm

it is always a very emotional time for me anyway, as to see your child up on stage when you didn't know if they were even going to survive at birth , but then with him being 'special' makes you realise how difficult life is for them to be excepted, you start to see things through a different light. Not many specials school preform in the Rock Challenge and I think ours was the first here in this area about 6/7 years ago.

This year it was different though, as it was the first time with his new school, (his last school where he had been for nearly 12 years, closed Feb just gone, where them and another special school combined to make one new one with new head etc. Long story, 6 years of fighting in fact), anyway like I said it was the first for them, still felt a great pride in seeing him and his friends up there on the Guildhall Stage, (yes, tears in the old eyes, LOL) but something was missing, think it was the staff you had done it the last 6/7 years, a lot of them had stayed on with the new school, but some did not and one in particular had no choice in the matter, with a new Head meant a change in the top jobs, the new Head decided instead of a Deputy Head she would have 3 Assistant Heads, which meant no job for the lady in question, as she was the Deputy Head of our old school. She had been there even before my son started the school at the age of 4, she had been his teacher and worked her way up to the Deputy Heads job, we never always saw eye to eye, but she always listened., she was always there and Wednesday night was no exception, she just could not, not be there to support us, so she came along and saw it from our side, the audience.

It must have been very hard for her, seeing what she had started, as she was the rock to us doing the Rock challenge, without her determination/hard work, we would not had done even one, let alone 7. It shows what true dedications she has to special children, the children eyes lit up on seeing her, even tears as they were hoping she was going to dance with them (but of course she could not as she is now nothing to do with the new school, worse luck).

I feel as a parent with special child that I owe her a lot, because she bought a 'norm' into our children's life, proving that we were as good as the other schools, and to be honest the 'other' schools took a pride in seeing and working along side our special children,

So a very big THANK YOU JULIE, for giving our son and us, a side to life in which we would never have normally been able to see, I feel it a privilege to have known you and that you were apart of our lives, Thanks.