It has not been a good week for the people of Mansfield. Yesterday we awoke to the news that a 49-year-old teacher at our local catholic secondary school had been arrested after allegedly attacking a pupil in the classroom. Over the course of the day more details came out and it turned out that there were three pupils involved. One, Jack Waterhouse, is still seriously ill in the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
This is a small community and quite a tight-knit one where everyone knows everyone else. I used to attend All Saints'. I didn't know the accused teacher, Peter Harvey, but I know people who did and they describe him as a lovely, caring man. Clearly, something went very wrong in the classroom that day. Investigations are still under way but it is only a matter of time before we are all provided with the crucial details of what happened.
Up at the school yesterday it was business as normal on the surface, but with the press camped outside the atmosphere on the school bus home was subdued as the pupils and parents still seemed to be taking in what happened.
IJ is too young to know what is going on although she has seen All Saints' School on the news and recognises the place, the school bus takes us there every day to collect the older children on our way home. The older children are full of questions, none of which I can answer.
The mood is one of shock and sadness, and people are still asking why?
Thankfully IJ is holding her 6th birthday party tomorrow, thankfully her mind is on other things.
