After the children had gone to bed and all was quiet, or relatively quiet, staff conversation could begin. Sometimes it was about the children: who had fallen out with whom, or, incidents that had amused the staff during the day. For example, one boy was asked whether he had a different top to wear as he had been seen with the same one since he arrived. “No,” he announced, “my mum only packed this one.”
Personalities were mentioned freely whether it was the boss back home, other members of the teaching staff, members of the family or even plans for the future. Being able to laugh or to take being laughed at, in other words having the craic, was all part of it. Some were better than others but what was not needed was an anxious person constantly worrying about very small details. Consequently, choosing the right individuals was important. Some might argue that every staff member should go on a residential visit but I believed some were cut out for it and some weren’t.
Before Sunday lunch there was always an aperitif, crème de cassis with white wine—kir—and the lunch itself lasted longer than usual because faffing about with artichokes and a whole crab could take a long time, especially if you didn’t know what you were doing.
A knock on the staff room door.
“Come.”
“Mrs George wants to know what you’d like us to do?”
“Free time until two and then meet on the terrace.”
“Mrs George told me to tell you that my tooth came out last night.”
“Of course, you were chewing sweets.”
“How did you know?”
“There are very few secrets at Kersaliou.”
“Scary!”
Sunday afternoon, there might have been a test match played at Le Dossen beach, Santec, but plans were very fluid and much depended on the weather.
What about targets, lesson plans and the formal assessment of the children’s work? What about them? In Brittany, they were all banned, dismissed, an irrelevance. Teachers looked at children’s work and discussed it with them. That was it.
If it was raining, then perhaps a visit to the calvaries at Saint Thégonnec and Guimiliau was a possibility. A walk around Morlaix? Another reserve venue, but often played anyway, was the Chapelle St. Pierre in the cemetery grounds in St Pol. This small chapel had the most wonderful stained glass windows dotted all around the walls which could be sketched and then coloured back at the château or school. A particular favourite, of course, was the topless figure of Eve in the Garden of Eden. The atmosphere inside was always tranquil and there could be thirty children at fifteen different windows and not a sound for thirty minutes.
Another fallback was a rehearsal for a leaving show. This could include an individual song, a duet, a joke, a dance or part of the always excellent annual drama production that had been performed back at school and in local competitions. One year, after supper, part of Romeo and Juliet was carried out from an upstairs balcony to an audience sitting at the front of the château. A school inspector might have commented, “So full of awe and wonder.”
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