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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To feel unsettled about the school yard this morning?

94 replies

CantGiveAnyMore · 07/11/2014 09:17

I do have anxiety, and way overthink things!

Normally in the yard in the morning, there are members of staff outside, for about 15 minutes before bell goes, then the teachers all come out and take their class in.

This morning there was no one in the yard at all, and the door wasn't opened until a good 5 minutes after the bell goes. Then only 3 teachers came out. And sent the other children in without their teachers.

The staff who did come out did not look happy!

Both my children's teachers came out, but I still feel very uneasy and unsettled. Am I overeacting or would this make you feel uneasy too?

OP posts:

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:22

Well maybe it's because I'm similar to the OP. As soon as I read her first post I just knew that's where her mind had gone to...it's not a nice way to be...I do it now and then too. Usually when I'm generally stressed out but the important thing is that she recognised it to be an unlikely scenario. Just as I do.

MsVestibule · 07/11/2014 10:23

Of all the barking theories I could have come up with (and I could have come up with a few), hijacking would not have been on that list .

OP, would it set your mind at rest if you phoned the school?

TheCowThatLaughs · 07/11/2014 10:23

Thanks Claw! Does make me feel better. I would be ok leaving ds but quite often have that thought about school being hijacked anyway when dropping him off for some reason. I suppose it's just about the worst thing I can think of happening. I know it's not likely to happen and I can get on with my life fine, but I'm only realising recently that I have some thoughts that are quite odd and that other people don't have.
Sorry to hear that there are others who are having these kind of intrusive, horrible thoughts too

ChippingInAutumnLover · 07/11/2014 10:23

I'm sorry you suffer with such awful anxiety :(

I'd have been curious, but nothing more. It'll be cutbacks, ousted, illness or a death etc. something sad/difficult/upsetting for the staff, but nothing for you to worry about.

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:25

Cow that's it....I think they are intrusive thoughts. I tend to deal with mine by imagining the whole thing being "fixed" by some super hero or similar and then the worry just goes away.

You know now..that it won't be anything worth thinking about. Get on with your day, don't phone up....it's fine. x

TheJiminyConjecture · 07/11/2014 10:25

I'd say (from experience) an emergency staff meeting was held for one of the following reasons:
Ofsted
Bad news (death/serious illness) of a colleague or a pupil
Serious incident regarding a pupil or safeguarding issue

You'll only be told if there is a need for you to know. So don't worry if you don't hear anything either. It's disconcerting when you pick up on atmospheres but try not to worry

Bowlersarm · 07/11/2014 10:28

I'd be jittery too OP. Its not the norm, and I would wonder what was going on.

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:32

Also Cow when something like this happens, I tend to get it out of my system by conferring with other parents. So I'd just approach another Mum or Dad and say "Something's not usual today...." and then they will acknowledge it too and air some ideas about what it could be.

I always ask others now about things which make me anxious in general.

I get so anxious about normal things that it's just part of life now. I suppose I should do something about it really. For instance...we're going to a fireworks display on Saturday and I have gone through a million terrible scenarios in my mind....I have to deal with them...they just happen in my head and I don't know how to get rid.

Hakluyt · 07/11/2014 10:35

Well if someone hijacked the school, it was unhijacked pretty damn quickly- well done that staff!

OFSTED. Serious child protection issue. Boiler breaking down. Death of a teacher or a child. Massive hole in the roof over the hall and water everywhere.

TheObligatoryNotQuiteSoNewGirl · 07/11/2014 10:35

I highly doubt it's OFSTED, as that would be a massive amount of notice to be given (they only come Tuesday-Wednesday or Wednesday-Thursday, and don't have to give notice by 2pm on the day prior to their visit, so the Monday or Tuesday. To get notice on a Friday morning would be a wonderful situation for the school to get, but highly unlikely). More likely it was an emergency staff meeting for one of the reasons given by a pp.

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:37

Hak Yes....domestic issue probably. Or teacher turning up stinking of wine and stumbling through the corridor and singing "Show me the way to go home!"

Original poster

CantGiveAnyMore · 07/11/2014 10:37

I'm sorry other people feel like me too, as it's not a nice way to feel, but it's nice to have some understanding if you know what I mean?

And yes hijacking did go through my head too

I know there is a lot of change at the moment, especially this past week (I have a bit of involvement in school, which I think might be worse sometimes as I get to know bits, but not the whole picture if you know what I mean?)

I'm very sensitive to picking up on things too, and can read people well (not claiming to be psychic or anything but I do pick up on atmospheres and people's feelings).

Things are very unsettled at the moment and I think any little thing sets my radar off.

OP posts:

Hakluyt · 07/11/2014 10:37

OP- if I were you, I'd ring the school and say that your dd was a bit upset this morning and you just wanted to check that she was OK. Then you'll know that everything's normal at school and you can stop worrying.

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:38

Can't me too! Re picking up on atmospheres and slight changes in mood.

OpalQuartz · 07/11/2014 10:40

If it was hijacking they'd have left the kids on the playground rather than usher them in and it would be on the news by now, so don't worry about that.

Bowlersarm · 07/11/2014 10:40

OP - yes, do what Hak suggests - and then report back to us .

odyssey2001 · 07/11/2014 10:41

Really? Overreacting much?

Don't ring the school, don't interfere and don't fan the flames by spreading this any further. The operational business of the school is not your concern. The children are in school being taught and that is all that matters. End of story.

DuchessofNorks · 07/11/2014 10:43

The Cow, Claw - Ditto! Then I brushed it off as ridiculous and went down a list which went:

Death
Illness
Ofsted
Bad news (beloved Head leaving in horrible circumstance)
Full team bollocking
Bad day
Unfortunate coincodence in which most teachers call in sick

Its how an anxious mind can work sometimes

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:45

Odyssey I don't think OP should call either.

Norks that's it! I am such an anxious person that I regularly do a sort it "drill" in my mind about how I would vanquish hijackers or kidnappers or what I'd do in a bomb scare.

JubJubBirds · 07/11/2014 10:46

Don't call the school.
If it is something awful (death/illness) they won't tell you anyway unless they decide to tell all the parents via a letter - in which case you'll find out anyway if you're patient.
If it's a safeguarding issue or similar that doesnt concern the parents as a whole then you just need to accept (as frustrating as it is) that you'll never know.

If there is a problem and you call up about it it'll just cause more stress for the staff.

TheCowThatLaughs · 07/11/2014 10:50

Claw, yes I agree re talking to others, then you start to realise that most people aren't having these thoughts and that has helped me to feel a lot less anxious generally.

UniS · 07/11/2014 10:51

I recon it has been an alein infiltration. All the staff had been rounded up and were being absorded into the entity. Those who came out to collect the children were but husks and all the children will have fed to the entity by now. Goodness knows what will come home at 3.30, but I'd check carefully for tentacles at bath time.

IAmAPaleontologist · 07/11/2014 10:52

On Monday we were all standing in the playground, it got to 5 past 9 and the bell still hadn't gone, there was no member of staff out as the only one had taken a child with a bloody nose in to school. Then the caretaker who is also the school crossing lady flew round the corner still wearing her big yellow crossing coat and dashed into the school with a panicked look on her face. We were all a bit restless anyway and wondered what on Earth was going on. Turned out the caretaker had forgotten to turn the bell back on after half term and none of the staff had noticed the time .

Op I hope all is well. Sounds like there has likely been some bad news.

ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 07/11/2014 10:54

Unit NO! Not THE ENTITY!! The other day when I went in the newsagents, he was slow getting the paper and I thought "It's got to be The Entity!"

Cyclopsbee · 07/11/2014 10:55

This happened a couple of years ago at my DC secondary school, turns out the head had walked out during/after an ofsted inspection,
Of course the school went into panic mode (staff,not kids!) and as it was a secondary school all the children knew what had happened.
A note was sent out the same day explains everything

I'm sure if it's anything concerning then the school will inform you

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