The teachers, the tutors,

the staff, the head, the unpaid support workers

all bend their head in silent prayer,

know that the God of school simply doesn’t care

about their plight

their lot in life,

their unsaid collective fear

that there will never be a person to emerge from any year

who will make the school stand out

give the badge and crest some polish and stout

who they can hold up as a shining example,

the one person for whom they can, with gushing pride, let new pupils sample