This is what the news yesterday did to me. And I wasn't really in an environment where I could write down the scene that was creating itself in my head.

But this is one of the ways that the show could reopen. And, if I being honest, I think this might now be the only way for me.

I've written this in first person, basically, so it could fit with whoever you want it to be the head. We all can guess who I would love it to be but, being realistic, that's never going to happen. Hence why I have been rather vague with who we are following (it could be an old teacher or an ex-pupil. You can take your pick)...

Enjoy this...

The Reopening

"I'm sorry. You want to do what?"

There had been no hesitation in my voice. Mainly because this hasn't been the first meeting that I'd had about the proposition.

Once I'd heard that the move to Scotland hadn't been as successful as everyone had hoped, leading to the school being closed down only a year after it had been 'saved', the idea hit me. And it wouldn't let go.

It had been a long five years. There was all the planning and getting support. There was finding an appropriate building or groups of buildings (which just happened to be another school that failed) and raising the capital to buy it before with developers did.

Now it was just convincing the local council and the LEA. There was going to be resistance. The school was still known by reputation alone.

But the reputation wasn't the school. I had been there. I had known the school for what it truly was. The school was a family. There had been tragedy but there had been the good times as well. The school was never going to be the best at but even I knew that there was more to school than grades. That was the one thing that I had taken away from my time at the school.

"The governors and I want to reopen Waterloo Road."

"Absolutely not. There is no way that school is reopening." David Lang, one of the counsellors and the chair of the meeting, said.

"Did anyone here actually go to the school? Or even just visit the school? If you know the school by reputation alone, then you don't know the school and you don't understand what it meant to me or the students or the teachers. Waterloo Road was always more than a school. And it always has and always will be."

I knew that I had one ally on the board and to see Ria Cheetham smile at me was a great relief. Ria had actually come to me once the application process had started. She had helped after the first refusal and even more so after the second, getting herself and an ex-pupil on the committee and, somehow, managed to change a few minds. Ria was the reason for the current meeting and I knew that there was nothing more that she could do. Meaning this was all up to me.

"There have been a few tragedies at the school." Claire Reed, the proper LEA representative, said. "You can't hide the fact that our high number of students and teachers have died at school."

"And we mourned them all like their families did. Because Waterloo Road was a family. Take Tom Clarkson. I don't know one person who wasn't devastated to hear of his death. I can remember the rows of flowers left outside the school for Maxine Barlow. The memorial left for Adam Dearden. There was even a few surprised reactions to Grantley Budgen's death. We have a past. It can't be forgotten."

"You won't get anyone to teach there." Will Doxey, another councillor, said.

"I already have an English department, all ready to hand in their notice is the moment we get the go-ahead. Maths and Science are pretty much there as well. We have a couple of interviews next week for Modern Foreign Languages, History and ICT. Week after for Geography and PE. I've got the teachers if you would just give it a chance."

"Who would be the head of the school?" David said.

"Well, why do you think I'm talking to you? A revival of Waterloo Road needs someone who knew the key values that the original school had. Who better than me?"

I knew that wasn't going to be challenged. And it was the perfect solution to the problem. I had been the head of all this. The front person. It was only fair that once we got the go-ahead that I was to take up the reigns.

And I knew that everyone was running out of arguments and that was the reason why they asked me to leave the room while they deliberated.

I rose out of my chair and thank them for their time before I tried to make it across the room without tripping over, the nerves filling in me again. My hands were shaking as I reached for the door handle and I let out a shaky breath after I left the room.

This was it.

The final hurdle.

It would be horrible to fall now.

"How did it go?"

I looked up at the person who would become my deputy (not that they knew that yet as I was waiting for the go-ahead before I put together my senior management team).

"I'm still optimistic," I said.

"Well, you sold the school to me."

"I didn't sell you anything. You knew the school for what it was as well."

We smiled at each other before they handed me a bottle of water, with me only realising how dry my throat had become. I took the seat next to them and I knew that was all the small talk we were going to have for the time being. We would talk more once we knew the decision.

It was in that wait that I thought over my time at Waterloo Road and I became more convinced that it was the right thing to do. There were students out there that needed a school like Waterloo Road to be able to make something of themselves. A school like Waterloo Road would help get some of those students to leave with a lot more than they thought they would.

My heart was ready to jump out of my chest as they called my name and, this time, I wasn't alone in the room. I had the person who have been by my side and who I always hoped would always be there.

"I think that we can agree that Waterloo Road wasn't without its controversies," David said. "But we have come to the agreement that it wouldn't be fair to tarnish the school with the same brush as the old one was. Maybe it is just a name. Maybe if it was given another chance, it could surprise us all. So on that basis and the current situation of the schools being overcrowded... your proposal for reopening Waterloo Road has been granted."

I didn't care for the reluctance in his voice. All I cared about was the result and I couldn't stop myself from turning to my deputy and hugging them. It seemed like a better reaction to have than jumping around the room as I punched the air. I was sure that I laughed as well. This had been it. The hard work hadn't been for nothing. We had been successful.

"There are a few conditions before you open your doors." David continued. "By the end of the month, the LEA will need a list of teachers and those that you've chosen to be your heads of department. We will also need your senior management team."

"Well, I can do part of that now," I said before turning back to my deputy. "Because there's no one else that I would want by my side as my deputy than you. You have been unflappable in the face of some of the problems that we have faced and that is the sort of person I want by my side. I know that if I ask you to get something sorted then you will or you'll find the appropriate person to sort it. If there is something that Waterloo Road has always needed and most of the time got, it was a strong, united senior management team. And... it would be crazy for me to ask anyone else to be my deputy than you."

I did wonder whether I had put them on the spot. I suppose it was a conversation that we should have had in private but it was something that I had wanted to do weeks ago. But in that moment, I felt like I had to throw caution to the wind. They had already said that they would join the school. This was just giving them a role to match the commitment that they had already shown. It needed rewarding in some way and it was the only way that I could think of. Other than them being the right person for the job.

"I'd be honoured to be your deputy," They said.

I couldn't help but smile at them, glad that they had accepted the deputy headship.

"Once the teachers are in place, we will start advertising for students," Claire said. "I can see no problems with those that will be going into years seven and 12 next academic year but I think you will struggle with the other year groups, especially those in the higher years looking to do exams."

"Well if we are only waiting on students, then can't we hold open evenings? A new school could attract those who are worried about the overcrowded classrooms." I said.

"Or they could be put off by the name."

"Or they could be more willing by the name."

"We will have to see, won't we?" David said, cutting in before anything else could be said. "You have a lot to do between now and 6th September. Doors open in the new academic year as long as the conditions are met."

We didn't need telling twice, throwing our thanks and promises to make it work.

Waterloo Road was reopening and I, for one, was glad.

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