‘What is Mr Lowther’s role here?’ Singh asked.

He’s one of our pastoral staff. They live in, and have responsibility for the students in residence overnight and at weekends. The other staff have the weekend off, as we weren’t expecting to be here, so Sasha offered to stay with the students last night.

‘So, Mike lives here?’ I asked, out of curiosity.

Yes, he has a suite in the residence, as do the other residential staff. The students like him a lot.

I nodded, holding myself back from saying, Of course, one thing Mike’s always been good at is getting people to like him.

‘What can you tell us about Steve Wilkinson?’ Singh asked.

What do you want to know?

‘Start with the basics – how long has he worked here, is he generally well liked by staff and students, things like that.’

He’s been here since September, Liz explained. The previous head had been here for over thirty years, and she retired at the end of the summer term.

‘Where had Steve worked before, do you know?’

Liz glanced out of the window before she answered; there was a tension in her shoulders that suggested she was choosing her words carefully. The room we were in overlooked a small courtyard, where I presumed students would hang around at break and lunchtime. Steve’s office next door would have a similar view, and I wondered if he would have preferred a view over the playing fields, something a little more picturesque.

He came from a special school in Birmingham, she replied eventually, her face impassive. A school for children with profound learning difficulties. He hadn’t worked in a residential school before, so that aspect was a bit of a learning curve. She paused, though I had the sense there was something more she wanted to say.

After a moment, Singh spoke. ‘What about deaf students? Had he worked with any before?’

Liz shook her head. No. The governors felt his management experience was enough for this position, but he struggled a bit in his relations with the students.

I wondered if this was the source of her tension. Someone with no experience of working with deaf students might not be well received in such an important position.

He knew some basic signs before he came here, Liz continued, but not enough for a proper conversation. She gave Singh an earnest look. But he learnt as much as he could, he really threw himself into it. Whenever he had a spare five minutes he’d be practising, and he set up one-to-one lessons for himself with our deaf tutor a couple of times a week. He was coming on very well.

‘Was there anyone who had a problem with him?’

She shook her head. Not that I know of. A change in management after such a long time is bound to be difficult, but Steve did his best to get everyone on side.