I became headteacher at the school that excluded me

Dear Delyara, At fourteen, I was permanently excluded from school after repeated fights. Nobody investigated the racism, homelessness, or fear behind my behavior. A pupil-referral unit, one patient teacher, and later adult education gave me another path. I became a teaching assistant, completed university part-time, trained as a teacher, and worked in schools serving children already described as difficult. Today, I was appointed headteacher of the school that excluded me twenty-eight years ago. The building has changed, but the office where I was told I had no future remains. I sat there after the interview and remembered my mother crying beside me while I stared at the floor. When the governors offered the job, I accepted on the condition that exclusion decisions include stronger family support and independent review. My appointment does not prove every excluded child will become a headteacher. It proves an institution can misunderstand a child completely and still be forced, years later, to place its keys in that child’s hand.