The Runaway by Lesley Thomson Page A

discipline. The solution has been to tell her to read aloud in class, and put up her hand (little girls must stick their necks out to find their way in this world) and answer questions. I ask her to keep her hands flat and still on the table during ‘Story Time’. All in all, I have seen no improvement.
    However, if she can change her attitude Stella Darnell could become a productive and successful adult.

School Handover report by Lorraine Radford
    Pupil: Stella Darnell aged seven and a quarter
    Date: November 4 th 1973
    I have taught Stella Darnell for several months and am very sorry to be losing her from my class. I have found Stella to be a methodical and rational little girl who had earned the other children’s respect. If I have one issue with Stella it is that she is too good.
    I agree with my predecessor’s retirement report that Stella has been unwilling to speak in front of the class, but we differ as to the reason why. Stella avoids being the centre of attention and will let other children take credit for her own achievements, such as offering the solution to a puzzle or the arrangement of the Nature Table.
    Stella’s reading ability and her spelling and grammar are that of a child considerably older than seven. She has mastered polysyllabic words and complex phrasing.
    Stella has a strong sense of right and wrong, perhaps gleaned from her father. She is quick to pick up on unfairness. I asked a girl in her class to stop talking. Stella put up her hand and in front of all the children said it was her that had been talking. She is precise and meticulous, she processes knowledge slowly and retains it. After some sessions with me at my desk, she has begun to open up. Recently she explained how the CID take a cast of a boot print at a crime scene. She told me that when she is old enough she will ‘make a company to catch murderers with’. While it might seem of concern that she has such knowledge of crime, Stella is enthused by the profession. I harness her passion when approaching other subjects (e.g.: arithmetic, reading, writing and telling stories) and I have seen Stella’s work improve and her confidence increase.
    Stella works well with her classmates. I overheard her give a girl a concise, unhurried explanation of how to tackle a long division. Stella’s apparently detached behaviour has irked some children. I witnessed Stella being teased about her boots. Stella’s self-contained personality protected her. One of the girls teasing her was Jane Masters, mentioned in Mrs Myers’ retirement report. Seeing it had no effect, Jane stopped. She is now one of the children who treat Stella with respect.
    The Darnell parents’ impending separation is distressing to their daughter. Stella is wary of forming attachments – with classmates or with me – she knows that they will end. She will be leaving us to forge new bonds with strangers. Stella deals with anxiety by cleaning (ref. the I.L.E.A rubber in Mrs Myer’s report). I occasionally ask her to help me tidy the classroom after lunch because it calms her to engage in a practical task with a clear outcome.
    As stated in my predecessor’s report, Stella plans to be a detective like her father to whom she is deeply attached. She may well find the separation from him hard; this could detrimentally affect her behaviour in her new class.
    I asked Stella about the ‘Harry Roberts’ assignment. She was born on the day of the shooting, in her house it’s ‘family legend’. She had read about it in her mother and father’s Daily Mirror. While her parents were arguing in the kitchen, Stella watched a news item on the anniversary of the shooting. In her adventure story, Stella is the girl who catches Harry Roberts and hands him to the police (her father). She didn’t copy it but with a mix of fiction and fact tried to control the tragedy by providing resolution.
    With her gritty