Helen Peet, 75, ended her time at a Broad Green school last year after five decades of service. She first arrived at Highfield Comprehensive school - now Dixon's Academy Broad Green - in 1976 for what was meant to be a two-week stint helping her auntie, who worked as a dinner lady there.
During that initial placement, she was tasked with helping disabled students, including a young thalidomide survivor. Helen said: "Our school basically took on all the thalidomide children in the North West, and my auntie, Ivy McCulloch, couldn't manage them [on her own]. We didn't have a lift, so I was employed to carry a boy with no arms and legs up to his lessons."
From two weeks to a lifelong career
Although she expected to stay just two weeks, Helen was taken on full-time and worked in various pastoral roles across the school. Her work went beyond a job: she brought in biscuits for children who said they had not eaten since the previous day, and supplied socks, underwear, and her grandson's old trainers to pupils who needed them.
Former colleague and maths teacher Steve Rouch recalled how Helen helped pupils manage money. He said: "If you were a kid and you'd lost your bus money, if you needed to borrow money, you'd go to Helen. Helen would sort you out, but then if you didn't pay her back the following day she would hound these kids until they paid their debt. So, she was really important in teaching kids life skills in that respect."
A trusted figure in the community
When Sally Beevers became headteacher in 2010, she admitted feeling trepidation, but Helen quickly put her at ease. Sally said: "Helen was one of the first people I met. And it didn't take long before I realised she was such a key asset to the school."
She added: "To have Helen, who was so key and central in the local community of Old Swan, it was just a complete asset. She would make sure I understood what was happening and who was doing what, and it gave me the context for the school and for the young people."
COVID illness and lasting legacy
Helen's commitment was clear in 2020 during the pandemic. She said: "I worked behind a counter where I could deal with the kids, and there was a kid standing talking to me, but because he wasn't well, he was coughing his a** off, and within a couple of days I ended up having to be taken to A&E by my daughter."
She was initially turned away, but an ambulance driver who was an ex-pupil intervened, saying, 'If this lady says she's ill, she's ill'. Helen was admitted, tested positive for COVID, and spent two weeks in the Royal on a ventilator. When she wanted to return to work, Steve Rouch refused to let her.
Steve said: "I was the one saying to her, 'No, you can not come back in.' I don't think she's ever forgiven me for that in a smiley kind of way, because all she wanted to do was to get back in to the heart of what she loved doing."
Reflecting on her career, Helen said: "I enjoyed every minute of it, I did it for the kids mostly. The kids refer to me as the 'Old Swan Legend' — I'm 75 and I don't want to be classed as old, but I am."
