When we found Mumsie she was a stray with 2 newborn kittens who had snuggled down into the school compost heap to give birth. My group of students with learning difficulties 'adopoted' her and made sure she was safe while they tried everything possible to find out who she belonged to. When we confirmed she was a feral cat, but very friendly, the Head was asked if she could stay. Being a big softie at heart he agreed and she became 'The School Cat'. She moved her kittens to underneath the RE huts and they were called Moses and Joshua. She was called Mumsie because she was! The following September we had a severe Aspergers student arrive at the school. It was not expected that he would stay very long due to severity of his ASD. He took to Mumsie like a shot and asked if he could take care of her. He fed them every day, helped collect pennies and two pences to buy food, went shopping to buy it with his TA, and took them to the vet for check ups and any problems they had. All the time he had to talk to people [something he could not do when he came]and came to be able to look them in the eye! He also had problems with being able to stay in class and would get hyperactive. After a while he would turn to his TA and ask to go to talk to Mumsie. They would leave the room and go and find her. He would then sit with her and talk through his problems with her until he was ready to go back into class. Not only did he stay in school right up until the end of Year 11 and get 8 GCSE's, he went to Duchy College to do small animal work and was their student of the year! Mumsie was then picked up by another ASD student, not quite so severe, but who looked after her until he left. In 1999 Mumsie was awarded 'National Cat of the Year' in the Arthurs Awards for Services to Students with Learning Difficulties. The ASD student who looked after her accompanied her to London , all the way from Cornwall, to receive the award. She won £1200 and a years supply of cat food. She lived in luxury for the rest of her life, wandering around the school campus and being loved by her 1500 'owners'. This year she disappeared one weekend and didn't come back. She was about 18 years old and we think she just curled up and died but we never found her. Moses, her kitten died a few years ago from eating poison which had been put down somewhere nearby but Joshua, although she is blind and has been since being a tiny kitten, still lives here and wanders around being looked after by 1500 students and staff. She is still living off Mumsies winnings! Mumsie was well loved and really earned her keep.