Pfr, my missus was also a special needs teacher (SENCO or summat, was it?) for many years in both primary and secondary. Before that she was a classroom teacher in an East End junior school (which had the most amazing head teacher, Doreen Clery, who is now a freeman of the city of London, qualified to drive a flock of sheep over London Bridge, only she ain't got no sheep...). We are still dear friends. I was a bog standard secondary science/biology teacher, first in the East End, then in Walthamstow (God help me), then in Holsworthy, Devon. My little sis, up in Yorkshire, is the head teacher of an infant school in a deprived area. Between us we saw the whole gamut of our education system (bar the parasitic private sector). Remembering about all that now, which is in our past apart from my sis, keeps us well grounded. You never lose that. Kudos to your missus (and mine too). What a sterling and largely unappreciated job they do...