With public services diminishing, schools are being described as the fourth emergency service. But for headteacher Christopher Tribble, that’s true in a literal sense.
It is not only his school, Honiton primary on the edge of Dartmoor, that’s going above and beyond to provide services for the community, but he and his “mini-monster truck”.
Aside from running the maintained 420-pupil primary, ‘Mr T’ as his pupils know him, comes to the rescue in his Toyota truck as a volunteer for the charity Devon and Cornwall 4×4 Response when the police “can’t handle the roads in North Devon” due to flash flooding and snow.
But last year, Tribble also needed to reach out for help himself – both physically and mentally – after a traumatic injury left him unable to work for six months. He now receives regular one-on-one counselling from Devon Schools Leadership Services, a support service for heads provided by the local authority.
