Last modified on Sat 17 Apr 2021 03.32 EDT For Alex Barnes*, head of a large secondary school in Yorkshire, the stresses of being in charge in the pandemic became too much. Last spring, just at the end of the first lockdown, she reached breaking point. âThe demands were coming at me from every angle,â she says. âWorried parents bombarding me with questions, teachers and their unions demanding assurances that the school was safe. I became desperately worried that Iâd be responsible for a rise in infections. âOne night I went home to my husband and said, âI donât think I can do this any more.â The look of shock on his face. He had never heard me speak like that before.â