In the unit, the school day is condensed and finishes at 2.00pm, with classes of no more than eight pupils. That allows the 26-year-old Gloucester forward – who is poised to win her 29th cap against England – to prepare her lessons and do her safeguarding reports in the late afternoon.
Then, she can jump in a car and head for Wales training in Cardiff, without having the mountains of marking she used to have to deal with when she was teaching at Brynmawr Comprehensive.
“It helps with the rugby, to balance out my time. The job is very challenging, but in the evening I don’t have an awful lot of marking, because there are not so many pupils in the school.
“If I didn’t do it this way, I think I might struggle. At first, the kids weren’t too fussed by me playing for Wales. But now that a couple of the boys go to rugby training themselves, a few more have mentioned it.
“One of the girls, said to me the other day, ‘I saw you on the telly at the weekend, Miss! So, that was nice.
“Someone also asked me the other day if I always thought I would play for Wales. I told them I always felt I was capable, so it’s good to help them also develop confidence – whatever they want to do, they should aim for it.”
Unlike the men’s national team – who are made-up of full-time professional rugby players – the Wales women’s squad have to juggle rugby with outside careers.
Hale, who began playing rugby at 11 for the Newport High School Old Boys club, has been in education for four years and although she moved towards working with children who have experienced difficulties partly to benefit her rugby, there were other reasons for the choice, too.
“I felt in mainstream schools that sometimes the kids lower down the classes can get forgotten a bit. They don’t have the same opportunities.
“Our biggest classes are eight pupils, so it’s more personable. You have a real relationship with each pupil, rather than just being another name who comes through the door. It’s challenging and draining, but very rewarding.
“You hear of some awful situations that the pupils are in, but then the highs are fantastic. If a pupil says to me, “Got any plans for half-term?” then that will just cheer me up for the day. The highs are really high and that makes it worthwhile. I really enjoy it.”
England, and to a lesser extent France, have gone down the road of full-time professional contracts for many of the women in their squads, so that the kind of juggling acts or multi-tasking done by the Wales players is less of an issue.
You need an understanding employer – and maybe a patriotic one – to be given time off around fixtures if you’re a Welsh player.
