For those of you that were on my thread about Covering a class for long periods, I have a small victory to share!

[MaureenMLove]

After an incredibly difficult day with the two classes I have been taking, I sent an e-mail to HOF, HOY and Class tutors about various students.

Today, I have had a pencil hit me and CUT me! Two lads running around the classroom and one of them calling the other one the C word.

I basically spelt out exactly what had gone on, got Pastorial teams involved, nurse etc and said that these particular students needed to know they would not get away with it. Within an hour of sending, the 'pen boy' had been excluded for 3 days. (Not enough imho, considering this is not an issolated incident, but I will tackle that one on Monday!) I also said that whilst I appreciated it was a very difficult time, if action was not taken to find a way around this, I would have no alternative, but to stop covering the lessons.

I had an e-mail from Head of English this afternoon (which was Cc'ed across the leadership team, pastorial team and SENCO) to say that with immediate effect, about 8 of the most difficult students would be put back into mainstream English! I had to laugh, because she also asked if staff could send some information about the students, as they don't know them! Oh, they'll know all about them by breaktime Monday!

It's not a complete victory, because I still have to cover them, but at least I'll be left with only the students that are just very weak in the classroom and not distruptive! My boss was thrilled for me and I felt very proud that I had stood up for myself, and the kids, and got a result!

We are a team of 10 CS's now and we will not be walked over anymore! On Monday, I tackle a similar issue in Maths!

[roisin]

Hey! Well done you
Keep it up: You need to be assertive and stand up for yourselves.

We have found that in school we provide a fantastic service, which is appreciated by staff. But it doesn't mean they aren't willing to take advantage of us and keep giving us more and more responsibilities.

It sounds like nightmare setting to me, to have so many disruptive students as well as the very weak ones. If you've lost 8, how many have you still got left? Our difficult yr8 classes only have about 12 students in each, and they are taught by experienced, qualified teachers with TA support.

btw Who was originally teaching this class, and why have they left?

[MaureenMLove]

He left because he couldn't handle them! He was formerly a primary school teacher at KS2, and tbh that's the level these Yr 8's are at, so he promised big things for them. Unfortunately, there wasn't a spare classroom in English, so the dumped him miles away in MFL!

The reason there's so many in one class is because a couple of years ago, they thought it best to put all the SEN students into one class! Their timetable is different to the rest of the school in that they stick in their tutor group all day and have speciality lessons, designed for their needs. For example, they don't do Humanities, they do History or Geography as part of their English. Pretty much like primary really.

I think I'm left with about 12 in each class, which is great. They are all low achievers, but mostly focused, without the disruptive kids in there. I just hope I still have a TA! It'll all depend on where and how many hours each student is entitled to, of course.