I've taught for 25 years in (state) secondary education...AMA!

[harrogatemumofone]

What do you want to know!?

Top teacher salary for a classroom teacher will be £51k from September but less and less schools are paying this

That's only outside London & the fringe, the max is 62k.

Pensions take a massive hit if you have been part time at all.

This is true for any pension that is based on % contributions.

What, in your opinion, actually makes a child a bullying target (at the saje of sounding a bit victim blamish, I do think my own bullying was because I was socially awkward). Is it really not having the right "things" or is it some sense of vulnerability? Or antagonism?

Sorry to jump in but is he being assessed for ADHD too? Sounds like possible executive functioning issues too. As a parent of an AuDHD teen, this isn’t laziness- it’s overwhelm and I need to support her a lot with homework, study etc.

I’ve been teaching for 20 years so I’ve seen the rise and fall. I would say yes.

Autism presentations are really interesting aspect of working with young people. I have never met a trans/non-binary presenting child who was not also autistic/ADHD. It is basically the same thing as anorexia/self-harm - it’s when the emotional overwhelm and changing bodies of puberty meet the inflexible, black and white thinking of autism.

A new ‘fad’ will emerge soon to replace it; it’s definitely in the wane.

Dont forget to take the first on at 60. It doesn't increase afterwards. There are a few people in the NHS who are working away full time aged 63 who haven't taken their '95 pension and it's just lost money. You could use this to reduce your hours.

But that's to pay those getting their pension today. It's not going into a pot for the OP. She will have been on final salary until 2022 and then career average. Doesn't matter how much is paid in.

@Musicaltheatremum again same for all pensions, they are paid forward.

During COVID, were your Teacher Assessed Grades for GCSE (2020) highly over-inflated (like ours were ) or were they a realistic reflection of what the students might have achieved ( albeit with a small sprinkling of "fairy dust", which is reasonable) had they sat an exam ?

Did you also "cook the books" (like we did) in 2021 for Centre Assessed Grades?

Can you tell when a child was homeschooled in primary school?

I have 25 hours and I’m 52 and I’m going part time. I hope to go part time for 3 years then drop to 3 days a week for 2 years so 5 years max and either go at 55 or 57, but I’ve had enough.

Hi. Sorry for delay in seeing your reply. I’ve been away and missed it. Thanks very much for it.
My intial thought when I read your post is that it’s unlikely as he’s actually always completed his homework etc and is very ordered and organised in his thoughts but it is possibility as he’s equally always last minute with homework and getting ready for this and is messy even though he has a need for control (he eats the same thing every day and has a specific order everything needs to be done in). I definitely do think being overwhelmed comes into it for him. I presume his autism assessment, as and when it comes, will take this into account as a possibility and include it in the assessment? I do feel worried about him starting sixth form. I’m going to keep a close eye and get in touch with the SENCO next week. I do wonder if he just thought he didn’t need to revise really, as he got the results he wanted in his mocks.

I am past this now, but I always wondered what makes teachers seem to love some parents and completely ignore others. Is it the kids? Or is there some sort of magic method to getting a good response from teachers? There always seem to be the kids and parents who are golden, and then the rest of us kind of being anonymous.