To take a job working with year 9s

[Surelyitstimenow]

For secondary school teachers out there and parents of year 9s.
I'm interested in applying for a job working with year 9s to support teaching staff in the classroom. Some of it will be supporting behaviour management.
By this age, have the kids settled down in their behaviour and are more grown up and mature? Will they be a calm, well developed age group to work with?
I get that year 7 and even year 8 they are still young, but by year 9 has the immature behaviour all stopped? Has all the chattering in class, physical horseplay, silly behaviour and chat back stopped by the time they hey to year 9?
I'm thinking about the behaviour of year 9 boys more specifically, based on the assumption that girls have generally matured in their behaviour at a younger age than boys (stereotype I know)!

Sorry to be the one to say it, but from experience, y9’s are the worst!

Will they be a calm, well developed age group to work with?
Short answer, No.

No experience in teaching personally, but I remember being in year 9 (more years ago than I'd like to admit), and it was the worst year of being in school. I remember the teachers would say that even the nicest year groups seemed to flick a switch when they started year 9.

Years 10 & 11 were when the maturity and being kinder started to kick in when I was at school - a different uniform to the rest of the school, we were doing our options and felt like we had a little more control and we all wanted to be an adult

Christ y9 the worst year IMO im ex secondary school teacher

No

year 9 is generally the hardest year.

year 7 take a term or so to settle and then are ok.
year 11 are super stressed about exams so lots of exam related issues and anxiety.
year 8 begin to be difficult as they feel like they know the school and begin to get too big for their boots.
year 10 have just started GCSEs and are constantly told how important they are which keeps a bit of a lid on behaviour for most, plus they mostly chose their GCSEs so are out of the lessons they hate,

year 9 is peak obnoxiousness and they are not yet getting the “work hard GCSEs are inportant” message plus they have to be in subjects they hate.

Why do you think all.of this should have stopped by year 9. Chatting in class, back talk, silliness can continue up through 6th form. Some kids might settle dpwn but those whp are prone to theses behaviours are unlikely to ever change

If they’re settled, grown up and mature, why would there be a need for the job role you’re considering?!

Having worked in a senior school as an LSA across years 7 to 11 I would say there will be, or there were when I was working, disruptive, noisy, mouthy, kids in every year, boys and girls. Plus as a support assistant not only was I put with the struggling children who were supposed to be my focus, but also those who had no intention of doing any meaningful work if they could help it. Social Media wasn't as intrusive when I was there and that won't help.
If you are only being employed for year 9s there will be no break from them either. Having said all that I loved my job and my memories are mainly good.

Unequivocal no. Also, your assumption is incorrect in my experience - the behaviour of the girls is no better, they're still as disruptive as the boys.

God no! Year 9 is the worst year for this! They strike a strange balance between completely obnoxious whilst also being really silly and juvenile. They’re really ‘stupid’ at this year group. The girls are broadly no better either. They have no real responsibilities in the sense of the GCSE years so they’re not stressed or under the weight of that but settled in the school enough to be completely secure.

I absolutely love year 9, they’re often absolutely hilarious, drive me to madness and usually big hearted, but they’re not easy by any measure! Also, depending on the catchment of your school/make up of children you usually get a few pregnancy scares in year 9 as well.

Omg! Year 9 is the worst year for behaviour, hormones ranging, not the youngest in the school but not the oldest and worrying over GCSEs they are a nightmare.

If you have to ask, it doesn't sound like it's the job for you!

Er no! Year 9 usually the worst year. They tend to settle about half way thorough year 10

Year 9 girls are the worst. My dd is y9 and what a pain in the arse. The drama its like they feed off it. Falling out with friends, boy drama, spreading rumours about each other and just general nastiness. And you will hear all about it in great detail.

@Surelyitstimenow do you have any experience of working in a school ?
I was a primary school teacher for 25 years, and I wouldn't even contemplate this. And I know primary is different to secondary ( though the main problem - behaviour, attitude , lack of parental support - the same, I should think).
What's the school like ?
Could you visit ?

Year 9 are the worst. By middle of Year 10 they are alright. Keen to please in Y7 and starting to fall off by the end of Y8.

The fact the job is specifically for behaviour support in y9 tells you what you need to know - budgets are very tight, they’re not going to employ someone to watch some well behaved kids work quietly

Year 9 are the worst. They are no longer the ‘young’ ones in the school, but they don’t have exam pressure yet. Plus they know they'll be dropping some subjects so their effort in those often skydives.

Ex-secondary school teacher.

Year 9s are aged 13-14…. Not generally known for being particularly mature in their outlook! Varies wildly of course, but they’re still very young teenagers.

I came on to say exactly the same thing.

Anyone who has ever worked with teens would know the answer.
OP what is your background?

No. Definitely not.

all the secondary school teachers I know say y9 are the worst - very cocky and immature but not yet worried about GCSEs

Year 9 is the worst as both a teacher and a mother. My second son is approaching year 9 and I'm scared already!! 😂

Hard agree.
I have been an assistant in other places in Europe and Y9 seemed a retrograde step from most of the yr 7 and 8 classes. Almost no eye contact and as little interaction as they could possibly manage, as if someone pulled a blind down between you, in contrast to a mostly interested yr 8 group.

I thought the post was going to be about not wanting to take a job with Y9 because they are the worst.
Quite surprised to see any other point of view.

I think that's why so many start boarding school in Year 9! I certainly wanted to send mine!