New Yr9 class tomorrow - help!

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My school brings the autumn term forward and moves all pupils up a year for the last four weeks of term. I am starting my teacher training with them in September (have been a TA until now) but was told on Friday that I will be starting to teach on Monday, when the years all move up. I am to teach Literacy bottom sets, Yrs 9 & 10.

I have spent the weekend reading up on classroom management, hints and tips etc but I can't seem to settle on the best format for the first lesson. Do I spend most of it laying out classroom rules? Do I do a Getting to Know You activity, a bit about rules, then another activity loosely based on literacy? There is no SoW yet - I have been told to write it myself.
The class has children with SEN statements and EAL pupils and they are working between levels 3-4. Any help would be very welcome!

Jeez, that sounds really hard!

No advice - but good luck. Shouldn't somebody be supporting you with this?

Bottom set Y9 and Y10 are going to be tough.

I would have thought by Y9 and Y10 they know the school rules, and don't need them spelled out again. Also, they know each other very well, so prob won't enjoy a 'getting to know you' activity?

But I'm not a teacher, so may be totally wrong. I'd do an activity based totally around literacy :)

They mostly know each other but the EAL pupils will be new. They know the school rules but certainly don't keep to them and in many of the lessons I have supported they've been pretty anarchic. I will just have to take deep breaths and take the plunge!

Ooooh. Could you get the cool kids to explain the rules of the class / school to the new kids?

Do the new EAL pupils speak English?

What the actual hell is a school doing giving bottom sets Y9 and 10 to a TA who hasn't even started their teacher training yet, with apparently no induction/training on how to get started?

Certainly ask more experienced teachers at the school, but I'd be a bit wary that the school is simply going to dump you in at the deep end and wring their money's worth out of you. If you are not in a teaching union, join one today. Doesn't matter which one, but NUT are striking in July so be aware of that.

Bottom sets - no fannying around with soft getting to know you activities. Go in with high expectations, get them to line up quietly outside the class before you even let them in, have work for them to do straight away (but straightforward that they can do without input) and keep them busy.

And buy Michael Marland's Craft of the Classroom.

Thanks giraffe - I will buy that book. They were okay-ish today lots of mucking about as I expected. I will have to go in harder on the next lesson - I remember many of them from this time last year when I supported a very experienced teacher who ended up calling in pastoral managers because their behaviour was so bad. On the plus side, the EAL kids were lovely!

agree with noble, the school are already shitting on you, i have been there and done that in my first year post PGCE you are in an even worst situation as you haven't even started training.
you could also try "getting the buggars to behave"
good luck, be consistent, broke no deals eg re seating plans, remind them of expectations and do not be afraid to move up the scales in your schools behaviour management policy.