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Original poster

Crepey wattle and daub

997 replies

herbaceous · 13/03/2015 10:30

At last! I get to use my thread title.

Over here, my hags.

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 18/03/2015 09:51

Oh Rose, that's so sad. My DD gave up drama because she hated the acting part and was continually worrying that she was fucking it up for the others in her group. Was the teacher explicit about exactly what your DD is or isn't doing that is affecting the others? And exactly how the LSA (clearly not your job when she is in a lesson) might improve matters?

Good to hear you fired off a few emails, MrsS!

Stropps, glad to hear she got up. DD did go in, but would have missed tutor. She is very pissed off again - mainly because she feels that her teachers aren't sorting out when she can do her CA's and she is fed up with going to them to sort it out. And exhausted because she is not sleeping properlySad

Blackduck · 18/03/2015 09:51

Sorry to hear all the DD related traumas on here! Hope it all get's sorted...

Stropps your 'pile of old guff' made me laugh - I couldn't low carb _ I'd die, but the 5:2 is working very nicely - I have definitely shifted some poundage so will continue on it. Dp and ds are on sausages, mash and gravy tonight, I will dine on salad :)

I have slain another dragon at work and am :) However, it has taken days of life and I now need to catch up on what I should be doing!

Original poster
herbaceous · 18/03/2015 10:02

Well-played with dragon-slaying, BD. And with the 5:2. I am just so weak-willed, that I keep putting off my :2 days until 'tomorrow', which of course never comes. But I think I might try again - not least to encourage DP, who in typical form has stopped doing it. Much like he brought a bike to cycle to work, plus all the gear, and did it for a fortnight. Or bought gym membership, went to the induction, and has never been back. But continues to moan about his weight, bad mood and health concerns. Angry

Aaaaaaaanyway... preparing lesson for my low-level literacy students. The aim is to get them to fill in a form correctly, and address an envelope. This will take the whole two-hour lesson. Appaz.

OP posts:
lalsy · 18/03/2015 10:06

Blackduck, dragon slayer!

Rose, that sounds most unsatisfactory. I don't really understand how this group stuff s supposed to work (for assessment purposes) - dd has it at university. I once gave a young, prim, teacher a very firm look when she suggested I could find some way of making ds stop playing football a few minutes before the bell at school, to give him time to brush his hair and wash his hands and be on time to his next lesson. Felt like asking her if she had ever actually met a football mad 11-year old boy!

motherinferior · 18/03/2015 10:20

My own DD1 and one of her BFs regaled me with tales of the popularity groups at their school last night - DD1 wafts above where as BF has a detailed knowledge of all of them, and I am now really quite Shock.

OTOH they've all gone off for a day at Goldsmiths, in manner of 'this is what a university is like, girls'. Lucky them.

hattymattie · 18/03/2015 10:40

MI - I love the school gossip. DS is a particularly good raconteur and makes me laugh a lot with his scandalous tales. Obv I have never really grown up!

bigTillyMint · 18/03/2015 10:43

Lalsy Grin what on earth was she thinking?! That is just bizarre!

I love the school gossip too. But not when it is moaning about how bad one's lot is!

motherinferior · 18/03/2015 12:16

It was the clinical dissection of where everyone stands in the hierarchy that made my hair stand on end...

Teeth fine if irregular. Considering whitening...

motherinferior · 18/03/2015 12:42

Is this nice or horrid?

motherinferior · 18/03/2015 12:45

Sorry, this.

bigTillyMint · 18/03/2015 12:50

MI, your linky isn't workingSad

Rosebag · 18/03/2015 12:52

Thanks, Crepeys. Tilly the teacher says she does not cooperate within the group…just wants to do her own ideas (DD says this about the other girl in the group so I don't know who to believe). DD struggles with LD's and other SN's. She has limped her way through mainstream education with little or no support. Her predicted grades are very low (except maybe art) but she works happily in all her other classes within her ability level. As MI says, they have flagged this up far too late for anything to be done as the negative association from the other students is now built up. None of them want her to be in their group. I can see a time soon when we will feel forced to withdraw her from the Drama GCSE course for the benefit of other peoples' children. We did in fact, contact our theatre's education department where she's been a member since infancy and they have reassured us that none of this is a barrier to her doing the BTEC Performing Arts with them (which is what she wants to do after year 11), though. But then, they're special…

Rosebag · 18/03/2015 12:53

Nice MI although I'd look pregnant in it!

motherinferior · 18/03/2015 13:22

Rose, under the circumstances - though I hate to suggest appearing to cave in - I would seriously consider getting the acceptance to do a BTEC in writing (sounds like you can talk v frankly to them); and then just pulling her out. If it's making her and you miserable.

Rosebag · 18/03/2015 13:35

We'll see MI I have only just been made aware that there was even a problem. I am about to PM you a link regarding courses and our theatre….

lalsy · 18/03/2015 14:03

Rose, that sounds very tough on dd - I am glad the future looks more promising and agree with MI about maybe nailing that particular bit of jelly down now.

Tilly, I know, just extraordinary! She also seemed to think he might wear and use a ye olde watch to facilitate this process Grin.

MI, we've had the hierarchies too - our lives are so different aren't they, not having to be with the same 120 people day in day out, constantly resorting the groups?

bigTillyMint · 18/03/2015 14:30

Rose, that is very tricky. What does she want to do about it? Does she want to continue? Does she realise why the others are getting fed up and if so, is she able to do anything about it, with the support of her TA? Perhaps it would have to be very blunt and obvious directions to get her to see/do whatever is needed at the time to make the activity work IYSWIM? Group work is so tricky, even for adults.
Rubbish that they have only just flagged it up. Great that she can go on to do the BTEC though!

Lalsy, a watch?! I am currently feeling bereft because the battery in mine has died, and I can't read the time on my phone without my glasses onBlush

Rosebag · 18/03/2015 18:23

She's determined to carry on…quite fired up about it. "I'll show them" sort of thing. I don't know if that's good or not. On the positive side the Head TA has emailed me and said they have arranged support for 4 out of the 5 drama lessons in the timetable. I think they were a bit shame faced. They also said they had spoken to DD this afternoon and that she had a very positive attitude to it. I can't do anything formal about the BTEC until next year as she's only year 10 but can do a massive amount informally

Bit worn out with it all. Took myself off for a longish walk this afternoon instead of staying indoors brooding. Good for clearing the head. I promise in my next post I will not talk about myself…...

bigTillyMint · 18/03/2015 18:28

Well hopefully the support will help her and the others to work together more positively Rose. Not surprised you feel worn out by it! A walk is an excellent way to clear your headSmile

MrsSchadenfreude · 18/03/2015 20:21

Rose, can I propose a glass of Wine or two?

And wasn't life a breeze, when they were little, and the only thing you had to worry about was whether they were going to progress a level on the Oxford Reading Tree, and wipe Savlon on their grazed knees?

I went out for a quick drink after work, got home to find that DH had eaten, as he "thought I was going to make a night of it." Sad CBA to cook, so having toast and hummous.

On S & B, I am currently having a love in with 70s perfumes and am re-living my yoof with Cabochard, Halston and Quartz. All cheap as chips, given the quality, from allbeauty.com.

bigTillyMint · 18/03/2015 22:03

Too true, MrsS!

DD seems calmer tonight (teachers rallying I think) and is currently out for a run - for an hour - just wondering what has happened to themConfused

wilbur · 18/03/2015 22:10

Sorry to hear your dd is having a difficult time with drama group work, Rose, it's a tricky one. I think MI and Lalsy are right though, find out what the theatre can offer for sure. Plus there is still a lot of time before GCSE and it may just be one of those temporary "creative differences" things that kids go through and they will all calm down and start to work together.

Stropps - hope dd enjoyed her oceanography trip (sounds fabulous). I could have done with a few hours in a boat today rather than sat taking minutes in a long meeting. [snore] And then I get to type up said minutes. Yippee.

Am currently watching Giles Coren trying to live forever on BBC2. I reckon the Paleo diet people are having more fun that the calorie restriction people, but I agree that orthorexia is not the way to go, despite having tried a fair few fads myself. I am trying very hard to walk a lot, but there are days when my Fitbit despairs.

MrsSchadenfreude · 18/03/2015 22:27

Wilbur, your day at work sounds as exciting as mine. I spent the day cutting and pasting from one document to another...

Blackduck · 19/03/2015 06:05

rose hope it all works out. Group work is the bane of dp's life but also vitally important in the discipline - but every year at least one group will go into meltdown at some point.

Here Another depressing meeting where yet another colleague is stepping down from his role - rats and sinking ships come to mind....

Stropperella · 19/03/2015 09:39

BD, congrats on the dragon-slaying and hope the next round goes ok. :)
Rose, I am Shock at the way the teacher dealt with the situation. It simply doesn't sound as though she had tried hard enough to resolve the issues before calling you in and perhaps looking for an easy way out. Well done to your dd for her positive attitude and I hope it pays off.
Well, it was worth me digging my heels in and hassling dd onto that oceanography trip. She really enjoyed it and seems to have got a lot out of it. She volunteered to come to Tesco (!!) with me yesterday evening and talked about the trip the whole way round. The pupils from the first school were Y3 and Y4 and she enjoyed helping them too - she is good with young children as long as they are not her brother. I think that gave the trip a useful extra dimension. They spent the whole day on the boat and trawled up interesting creatures out of Southampton Water and studied pollution levels etc. Dd said she got to have some interesting chats with the various people from the university, including a PhD student who kept checking her phone because she was waiting for her PhD results. :) Once they got back on dry land, they visited the aquarium. Dd did say she didn't know if marine biology would be her thing as she gets seasick. Grin Still, it was interesting and got her out of her little bubble for a while, which can only be good. And she also had to talk to other sixth formers that she doesn't know, something she usually tries to avoid doing.

This morning, she has still not gone to school yet as she has not yet finished doing her makeup and she would "rather be late than ugly". She does only have study periods until break, but Ofsted are in school today and tomorrow and I have warned her that the teachers are maybe going to be taking a bit more notice of who is turning up to registration than normal. Oh well.

Unfortunately, I have just realised that we have now missed the UCAS information evening, as I thought it was on Tuesday and Thursday this week and had written in the diary to go to it tonight. Turns out the Thursday one was last week, damn and blast. No matter how hard I try, I always seem to forget something crucial. :(