The Thirty-First Republic - oh the joy of on-line parents evenings

[StaffAssociationRepresentative]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

There's some weird duplicate thread stuff going on. The one about first names for teachers is word for word the same as an older thread.

@Iamnotthe1

Frlrlrubert Parent emails back. Demanding a phone call.

Incident 1: He says they were all doing it.
2: He says that teacher hates him
3: He doesn't enjoy that aspect of that lesson.
4: same as 3??? Yeah, he did it twice.

And...? So what?
None of those are remotely valid reasons for misbehaviour and the parent should be told as much. Unfortunately, there's been such acquiescence to parents over the last five to ten years that it's worth having a go because sometimes that call gets the report/detention/etc. stopped. Absolutely ridiculous.

I know! I don't know what they hope to achieve. I'm not gonna go 'oh well, if they were ALL doing it I won't put him on report' or 'Yeah, she obviously hates him, he should feel free to sing in her lessons and I'll just ignore any negatives she give him'.

I must say 'I don't care if they were doing it too, YOU were and I've asked YOU to stop' 20 times a day. I shouldn't have to be saying it to parents too!

It's Friday and I'm halfway down a bottle of Sauv Blanc. Had a massive breakdown at uni yesterday, though I wasn't the only one. Combination of everything really.

This morning I took the whole class by myself (unplanned). No one died, only 2 people cried (not related to me but I picked up the pieces) and judging by the books and quiz I did at the end of the very long science morning some of them at least learnt something. Given the breakdown I had yesterday I'm taking it as a mini win!

Weekend of evidence folders and essay ahead but it's the final push before Christmas break up so I've got to get through. Next Friday I'll be a third of the way through my PGCE and I'm planning on rewarding myself with a hot bath, a glass --bottle of prosecco and a takeaway.

Have a restful weekend all

namechanged - definitely a win!
Finally got my own kids in bed, DH is off playing games online with his (middle aged) gamer friends. So I reckon I can have a LARGE glass of red in front of some non improving brain dulling TV

Well done @namechangedyetagain!! I have been sitting with my feet in a basin of hot water for an hour, need to drag myself to bed.

Please someone pass the gin. I've just marked my last real exam paper.

@WhyNotMe40 you definitely deserve a glass. My kids and DH are in bed and I'm left on the sofa with the farting dog. Need to write up my lesson evaluation but i think that will wait until tomorrow. Loved having the class today. Hope that this is the good stuff that makes the PGCE worth it.

@MrsH I just had the pay which was a little treat (really quite little) but better than a kick in the teeth after losing all the summer pay.

@MrsHamlet here you are lovely . I input our autumn maths data tonight. Scores were dire. But compared to the October data all bar four had made progress. Some doubling their overall percentage. So really pleased with that. Not that it was solely down to me but as ive planned and taught the maths block this term I was so proud of them!

@SaltyAF I've spent the money several times over already in my head 🤣🤣

Not a drinker but am supping yuletide gin. Chin Chin!

I have only just managed to get properly warm after a freezing day in the coldest classroom in the school. We had snow this morning!!! Not enough to be a problem for me getting to school, but some of the villages on higher ground were cut off with the buses not reaching them. Some of those kids arrived by car at lunchtime, others had the whole day off. We also had a fire drill just before break, while some mock exams were still ongoing (for the kids with extra time). Half my year 7 class were in their indoor pe kit, so were frozen in t shirts and shorts in the freezing drizzle. I'm not convinced it was a planned drill (it would be a weird time to pick, and the fire alarm has gone off as a fault after school for the past 3 days) but that's the official line. I didn't have my coat with me in the classroom so was cold, and just couldn't get warm all day. So much so that I've ordered thermal underwear to arrive tomorrow, and have started crocheting myself some fingerless gloves. I'm normally the person complaining I'm too hot, so it must be REALLY cold. Yet the head spent the afternoon roaming the school telling kids to take their coats off . He didn't come into my classroom, thank goodness, because I let the whole lot of them keep their coats on, and I had the hood up on my cardigan. If he wanted to tell the kids off he would have had to tell me off too, and that's something he won't do (he waits til the kids aren't around before he delivers his tellings off to staff).

Monumentally terrible day. MIL taken to hospital last night (bad heart), DH spoke to her today and she seemed down but not desperately ill, but we got the 'get here now' phone call this evening and she's passed away. Lovely lady.

Oh my goodness DrMadeline. I'm so, so sorry. Your poor family . Sending you all my love and my thoughts are with you.

MsAwesome that sounds pretty miserable. It's awful being cold.

DrMadeline oh I am so so sorry for your loss

@DrMadelineMaxwell I'm so sorry

Hugs Madeline.
That's so sad. And sudden. It's good he managed to speak to her.

I'm really sorry that will be such a shock to you both

@DrMadelineMaxwell so very sorry to hear that

@DrMadelineMaxwell sorry to hear that
I hope you and your DH are OK, what a quick change x

@DrMadelineMaxwell so sorry to hear this. Thinking of you and your family.

Thinking of you DrMadelineMaxwell So sorry to read that

their parents always have to reply and argue back, I'm finding it hard to instil resilience and responsibility when their parents seem to lack it.

I had a similar discussion with a colleague today, almost word for word with regards to resilience.

One parent announced that he (the parent) "will really kick off" if his child is not moved away from another child. The families don't get on. As it is, they sit 5 children and two tables apart.

Another had a go at staff because a new, deeply troubled child had been talking about drugs and it wasn't appropriate, drugs are bad...completely agree, that's why the conversation was immediately squashed and the child responsible (in fact, the whole class) was told by teacher that unless medical, no good comes from drug use and it's not something to be talking about lightly as if it's no big deal. Not sure what else we were expected to be able to do.

A third kicked off because their child is being bullied. Except it seems to have been an isolated incident of all the children jostling together in a small space for a photo, and one got nudged. No apparent problem at the time. The child told me the definition of bullying and said that was the only thing that happened so it wasn't bullying, just annoying and not very nice. Caught the mum to let her know what had happened as a result of the complaint and to ask her to chat with her quiet daughter and let me know if anything else came up that the child hadn't felt comfortable telling me - if so, we would deal with it, but no staff had seen or had reported to them any problems other than the alleged perpetrator being a bit bossy so the other child played with someone else at break today. But mum was adament that it was bullying, even though a solo incident that was by accident, not on purpose, and even though she said that was the only thing her child had talked to her about. Apparently the other child's confidence and loud voice makes her a bully even if she's doing nothing wrong. So mum says she's a bully just by being there. Mum is a teacher herself! She also complained earlier in the year when the Y5/6 teacher set his group a low key, low pressure test and big sister didn't do well - apparently she was very upset about her score, and it wasn't fair to be testing after such a long time off sue to lockdown (Scores were all kept private, and he wanted to find where gaps were so he could prioritise filling them.) Again, mum is a teacher and should understand testing purposes. And 30 mins of no work was acceptable because helping a poor reader read 4 words in a question is slowing her down.

We seem to have a lot of needy children who rely on parents to smooth their way, and consequently their lack of resilience is quite scary, actually. Parents are modelling kicking up immediately if things don't quite go the way they would like, and babying their children really, so is it any wonder?

So sorry for your loss, Dr Madeline.