The Fifty-fourth Republic - Easter holidays anyone?

[StaffRepFeistyClub]

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.

Do not give the staffroom password to non-staff as it attracts the wrong sort of crowd.

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. Do not sit on the chairs and do wear a mask

Oh God, yeah, its all the Queen blah blah weren't the Olympics great, covid what's that?

So jingoistic.

Yes. I've been a lone parent for all of ds's life so no 'family breakdown', abuse or disruption - just our norm. Lumping us in with family breakdown, trauma etc is a bit nonsense. So it is aces, income, education level or parents etc that create issues not 'single parent household = disadvantage'.

I'm only on page 36 but to be fair they have said some of that already and talked about needing to encourage employers to allow flexible working for single parent employees.

education level of parents that should say.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/31/sewell-report-racism-government-racial-disparity-uk?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

This looks at the various flaws in the methodologies.

On another note, we have a new chip shop across from us. It's some way off but last two nights DH has had windows open and room to me stinks of kebab. Not Happy. Open 7 bloody days a week .

Congratulations frl well done on winging it.

I can’t face reading the Sewell report.

I’ve been reading the odd news item about sexual harassment and “rape culture” in schools. It’s depressing. I have a year 9 form, most of the boys are lovely but a few have shitty attitudes. They worry me. I’ve tried talking to them. The decent lads (the majority), were great, the poor attitude ones were less great.

I actually think they would respond better to a male teacher talking to them about the sexual harassment of girls.
It feels like the tips of a huge bloody iceberg. The problem is society- but schools will be expected to solve the problem with a couple of PSHE sessions.

We had sixth form girls who complained about dome boys harassing them a couple of years back. Parents of boys played hard ball. All swept under the carpet.

actually think they would respond better to a male teacher talking to them about the sexual harassment of girls I agree. The few boys I teach who have a crap attitude towards the girls also have a crap attitude towards the female staff. I'd say about 90% of boys at my school are genuinely respectful of everyone (they may be daft, but they are equally daft for male staff), but about 10% don't respect the female staff and those are the ones who are unpleasant towards the girls. They also know when they can "get away with" saying stuff to the girls, IE when there's no adults around, and which staff they can talk round with "it's just a joke" (some male staff who don't see the problem with the "banter" )

Oh, the bloody "bants, mate" 😡
My year 12 Bob apparently has "issues with female teachers." Too bloody right because my ovaries are telling me to let the fucker fail. Don't give me any work? Crack on... I'm not chasing you for it.
I did point this fact out to the male head of year... his nervous laughter indicated that he knew I wasn't joking.

Swept under the carpet so wrong for those poor girls.

MrsA we’ve got some boys who have zero respect for female teachers / females in general. I have some respect for the kids who are arses to everyone

It such a massive problem and it’s not just in schools. That said if the boys treated their female colleagues the way they treat fellow classmates - they would soon be out of a job.

That report is so political many parts of it read like a speech.

3 lessons and a whole school (Teams) assembly to get through and then I’m done! I could cry with relief!

Nearly there motherrunner

I'm reading the report still. There is good in there I think. Though it is, as I predicted, that they want to make an extended day compulsory for all because they don't think those it is intended to target would attend otherwise. It is punitive for those who don't need longer days and have their own extra curricular hobbies and commitments.

I was wide awake at 4am for some reason. Think I'll regret it later as I've agreed to accompany my Mother to Maundy Thursday mass tonight.

It is a minority of boys who have problems with female staff and girls. They tend to have difficult relationships with their mothers and fathers whose attitudes are similar. I don’t know if it’s learned behaviour or an inherited misogynistic disposition, most likely a bit of both.

I had a y13 student a few years ago who was a lazy little tyke. I was called to a meeting with him, his parents and one of his other teachers. My partner teacher couldn't attend and the head of sixth didn't.
Everything I said, his dad talked over. How could I possibly know what I was talking about? Who was I to say such things to and about his son? Every time mum tried to speak, he railroaded over her too. Then my male colleague repeated everything I had said. We had silent assent.
It was the most bizarre thing. When we raised this with the hoy, he made the "problem with women" comment about father and son.

Agree @TheHoneyBadger. My DC are in wraparound to 5 but do have clubs a midweek evenings too - Brownies, Beavers, Swimming, then they have dance and football at weekend and that’s not including the bike rides, runs or homework that they do as well. I’m not sure what their attitude would be life to enforced extra curricular. I know they have wraparound and most t time they are playing football when I collect them, but that’s their choice to play that. Why is it that schools have to solve ALL of society’s ills?

I hope at least their proposal would say all 'homework' could be done in that extra school time. If it's extra school time and then they're expected to come and still do homework it doesn't leave much family time and puts more pressure on weekday evenings.

That reminds me @MrsHamlet that 10 years ago (I know that because this happened whilst I was heavily pregnant with DD), I had a meeting with parents about their son’s progress in Yr 9. They were concerned he wasn’t a level 7 (NC levels) and what was I going to do about it. (Well for one he wasn’t that bright but let’s not get that in the way of my crap teaching). Anyway, despite being heavily pregnant , the dad blew up at me. I kept my calm, my HoD over heard and came in. Obviously as a man he was listened to. After the meeting I sat at my desk shaking and the mum came back to me and simply said ‘sorry’. Felt so sorry for her having a husband like that and 2 misogynistic boys (the elder boy was an arse too). What I couldn’t understand was that she was a teacher - she had actually worked at the school I was teaching in. I couldn’t understand why she would allow her children to be raised in that way.

mother you've reminded me of another: year 8 boy with an attitude the size of the universe.
Parents' evening comes. Mum and dad sit down and I recount this info. Mum turns to son and says something along the lines of "Bob, you know it's important to do well at school"
He looked her square in the face and said in the appalling sneering tone that he used so often with me, told her to shut up because no one cared what she thought.
Dad said nothing. She sat there and cried. I was the one to get her a tissue.
I later taught his sisters, and at y13 parents evening of the last one, who was in my form, she held my hand after the handshake and said "I divorced him, you know"
I do teach some lovely boys who who would be horrified by much of this.

You've all reminded me of a phone call home I made re a boy to his father. On the phone dad was really rude, couldn't possibly have been his son etc. I could hear mum in the background trying to smooth things out.
Spoke to mum a week later when she wasn't at home. She apologised for her husbands behaviour and was clearly worn down by it all. The daughter came through a couple of years later and mum came to parents evening alone. Daughter said dad had just left one day and never come back. Boys attitude improved almost overnight and mum was like a weight had lifted. Who knows what else was happening in that house.

I'm fed up with low level sexism towards female members of staff. Both male and female students make far more appearance based comments to females than males.

One more day to get through... I'm exhausted and kinda dreading today as the children have been unsettled all week and not sure that'll change.

Congratulations @Frlrlrubert. Hope the job helps you grow more than current school.

Excellent news frl!

The low level sexism is appalling. I now teach in an all girl’s school which is predominantly made up of Indian heritage girls. The attitudes are so different to mixed schools.

I went to an all girl's secondary when I was at school, so I never saw it experienced any of the sexism at school that I now see as a teacher. I wish there was an all girl's school that I could have sent my dds to but there isn't one close enough. I really think girls thrive without the boys there, although obviously some girls thrive in mixed sex schools too. Having said that, my favourite class this year is very boy heavy, there are only 2 girls and 16 boys in my year 12 class, and they are genuinely the nicest class I've had in years. Such a lovely bunch!!!

My problem with all girls' schools is that they create all boys' schools..