TA but I’m completely drained

[FrenchFancie]

six months and a different school ago, I was fired up and enthusiastic and ready to apply for my pgce (career change from previous professional role) I’ve been working as a TA to gain experience , we had a big house move so I have changed schools.

ive got to be honest, I hate my new school. The kids have such bad behaviour and it’s getting me down. It’s a mainstream school, small village type school with mixed year groups.

This week every day we have had a parent come in and yell at my class teacher about bullying issues within the school, I’ve been spat at, shouted at, told to fuck off by a four year old and been hit (twice, on separate days) by a year 3 girl with behaviour issues. Every break time I have to deal with hitting, kicking, punching, hair pulling and general unkindness (deliberate break of school equipment so others can’t use it, throwing new things away over the walls etc). Then there’s the table flipper, the chair thrower and two year 5 lads who are so disrespectful to me I want to scream.

SLT are bloody useless, it’s a shared SLT across two school and they vaguely waft in for a few hours, do nothing and then waft away again. There response to everything is that it’s for us to sort out. They won’t seek support for any of our children because ‘we won’t get any extra money anyway’ so nothing is ever done.

im so sick of it all - I’ve only done a term but thinking of resigning before the end of term. It’s really made me reasses my career goals - not because of the kids as such (although they make me want to weep, lots of times there are reasons for the bad behaviour) but because SLT are so unsupportive it makes me think, if I worked in a school like this, I’d be hung out to dry and I don’t want to work somewhere that gives no shots about it’s staff.

i don’t even really know the point of this post, except to seek reassurance that not everywhere is like this? Or was my last school an oasis of calm and sense in the madness? Would I be awful to resign after just one term…? (And would I ever get a place on a pgce course with that work history?!)

Not everywhere will be like this. Have you thought about secondary at all? I think in some ways secondary are better at dealing with extreme behaviour, and some of these students may not attend mainstream secondary too. Yes, there is disrespectful behaviour but there's not the constant physical violence towards staff I hear about in primary in most secondary schools.

I think often people choose small village schools for children who they think won't cope with larger class sizes etc, without really thinking about whether the school has the resources to cope, too.

I think if you really want to teach I'd try being a TA in a different environment eg large primary, secondary etc. And then make a decision about applying. Lots of applicants won't have much work experience at all, so I don't think leaving a primary school after a term will count against you.

It is totally ok to move. It would be a shame if you were put off by this. Sounds like a school that has no working behaviour policy and rubbish or overworked SLT. Try not to let it grind you down- remember, it’s them not you.

TA's are massively in demand at the moment. Look around and try a new school and new role.
How about a TA in a special school? Yes you'll deal with high level behaviours but you stand a chance of getting trained and resourced properly rather than left to get on with it. Or how about a role delivering interventions to groups? That can be quite rewarding.

With respect, I've never seen any evidence that secondaries are better at dealing with extreme behaviour. A large number of pupils in primary are undiagnosed and unmedicated - things often get put in place around y5/6. A large number also leave for specialist provision at this point. We hear far too often about those pupils we have managed to keep in school for 7 years being excluded from secondary in their first term.

I think you've misunderstood me- the exclusion is what I am talking about.

When I say better at managing, I mean better at protecting their staff. Far too many primary schools seem to expect staff to be injured by students and consider this acceptable.

It's not, staff deserve to be safe at work.

It's not an achievement to keep a student in school if you're not keeping staff/other students safe from injury.

Hence why I suggested secondary to the OP.

It's not an achievement to keep a student in school if you're not keeping staff/other students safe from injury.

Agreed...

Agree, but in primary it is next to impossible to exclude a child with SEND. And what I really meant was we bend over backwards to put things in place to support these children so staff and their peers are safe then when they go to secondary, our handover is often ignored and children fall at the very first hurdle. Unfortunately I've seen it happen time and again in different schools in different areas.

I strongly suggest that you move away from Primary school where Parents are allowed to wander in and confront teachers. That situation could have escalated badly. Also, when SLT are not backing up teachers and TA's there are a large amounts of staff leaving if they can - and other schools in the area would be aware of that.
You have to consider your own health and this is not going to make you stress levels any lower. Leave and even do Supply for a while if you want to.