Saturday 6 October 2018

A good laugh


It's been a dreadful week at school this week.  I've had several teachers in my room at the end of the day in floods of tears.  Some things I can't even mention (yet) as there may be legal action.  But I can say that various members of teaching and support staff have been verbally abused, spat at and punched.  We had a young teacher screamed at by a parent in her classroom in front of her pupils and other parents.  We had a group of parents verbally attack a child and their parent.  It was only thanks to the DHT's quick intervention it wasn't a physical assault.  And yesterday a lovely pupil found that someone had put a human poo in their school bag.  It's safe to say staff morale is VERY low.

We had a long standing staff night out arranged for last night and about 10 people pulled out.  I'm so glad I wasn't one of them.  For a few hours we just put aside all the crap (literally!!) and had a good laugh.  It was fab to talk with some of our new members of staff and get to know others even better.  Most people including me weren't drinking so it wasn't a boozy night.  Just proper old fashioned eating and talking round a big table.

It doesn't solve any of the issues from the past week but I think it's bonded us together and recharged our batteries for the final week of term!



I quite like this selfie I took before I went out 📷

19 comments:

  1. That's absolutely terrible, Ali. Are you OK today?
    I'm glad you enjoyed your evening out after all that.
    xx

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    1. I'm fine thanks. Nothing has happened to me personally. My class has no major behaviour or parent issues, it's just a large class and I only get a few hours of SLA (TA) support a week. Hence I'm exhausted at the end of the week!

      It seems to be the younger or less experienced teachers that get parental abuse. I think that being older still carries authority (at least in my school) as I've only ever had 1 parent shout at me. And she was a well known bampot!! I'm also quite vocal in going to management about issues whereas younger/new members of staff don't want anything to be held against them in case they need a reference. Sad I know but a reality

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    2. It is sad. Also sad the management isn't proactive enough to recognise they their younger staff are having issues (or is that an unfair assumption of mine?).
      I'm very glad you are fine and the the troubles are not impacting personally.
      xx

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    3. Management are doing their best when they know there's an issue. Both the head and deputy are new to their roles so they're under a lot of pressure as well. If I know someone is really struggling and there's nothing I can do, I go to management and 'suggest' they pop in to to see them

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  2. You look gorgeous! The escalating violence against stff and pupils is really getting out of control. This year two secondary pupils have taken their own lives because of bullying-older boy and a wee girl of nearly 13.i came home on the bus yesterday from my voluntary job and was in despair by some of the people on it-one scary looking guy was drinking openly from a bootle of booze concealed in the uniquitous blue bag. He was going to follow me, as he hung about til I finally got up from my seat at the bus station, but fortunately I met someone I know so we chatted til he had lurched off. 4 30pm on a lovely autumn day. I have two friends off with workplace stress ie bullying and I will support one in her hearing at the Council. Hope the weather keeps nice for October break-I used to be on my hands and knees by now despite only having been back for a few weeks. Was it at parents’ night the incidents occured?

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    1. Glad you were able to shake off the scary guy!

      We had a Sharing the Learning event on Wednesday afternoon so the school was full of parents! A parent was enraged that their child was put on Amber (we use a traffic light system for behaviour) for kicking someone at lunchtime. So a minor discipline issue turned into a huge drama because their child was "provoked into kicking" *rolls eyes*

      Thanks for the compliment! I came home from work and just stood in a hot shower for 20 mins. I slapped on some posh face cream and a bit of mascara and lippy then was good to go!! :-)

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  3. What a nightmare. I saw recently an open letter to the SNP from a teacher outlining a lot of the stuff you mention. She had to remain anonymous to protect herself from being 'disciplined' by her council however since then I've seen that Nicola Sturgeon is actively looking for more evidence of this and it sounds to me like your school could give her a lot to chew on. Might be worth an email? If you're allowed!! Glad you had a good night out and you looked great! Take care. One more week to go :D x

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    1. I read the open letter with interest as what she's describing is exactly what's happening in my school. Inclusion is a wonderful thing but when there is no money to employ staff to support these children we end up with the situation we're in now :-(

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  4. Love your hair colour, it really suits you. Sounds a perfect evening to recharge.

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    1. Thanks! Natural silver/grey on top 6 inches and faded bleached blonde on the ends. I put a temporary silver colour on it every month and it seems to brighten it all up.

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  5. Most of the issues seem to lie with the parents in my opinion. If one of ours had ever found themselves on the wrong side of discipline at school they would have had a severe reprimand from us at home as well. We wouldn't have laid the blame on the teaching staff. Eldest is in teaching...rather glad she's on maternity leave for the next 12 months. x

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    1. Yep!! Most of the issues come from the way children are parented (is that a word??) now. Parents argue with all our discipline decisions even though our Behaviour Policy was recently re written with parents and agreed by them *sighs*

      We've got kids who regularly run away from school,trash classrooms and are violent towards staff but we're not allowed to exclude them

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  6. Well done you all! For dealing with all the proverbial and seeing it through.

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  7. And. For supporting all those children who really need it. Despite their parents.

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    1. Fortunately most of the families we have in our school are supportive. But the small number of those who are not seem to take up a disproportionate amount of time, energy and resources

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  8. It is truly amazing how a few loudmouths can really effect everyone! I teach too and always breathe a sigh of relief when those parents move on. Good for you for handling it well and for taking some time to build relationships with new and familiar co-workers. That is worth so very much!

    I agree with those who said you look amazing - even with a hot shower and a bit of makeup, I tend to look like something the cat dragged in by the end of the week.

    Lea

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    1. Lol! I should have taken a before photo!!!!

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  9. I think anyone in the teaching profession deserves a medal, I really do.

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