Exclusions

Well school is now officially over. The students were allowed to leave after assemblies this afternoon. And the staff all scarpered pretty quickly after that......not unusual.

I had to stay to get 9 (yes 9) exclusion letters done, all for 5 days each on return from school and all pending the decision to make them permanent. Bit of a disastrous end to a brilliant term.

The lads involved were slightly mixed in their reactions, 5 of them were regular offenders and couldn't have cared less, 4 of them were new offenders and absolutely terrified that their parents were going to be told - and so they should be.

All this political correctness and do gooding that goes on, means that some parents shirk their responsibility to discipline their child. By the time they get to secondary school they are beyond hope - they have no respect for teachers, their parents or anyone else, they always believe (and always do) get away with their actions because no-one is prepared to deal with them. The school therefore has only one option - fixed term exclusions. Then the parent has a responsibility, by law, to look after them, and if the parent works, this is a BIG inconvenience. Hopefully, they are inconvenienced to the point that they'll start taking their parental responsibilities a bit more seriously.

So anyway, thanks lads, everyone else left at 1.00pm, I'm still here sorting out the paperwork!

Happy Easter.

End of Term

Tomorrow's the big day. For the rest of the school it's the end of term. For the support staff who work a 52 week contract, it's two weeks without the students and teachers. For those of us at the top of the support staff food chain, it's financial year end.

As the teaching assistants, administrators and student services staff go off for the break, they forget those of us who work like people in the 'real' world. Those of us who work 37 hours a week and only (I use the word loosely) get 27 days holiday a year. Easter is always a big event for us, because we have either got financial year end looming or we're in the middle of it, or we've just completed it. Either way, we're frazzled......completely.

So this year, financial year end is the last day of term, which means a relaxing two weeks ahead of ordering and resourcing using the new budget.

Now tell me the logic in this. A school academic year runs September to August. A school finanicial year runs April to March - no logic whatsoever.

Still, there'll be plent of pub lunches next week to keep us going and NO TEACHERS!!! Yippee!

Silly Season

So, two days to go until we break up for Easter.

Silly season. Happens at the end of each term. Teachers' are in a good mood as they are about to have two weeks off. Students' are in a good mood because they are about to have two weeks off. Result, teachers' let down their guard a little and relax the rules slightly because they are in a good mood. This heightens the students' good mood and they start to 'push' the boundaries a bit to see how far they can go.

All good stuff, and results in some spectacular behaviour from both sides of the fence.

Today was no different, relaxed teacher not paying attention whilst on duty as too busy talking about his up and coming jaunt to somewhere hot and far away, result, one student pushed down the stairs and massive bump on the head. Enough, hell no, student picks himself up and dusts himself down, and goes after the perpetrator - fight ensues. You get the picture.

Made great staff room fodder.

Snow!

I love the country!

It snowed here today. By the time I had got up and out of the house the snow had started to settle on the car and the garden, but the roads were clear. I dropped number one son off at his secondary school and then took number two son to his secondary school. By the time I arrived at my secondary school, the snow had turned to rain.

I got to my nice cosy office, coffee in hand, and as I am removing my coat, the phone rings. Our phone system here roams. If the main switchboard is busy, the call jumps around the offices until it finds someone prepared to answer it. I answer it. "It's snowing - is the school open". I look out of my window, it's raining, the snow has gone. I replace the hand set and prepare for another fun filled day.

And people blame the schools - blame the parents!

School Holidays

As we approach Easter and the two week break, the teachers are on usual form. They are so tired and they need a break, they can't wait as this half term (all six weeks of it) has been a long one and class 9* have been on top form in their teacher baiting skills.

So off you go my pretties - you have your two week break. Some of us don't get to finish at 3.00pm every day and then sit around in meetings gossiping, some of us don't get the school holidays off - yes those of us who are termed ' support staff' on a 52 week contract don't have that luxury.

I'm not bitter though. You would not believe how wonderful a secondary school is when there are no teachers in it and no students in it. It's bliss. You can get work done without a teacher begging for rescue as they haven't got their copying done for this lesson, even though they knew back in September when the timetable was published that they would be teaching 7* this period on this day - like they do every week. Disorganised is not a word I commonly use - as I am not disorganised - but teachers, bless them, are not blessed with common sense.

So two weeks of quiet coming up and I can't wait - kind a holiday really!!!