'Sir I had a dream with you in last night.'

Uh-oh, did I really want to know where this was going? Sometimes its best to just tell them to get on with their work when they say this sort of thing, but unfortunately curiousity inevitably gets the better of me so I ask about it.

'You were Harry Potter and you were throwing green paint over the head of science's car.'

I guess that's innocent enough, though the Harry Potter thing has me slightly concerned. Do i really look like a, lets face it, slightly drippy and issue-filled teenage boy? On the other hand I could choose to take it as meaning she thinks my lessons are magic.

Last night saw the school's presentation evening taking place at a swish hall in the town centre. The format of the evening was handing out certificates to the great and good pupils at the school, mainly because of achievement at GCSE and A-Level. Seeing as I'd never seen many of these pupils before in my life the evening seemed a little dry and just-one-of-those-things-I'm-obliged-to-do, though it was nice seeing some of the key stage three awards being given to pupils I teach. The pupils collected them in a long line, with four going up at a time in succession. This meant having to keep clapping throughout all four of them walking on stage to make sure the last of them didn't feel like a twit with no one bothering to clap. Thankfully the handing out of certificates was interspersed with music from the orchestra and readings by confident pupils - I'd sooner them than I - otherwise we'd all have had repetitive strain injury from all that applause.

The plus side of the evening was that I ended up sat next to the lovely NQT from the English department - every cloud has a silver lining I suppose - it was either that or sit with my department. Really it was a question of priorities.

As the evening drew to a close the headteacher stepped on stage to introduce the final reading. He started off by talking about his time at the school over the past six years, and it became inevitable what he was about to say: he will be leaving at the end of the year. The response was a stunned silence. Whilst I thought his little speach was nicely done I felt a sorry for the poor girl doing the ending reading who had to follow him. I know I don't have a clue what she said, and I doubt she did either.

On the drive home I thought about the good and bad points of getting a new head. Bad: could end up with a psychopath. Good: the new head won't know how useless I am at teaching. Bad: The appointment could be internal so they'll already know I'm rubbish. Good: next year I'll be able to say I've been at the school longer than the head. Very bad: We'll almost certainly have OFSTED in again next year. Rats.