The deputy head collared me before the start of briefing this morning: 'I'm going to look at my timetable and your timetable and choose a time to observe another of your lessons.'

Great. Brilliant. I'm really glad I'm at a school with such a thorough induction programme, where the senior staff get really involved. I'm really looking forward to this professional development opportunity. Fantastic. Marvelous.

I'm not sure every NQT is being seen again so I wonder what I've done to earn this honour - perhaps it was the time my year eights were bouncing off the walls whilst the deputy walked past, or the fact that my year tens - who most people think of as nice - hate my guts and aren't afraid of telling anyone and everyone, or because when one of my year sevens was on report everyone gave him As but I gave him Ds, or...

PS: I am actually pleased to be at a school where they get things sorted rather than leaving you to die every day. It'd just be nice if nothing actually needed sorting.

My year tens really surpassed themselves in terms of sheer bitchiness this afternoon. No, I'll take that back, a handful of them really surpassed themselves in terms of bitchiness. Most of them are really good kids.

Great examples were:

'We must have been taught by someone else that lesson because we learnt something.'

'I'm not late because the bell only went ten minutes ago.'

'I'm going to go complain to Mr * because you won't let me sit where I want.'

'We shouldn't have to put up with inexperienced teachers during our GCSEs'

Actually inexperienced teachers shouldn't have to put up with horrible litle brats. Oh, hang on, we really don't - 'out you go'.

It's lessons like that that make you want to give up and run off home and never come back. However there's always a few kids who remind you that it's not all misery. Like the girl who handed in her coursework in a lovely backed folder - I want to give it an A* without even bothering to mark it - or the girl who could see that I was frazzled at the end of the lesson and stopped back to help collect in the worksheets.

There's hope after all.