For the most part I'm starting to quite like my year nines, mostly they're nice, hard working girls, with a few lads in there who are starting to get the idea that the SATs are getting awfully close. Unfortunately there's one boy who is a constant pain in the neck and whose parents are so incredibly unsupportive because they can't believe that he could be a problem. It must be someone else's fault.

At last night's year nine parents' evening I had a conversation which went as follows.

'There was a lesson last week where Bob turned up wearing his coat and hat and...'

Boy interupts: 'I don't wear a hat'

Me (looking like I could kill him): 'yes you were hearing a hat'

Boy: 'No I wasn't'

Mother interjects: 'He doesn't wear a hat to school'

Me: 'He was wearing a hat'

Mother: 'He doesn't wear a hat, you must be thinking of someone else. My son doesn't own a hat, in fact he doesn't even know what one is. Actually what was it you said? Hat? Is that something you wear on your nose?'

Of course we'd now got so completely off the point, in actual fact whether or not he was wearing a hat is of limited significance seeing as my next words before being interupted we're going to be 'shouting at the top of his voice.'

The mother then questioned why he hadn't been getting an extra homework as they had requested. Seeing as he doesn't do the general homework I set everyone I don't really see the point in filling up the bin outside my classroom with homework sheets.

I hate some parents.