Today was our annual mentoring day. The puils effectivelty have the day off as they only have to come in for a ten minute individual mentoring interview with their form tutor. Parents generally do come but it isn't required of them.
I enjoy the average school day anyway but sometimes it's nice to have a change of pace. Plus I love my form so greatly appreciated the opportunity to talk to them and about them. Bringing family members into school gives a rare insight into my form members' home-lives.
I have a boy in my form who's twin brother I also teach. They have an older sister in the year above and based on the number of little kids following their mother around I figure there's more on the way soon. Either that or they started following her round one day and now she can't get rid of them. I didn't count how many children there were but I wouldn't be surprised to wake up tomorrow and find that somehow I was also her son.
A girl had her little sister in tow. The girl in my form is really nice, polite and quiet but her sister must have just discovered how to speak. She was obviously worried it might not last as she was determined to make the most of this new skill while she could and never shut up. She couldn't quite understand how a teacher could be male and kept calling me Mrs.
Recently a boy in the form had gone back home on non-uniform day to change after he'd forgotten to come in civilian clothes, this made him twenty minutes late. I'd pulled him up on this at the time but what I hadn't realise until talking to his mum about it today that she was actually driving him back. Priorities.
Most of my form are succesful. Out of twelve girls, eleven are on the school's Roll of Honour. Of fourteen boys a grand total of zero have made it. It's a disturbing contrast. The one girl who isn't up there is a little bit stroppy soemtimes so it's not a massive surprise she didn't make it. During her interview today I asked why she thought she'd only got a C in music. her response: 'my teacher doesn't like me'. And the B in PE? 'my teacher doesn't like me'. I'm beginning to see their point.
It's back to a normal school day tomorrow but I'll go into registration armed with a little more knowledge of my form tutees, some of it I'm not sure I wanted to know.
