Only two weeks have passed since the start of the school year but you already get the sense that not all is as it should be. You normally get a honeymoon period with a new class but the consensus is that there are already too many problems with behaviour and we’re straight into the marriage counselling. I think some of my year tens actually want to file for divorce already, as one pupil told me she didn’t want to be in my class because she doesn’t like me. I’m not particularly bothered whether she does or not but I don’t like pupils being rude, especially when it’s difficult to see how I’ve provoked them. That is, apart from referring to the old Bart Simpson quote of ‘sometimes I feels sorry for them, but then I remember they were trying to teach’.

With pupils like that I think the best course of action is not to take the bait and to try to be as courteous and respectful towards them as possible. I doubt this particular girl will ever take to me and that’s okay, but retaliation would only make things worse. Our school has a habit of bowing to pressure from pupils in this sort of situation when I can’t help but feel they should be made to like it or lump it. We don’t do them any favours by doing this, we only teach them that being rude helps you to get your way. Plenty of people have to work for a boss they don’t like; it’s just tough luck. So in short no I’m not going to be asking the teacher of the set above if he could take her, even if that would suit me fine.

From a personal point of view it’s very difficult to not end up severely disliking the pupil but it’s important to try and remember that often it’s because they don’t get much love at home and don’t know how to respond to anyone they don’t get on with without being hostile. That isn’t always the case, like many adults there are some pupils who come from perfectly nice backgrounds but inexcusably still end up being utter twats. However the main point is that our job is to teach and not to judge, tempting as that may be.

Aside from my own personal troubles I don’t think our school is the happiest place at the moment. OFSTED still loom large on the horizon and everyone wants to get it over with as quickly as possible. The Head referred to it in briefing this morning, she wasn’t quite so forthright as to say she wanted them out of the way but you could sort of read between the lines. It’ll be her first OFSTED since taking charge of the metaphorical ship and I think she must be feeling seasick about whether they find everything to be… er… shipshape.

There does seem to be some backlash against her at the moment with some staff whinging about her talking about consistency all the time. They feel she could do with practising what she preaches a little more. I understand what they’re saying but I go back to the point I made about not always seeing eye-to-eye with your boss. I fail to see how disagreeing with the Head would benefit anyone, we would only serve to undermine ourselves. I just hope everyone realises this. In our Head’s first year I heard from a pupil that one of their teachers had said he didn’t expect her to last long in the job. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

All of which leads me to wonder if a storm is brewing, I just get the sense that something big is about to happen. It’s not all doom and gloom though. The Deputy Head came into my lesson this morning looking for a pupil who was in trouble over something – which unfortunately for the lad in question isn’t a rarity. He wasn’t actually there anyway but she took a look round at what the rest of the class were up to. I think she caught the shoulder of one of the boys as she walked passed and he asked her ‘did you just put something on my back?’ Right, so the Deputy Head of all people is going to put a post-it on a fifteen year old’s back saying ‘kick me’. In spite of the less likeable pupils I love working with kids as much as anything for some of the daft ideas they have. There’s always something to make you smile.