Roper – Centres for the seriously disaffected students are few and far between, and I'm afraid to say it but what the girl has done would not get her into one of those referral units, she could go for doing it 10 or 15 times and that might work.

You're absolutely right that each school has a duty to care for the students but the school's hands are very often tied. Students we've managed to get into referral units for a maximum of 8 weeks are serial brawlers, both staff and students, committed racists or guilty of sexual assault. I think criminal charges should be brought but there simply isn't the political will, locally or nationally

As to your comment that she sounds seriously disturbed I think you're a little naive – our school has retained for 5 years a boy who tried to cut of a dog's head with a spade and broke his hand punching walls when frustrated a girl who cut her lips with a razor blade as 'lipstick', a boy who crapped on desks termly as a dirty protest.. I could go on. In each case we tried to remove them to some kind of additional support for he safety of others or themselves and in each case they were back within a month or never left because here aren't he spaces to house them.

Alternative educational provision in England is appalling and comprehensives like the one I teach in are left carrying the can – it's very frustrating.

I really do sympathise with the situation but there are no 'other centres' for students to got to and it's not just a case of schools being skint, (which they are!), the systems in place do not facilitate proper sanctions for students who will not behave in a civilised fashion.

The school should, of course, have contacted home after a serious incident but beyond that what do they do? There are no special schools anymore, there is a focus on schools to retain kids at almost all costs – example – Knowsley, one of the most deprived boroughs in Britain has an exclusion quota of 5 students per year for all schools. Where do we put these anti social students? We can't isolate them, we can't exclude them, what do we do?

Schools are in the situation of 'managing' anti social students behaviour instead of dignifying them with correction and socialising them. Good students suffer, teachers suffer, the anti social remain anti social and to top it all off schools fail if the are full of naughty kids hat hey're not allowed to do anything about!

The system is screwed and until we get a political agenda in education with a backbone horrible situations like this will continue to exist.

All this 'give the school a hard time' stuff is just rubbish! What would you like the school to do? They can't exclude, they can't expel, they can't even issue a ruddy detention now without the consequences from gobby parents along the lines of "My little Tyrone doesn't do detention…".

It's a damn shame when issues like this arise but teachers hate it too, we're just powerless. All kids are required by law to be educated somewhere, it takes at least 16 weeks to permanently exclude, that's 2 full terms minimum and that's pretty much for murder. Bullying policies aren't worth the paper they're written on and home school contracts are just so much bog roll. Contact papers etc but please explain that the school is caught in a quandary too.

I teach in a large comp in the South Liverpool area featured in the doc…Can you imagine what parents' evening is like? 😯

"So Mrs Inadequate, little Jimmy isn't quite performing at his predicted level…"

I've been there so many times it's tragic! We can't educate these kids because their parents are so abusive negligent, inadequate or just thick! Their kids are products of their horrific environments and yet they are expected to perform as well at school as Harriette and Henry from leafy Berkshire?!? They need to learn how to look after themselves before we start suggesting Shakespeare and Physics are a good idea!

The package I bought came with the National Parks on 1:50 OS maps for £25, they should be in the folder you downloaded the program in. In Viewranger you can either go through options>Data manager>maps or Search>View on map to see an OS on screen.

You may have downloaded the program only which will mean you have to download maps separately. I download using the over the air option which means getting map tiles for the areas I need, 1:50 usually does for riding but I'll get 1:25 for running.

Hope that helps good luck

Phil

+1 for the fell runners

All you ramblers in your Goretex and fleece need to toughen up a bit. Sure it's a bit bracing at the top in a few feet of snow (just make sure theres no breach in your short legs!) but we get it done and coming down is a hoot!

fell runners – making everyone else look rubbish since for ever

If you're gonna do this life business you want to be enthusiastic, interested, passionate,

Uncoolest post so far…

A lot of your ideas are already in place Project; schools do recycle all kinds of stuff, the darkroom I built with no funds was entirely built from recycled materials, the computer I use is ex-ICT, the pens and pencils I use day in day out are not regularly replaced but I supply lots from home.

Do you want to charge for parking for staff? That's just not going to happen, why would I pay to park at work? Wage cuts? This isn't some private sector job that doesn't really matter, this is the future of our society and people would simply not do the job for less, it's not actually always very nice teaching in inner city schools but it does need doing.

Little insight – The English Dept. teaches every student in a school of 1500. It's yearly budget is £2000, that's for books, equipment, stationery, textbooks, presentation equipment and so on. Kids bring nothing not even a bag or lunch. You don't pay enough tax to fund trips etc, so if you want them get your hands in your pockets.

Hora – it may 'affect' your child's ability to not sound stupid.

PeterPoddy – I'm sure your mum was a great teacher but her days are well and truly gone. No planning? School fails, even if you call the inspector sonny.

…and I don't know what a funf is…

Project, I'd love to know what you actually do (apart from spouting off on here about public sector jobs). Teaching is a great job and the holidays are beyond compare to most but then, why is it, with all of the great pay and hols is it still so loathsome that no one will do it?

Your suggestions are hilarious and your understanding of pedagogy is cretinous; I'm sure when you are in charge all students will turn out as incomparable genius but until then, really, your ill educated ranting is meaningless.

OP – schools are skint, they really, really are. If you want your kids to do extra stuff stump up. It costs about 50p per kid per hour for simply baby sitting so you can see the kind of monies involved, it actually looks like you get education for free.

I feel really sorry for the teachers involved, as well as the parents and the poor kid. But I think there is a huge amount of hot air spouted on here regarding what teachers are actually able to do. Phone 999? In the middle of a class that you can't leave? If we called 999 every time a child said I feel sick/ ill/ it's too hot in here etc we'd have an ambulance parked at the gate.

Teachers have to make a series of choices, day in, day out, regarding the safety of the kids in their care, of which there are usually 30. They are criticised if they over react they are criticised if they react too mildly.

<unsubstantiated anecdote alert>

I've been in the situation with a kid who had a fit, when I phoned home to let her mum know that we'd called an ambulance and she was on her way to hospital she asked me if I could go with her cos she was still in her pyjamas.

The anti weight weenie lobby are (usually) fat knackers carrying a bag loaded up with enough spares and pies to run a pie and spares stall, who could ride a carbon unicycle with a semi slick and still be slow biffers with all of the acceleration of one of those dogs with a lamp shade on its head and its arse on one of those little trolleys.

oh…

😀

I'm not sure I've got the brain space or capability for a sophisticated troll but I do love a good lurk and as an inveterate lurker I'm in search of pastures new.

I have been a long time lurker/poster on ukclimbing and yes you're right they love a good tete-a-tete don't they!

hmmmmmm, Gardener's Question Time, 'which hydrangea for my garden…' Watch the sparks fly!

I'm loving my X-control 310. I put lighter wheels/ tyres on that I had knocking about to drop about a pound and it rides fantastically. The Zestys carry a few lbs over the x-control at the lower end of the range so not as ideal for marathons etc. Still find 100mm plenty for most of the applications I use the bike in; trail centres, all day rides, marathons – pretty uch my standard, all-round, do a bit of everything bike!

"Coffee is a stimulant not a drug"

lol 😀

I stick by my original comment…tight arse…

On another note I'll mail you Robdob and send over a few bits, not sure what I've got at the mo but I'm sure something will be along soon,

Thread save! FTW!

Cheers

No he's not you tight arse. Oh yeah…. 😀

I think the 'must read book' is a valid concept in that certain novels give a context into which others fit or a cultural understanding of literature as a reflection of social shift. I suppose you can read 'just' for pleasure but in terms of appreciating literature there is mileage in getting a good grounding.

My two pence worth:

Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte – The final, glorious fizzle for Romanticism
The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald – Devastatingly modern
1984: George Orwell – Leaves the heart empty
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde: Art criticism at its most poetic
King Lear: Shakespeare – Possibly the greatest piece of Literature ever written? Read it or you're a cretin. Not always enjoyable, but important.
Catcher in the Rye: Read it and be a teenager again!

and…

The Bible: Lots – If you don't know this then the classics remain a closed book. I'm fed up of reteaching students a common heritage that informs almost all of our accepted art forms.

Of course there are loads more and modern literature has its place but unfortunately a crass or basic grasp of literature does indeed make you a pleb.

Getting another day off tomorrow cos the school's frozen. Got to school on the first day of snow to be told to turn around and go home. I didn't decide, don't take random days off, do teach 'orrible scouse sock robbers…Hang on why do I feel the need to justify myself as a teacher to the proletariat?

All you haters suck my snow balls!

Unfortunately parents are not a teacher's customers. People keep churning out useless kids who are simply a drain on society and someone has to turn them into something useful like call centre workers or grit spreaders (both requiring a string of NVQ's even though a trained ape could handle the job). Teacher's provide a social service not a baby sitting service plus you suckers need us to look after your kids (kids not ids although I may have been right first time) while you save up for your new plasma tele and jumbo bags of wotsits.

I got in today, half an hours drive turned into a 1 1/2 hour dance with death. School closed. Closed tomorrow too. Get in!

Hanged, not hung…

ooops, swear filter… 😳

I'm always fascinated to hear people's response to bullying in school, particularly the "school's done nuffin'" response. What would you like the school to do? As a teacher it is infuriating that we can't do anything.

We can't exclude or expel except in the most severe of incidents and even then the gobshite kids are always back in on appeal a week later. We can't withdraw from lessons, remove freedoms over any extended period. Schools are effectively powerless against bullying except to give them the biggest letting off of their lives. For goodness sake, we can't even yell at them anymore!

I'll bet most of the staff in that school know the bully's an odious little tit but their hands are tied. Every child matters, my hoop…

…and breathe….

Coffeking – I suppose I see giving cash as the lesser of two evils, just walking away being the more evil option. I suppose it all depends on your view of “the homeless” – either as sponging, work shy lay abouts or as fellow human beings with circumstances less benevolent than my own. I am quite sure there are thieves and liars out there but tarring all vulnerable people with the same brush can’t be the way forward.

I think I may be a hand wringing liberal, feeling a little impotent in the face of gross social inequality and making token gestures but I’d rather that than ignore a fellow human in need – plus I guess I don’t want to be a miserable s0d devoid of emotion a la scrooge 😀

I totally understand the ‘don’t give money, just food’ argument and it’s probably very noble in intention but I must admit I do give money to homeless people (I give to charities too) on the street. I suppose I have the notion of ‘whatever gets you through the night’. I suppose a committed alchoholic/ drug user, living a pretty dire life on the streets has to find some comfort somewhere and I may be perpetuating their lifestyle (as if it’s chosen!) but hopefully am funding an escape route as well via charitable giving etc.

I don’t feel right giving money, but also can’t really see a viable alternative.

The only asthma attack I’ve ever suffered was a by product of suppressed hayfever symptoms, weird I know! I was camping and woke up in the middle of the night gasping for breath and very tight in the chest, stumbled to the toilet block and managed to calm down and sit it out. A doctor friend who was there at the time said he’d suffered a very similar episode when the pollen count was v.high, whilst taking hay fever tablets he didn’t sneeze etc but an asthma attack developed. He ended up going into a chemist and self prescribing asthma drugs with a pad he had in the car!

Mcboo – Liverpool may have her faults (I won’t list them cos my fingers may drop off) but she is a fair city and my heart belongs here. As to moving to London, I get easily confused by modern ways and big fancy city life so it’s t’north for me I’m afraid – plus the granny was probably ‘snarlin’ a gang of ne’er do wells and got what she had comin’!

The suggestions are all appreciated and I’ve ordered some of the Schwalbe marathon plus and will report back (as if anyone’s that interested! Although a commuter tyre thread has generated a fair few responses…)

I think if there is a by-product of this thread it is that people do not read the op! To all those recommending Armadillos in all their glorious variety – stop it! I’ve used them, they’re poo. They might work in London or some such other city where commuter debris is not really a problem but they do not work in Liverpool where I may run over anything from a glass bottle to a burnt out granny,

Lots of Love

I’ve had a look at the greentyres but am a bit dubious as to how they might perform. I don’t mind a bit of rolling resistance but don’t want to be brought to a inglorious halt after using all of my energy and will to live teaching double year 10 Thursday afternoon…The scallies on the raller might take advantage of my prone state to yell things like “eh mate ow much woz yer bike” and “do a wheelie” whilst surrounding me menacingly in scary tracksuits and hats….

Anyone have any experience of greentyres?

I like the sound of the schwalbes, they seem to be the consensus choice – Geoffj, this commute eats armadillos for breakfast, I’ve had a 2″ gash in the side wall, glass punctures and metal shard punctures in ONE day!

The route is great, I can cycle around 12 miles without really hitting the road but it is bankrupting me in tyres and tubes and patches ….

Headfirst – you are so right! How am I expected to get serious internet time in when kids keep asking me to ‘teach’ them?!? I’m currently clearing out a cupboard rather than doing reports AND rearranging my room – teaching is sooooo hard! The concept of educating Y12 when they return is beyond my comprehension and as for teaching KS3 surely that goes against some kind of human rights laws!

Lol’d at the op’s comment “(and i’m now relising the pointlessness of posting a question for teachers, at a time when they won’t be able to read it, balls)”

Got loads of time! time is all I’ve got! it’s motivation and drive I lack….

anyway….back to the cupboard….

I’m a teacher in huge Comp in Liverpool and it’s pretty good! Teaching is all I’ve ever done (approaching 10 years!) except stupid summer jobs etc and I can honestly say it’s neither too hard nor too easy, it has its ups and downs. This time of year is awesome, Year 11 and 6th form on exams, loads of trips etc which is why I can post on here!

Got a load of reports to do and a mountain of planning for new courses launching next year but I’ll probably put that off till summer (WooHoo!)

Some kids are genuinely horrible but they are few and far between but I suppose you’ve got to remember you see the entire of a society in your working day, rapists and murderers (taught a couple of those 8O), doctors and footballers, average joes and those that will excel in their field. I like teaching most of the time and hate it at others but I like the hols and generally muddle through.

Oh and by the way I’m one of those awesome teachers the kids love and parents respect whilst retaining my down to earth cool and all round bodacity…. 😀 and of course ‘I’ achieve excellent results for all of the kids I teach….

Here endeth the lesson….