A view across the garden 

One of the frogs is feeling a lot braver today. 

Damselflies mating today - they are large red damselflies and the female is more marked with the black bands apparently. I think you could tell from the picture though.

Hello from Hollie 

Little cutie 

Can you see the frog's head peeking out? 

View across the garden  

Yellow flag iris 

Love in the mist Alison tells me 

Beautiful blue iris 

Maisie asleep under the washing 

Glen receiving his football trophy last weekend. Manager Nick on left - he' the one who isn't under 11. 

Sunday, sunday

Following another thrashing at the cricket yesterday, Bangladesh and Verwood have a good deal in common. We played at Brockenhurst in lovely sunshine after the first hour or so. We were awful three weeks ago in our first league game of the season so I was really pleased when this guy from the opposition said to me they'd played two weeks ago and thrashed this side, Camelot, who weren't fit to even play their second team. He couldn't have known much about us as he continued saying they scored an abject 60 something which would be a winning total against us right now. Actually it wasn't that bad as we stormed to 72 all out. Given I was third top scorer with 7, you won't need to know much more about the hopeless effort put in by all.

So today was an at home day with cutting the hedges the highlight! Mind you I got to use our new shredder afterwards and that made all the difference once I'd got it working a mere hour later. Oh and reset it every five minutes of course as it got jammed. And noticed the pile of shredded material resembled the pile of unshredded material waiting to be shredded. It wasn't very good in other words.

But, and this is important, I did persevere with the result that it actually got going in the end and produced some fine results. I just need to be more patient, jamming it full of trimmings does not encourage it to perform well. Like so many labour saving devices, it has a will of its own and a desire to be treated like royalty after which it may decide, if you are lucky, to do a little bit of work. Nothing like as quick as taking the rubbish to the tip and nothing like as much fun as burning it in a huge conflagration the neighbouring villages can see, but ultimately satisfying because you've negotiated successfully with a few bits of metal surrounded by lots of plastic and electricity engineered with the personality of a sulky 14 year old who is too lazy to get up and reacts badly to any challenge.

Nevertheless the garden does look good and there are a few photos to attach of some stunning flowers as well as another of Maisie the Pomeranian fluffball.

Congrats to Paul Sturrock too. I knew he was a good manager and now he gets to play Saints and Plymouth. God for him I say.

Joke of the day - I had the family round for some entertainment last night and wanted to make sure they enjoyed themselves. I got Titanic on DVD out for them. Went down a treat.

I'm here all week.

Champion

Tiredness can kill, take a break.

More and more staff have fallen by the way side as we come to the welcome end of a long and demanding term. It is like a marathon in which the finishing line, despite its proximity, seems so distant and the legs turn to jelly refusing to carry the poor victim to the end. I’m not sure who the Paula Radcliffe of the school would be, stopping at the roadside for relief, but I imagine there would have to be a policy about it. I was asked today whether we had a policy on Red Bull for example! Red Bull and a hyperactive kid could be an amusing combination in safely controlled conditions but might not be compatible with the causes of the Second World War on a long Tuesday afternoon.

With coursework deadlines, revision and exams coming one after another, it is a tough time for the kids as well as the staff. Year 9 have done their SATs, Year 7 have completed the Optional tests, Year 10 are doing their Humanities GCSE along with PE short course and Year 11 are fully in the swing of their GCSEs. Only Year 8 have escaped thus far but their turn comes when Year 11 leave. No wonder this half term seems so long and no wonder so many staff succumb to illness and exhaustion leading to even greater pressure on those left.
Tomorrow’s non-uniform day has been postponed as it coincides with a couple of GCSE exams. Non-uniform day, being different from the usual school day, causes the students to get a little ‘high’ which might affect the conduct of the exams both in the room and outside with kids running around shouting.

Today’s main talking point though is of Liverpool and the incredible turnaround in the Champions League Final. Having wanted Manchester United to beat Arsenal (Michael Thomas 1989 is to blame for my dislike of the Gunners along with the memory of 1 – 0 following a set piece to some 6’4” man mountain) and Celtic to pip Rangers to the title in Scotland, I was convinced that Liverpool would triumph. As you will know, when it comes to logic and football you have to accept as a fan that everything you do affects the game. So you set aside things like form and team selection and say that you can’t have three games in a row where the team you want to win loses. You must not go to the toilet when your team is defending a corner. Everyone knows a subliminal message is sent to the defenders who switch off and allow the opposition to score. Your team only scores when you don’t watch. As you tune in they go back to being awful.

In 1982 Alex Higgins won the snooker World Championship because my friend John and myself watched him as much as we could. We noticed that when we weren’t watching he kept losing frames meaning we had to watch everything. The proof it worked was in the pictures of him in tears beckoning his wife and daughter forward as he collected and displayed the trophy. Without John and me, he would have been nothing. He probably doesn’t even know what a debt he owes us but we don’t begrudge him. It was enough that the person we wanted to win achieved just that, victory.

So of course by half time I knew there was something I was doing wrong because, much as I admire and follow AC Milan, they are my preferred Italian team despite my Juventus top, Liverpool were completely hopeless. Its one thing to get beaten but humiliation is another thing entirely and they were being embarrassed. The third Milan goal was superb and Kaka and Schevchenko brilliant and I decided I had to act. I stopped watching and went to prepare some work for today during half-time. I returned a few minutes after half time and watched as Riese received the ball back from a rebound, his first cross obstructed by good defending. My absence had allowed them to improve suddenly. He hit it again and lo it came to pass that Stevie G thumped a decisive header in, leading to a miracle of biblical proportions. Six minutes later they were level and all because I wanted them to win enough to make the players realise they had to do it for me. That mystical connection could do wonders for my GCSE results. I could simply wish Daniel to suddenly make a big effort to get a C not his E, and it would happen.

I didn’t go to bed for two hours after the winning penalty save, I was too pumped full of emotion. I was exhausted, how must the players have felt? Hopelessly outplayed in extra time again, they had been on top for about 20 minutes in the entire game and yet triumphed. Obviously Celtic and Man Utd failed because the miracle was of such proportion that big sacrifices had to be made in advance. So much so that Martin O’Neill has had to leave Celtic. I hope he never knows it was my fault.

The minute-by-minute coverage on the Guardian website is fantastic to read with hindsight. At half time Stevie G was headed for oblivion and vitriol because he is rubbish. Minutes later he is a god. Perhaps he is neither. The writer acknowledged his error and repented at the feet of the colossus.

The literature exam went well yesterday with lots to write about on the short stories and poems. The students seemed quite confident afterwards but as a teacher you’re never quite sure if that is a good sign or not. Time will tell. It was my final lesson with Year 11, a sad and emotional time, at least for them. Me, I’m glad to see the back of the little… Of course that is not true. They have been fantastic and we had a good couple of lessons today chatting about the way in which the press handled the case of the three sisters, all mothers by 16 and allegedly on £31000 between them each year. It was linked to the non-literary texts part of the English exam and we looked at the language used by the press. You may make what you will of: -

baby factory, confessed, admitted, blamed, bad advice, crass stupidity, state handouts, council

as if people needed persuading that this was a bad thing and that it was commonplace. Perhaps it is, I wouldn’t claim to know but I can’t believe we still try to judge the morality of the nation and the state of society by the extremes of one case. So much seems to have to go to the extremes hence Stevie G is useless, Stevie G is god. At least we can be sure he isn’t the father of the three babies. Where would he get the energy?

Glen's fish all doing well. 

Bumble bee between the showers enjoying the Granny bonnets 

Plenty of pond skaters and snails. 

Evidence of the recent rain. 

Who could resist? 

She is very cute. 

Hello from Masie, our Pomeranian puppy. 

Pomeranian

With the torrential rain of the morning set in for the rest of the day, Natasha got her way and persuaded us to set off for Littlehampton to collect a pedigree Pomeranian puppy. She is, and I ought to have a fanfare here,

WILTHOM VERONICA PERSICA,

daughter of BLAZE OF GLORY and KENMILLTO JASPENDI

also known more commonly as Masie which is much easier.

The remainder of the weekend has been largely devoted to her with new relationships having to be forged particularly with Rosie. She has responded beautifully and Natasha is delighted.

There was just time for a quick tour of the garden and you can see some of the pictures on the site.

We're off to Potterne Park shortly to enjoy Glen's medal presentation for his efforts with Rosgarth. Photo to follow also.

School discipline - Daily Mail readers look away now

Duty teacher detention time

Every Thursday I supervise a detention after school for an hour. When a student has been poorly behaved or disruptive we operate a ‘buddy’ system where the student is sent to a colleague and can settle down. This is a system that involves no consequence to the student as the teacher can then teach and make sure students are learning. If they disrupt the class they’ve been sent to we have a duty teacher, usually a senior member of staff, who will supervise the duty room. Students sent there are put in detention after school each Thursday.

Very oddly, given the lack of consequence, many of them refuse to go to the buddy, preferring to go to the duty room and face the detention. They say it is embarrassing going into someone else’s class, especially when it is another year group. It is also fair to say that for many of them the process of cooling down takes time and they end up storming off and refusing to do as told.

As a result here I am supervising this week’s miscreants. There are 15 of them and, like the inclusion room, only one is a girl.

Before supervising the detention I supervise the inclusion room and I wonder how many you would guess if I asked you the number of students who simply moved from the inclusion room into the duty teacher detention. The answer is 6. So you can see that the same names keep cropping up repeatedly although there are more who visit now and again and seem to respond far more quickly to the sanctions in place.

All of which begs the question whether these sanctions actually work for a hard core of students. What purpose is served by persevering with the buddy, the duty room and inclusion for these students?

In the first instance of course it does make a difference to the class they are removed from. They can get on and learn in a more settled and conducive atmosphere. It also allows someone like me to get to know these young people and establish some relationship with them. The detentions and so on can help in the provision of support and mentors. In the vast majority of cases you actually see that problems become less frequent and you can identify where they are occurring and provide more support for the teacher/student. Unfortunately they also provide evidence that a range of strategies has been pursued, a necessity when taking other action against students such as use of Pupil Referral Units.

Wonderful Wednesday

That's more like it!

I was hoping when I started this blog to have a wealth of stories about school and so on and after the first week I was precisely nowhere and rapidly coming to the conclusion that things at school were a good deal less interesting than I had thought. Thankfully(!) things have been happening today that make my job so interesting.

In the first place most of my Year 11 class were in their French exam at the start of the day. This left me with those who either do German, very few of them, and those who did not do a language. I therefore had a class of 8 and a wonderful opportunity to do some close revision of the English Literature short stories. Encouragingly they showed good knowledge including the use of symbolism which ought to guarantee a smile on the examiner's face but we got bored with 15 minutes to go and invented a new game. We opened the door and decided that whoever walked by would be the person we would love forever, allocating minute long sections for each person. Naturally some of the class ended up with no one, and if you'd seen them you would think it was an all too accurate prediction of their futures, while we laughed at the cool lad of the class ending up with a lovely Year 7 girl who walked by. Unfortunately I was also chosen to take part and must now woo a lad in Year 10. Fate is a cruel mistress.

The next incident related to a gold chain stolen from a bag in PE. The boy was told that it had been flushed down the toilet and had been very upset and phoned home. His father, big and full of muscles, was extremely angry and I listened to the story. Having ascertained that it had been flushed down the toilet I told him I would look into it (not really - in different circumstances he might have laughed but I didn't fancy upsetting him) and went into the changing rooms to check which toilet. I found out it had been put down the grill in the urinal which on closer inspection, by the building superintendent, hid a long drop into the darkness meaning there was no chance of recovering the chain.

Following that it was off round the local estate to round up any truants but they were all in school or safely hidden in someone's house. Then into the bushes round the school, not so much bushes as the shell of bushes as they have been subject to clearances as vigorous as those of Amazonian farmers. The wide open spaces are not for cattle to roam and feed Western populations with burgers; rather they provide shelter for a shy and retiring species equally addicted to another Western vice which is so readily exported to enthusiastic masses the world over, the smoker. They have spent some considerable time in the undergrowth and find shelter from their only natural prey, the vigilant teacher, in the dense network of paths and clearings. Easily disturbed, they can be spotted by the clouds of smoke rising at regular intervals during the day but mainly at break and lunch. They eat very little, preferring to spend dinner money on their hobby and indulge in social intercourse, coughing up phlegm and 'twosing up'.

Having admired the hard work they must have put in I returned to the building to check the inclusion room. Today there are 11 of them in, 3 girls and 8 boys, but most significantly they are all Year 9 bar one boy from Year 8, the product of a post-SATs hangover possibly. The only one I have to deal with regularly is the Year 8 student.

It might sound like all you deal with as a teacher are naughty kids who don't want to work or learn but that's far from the case and there are lots of success stories too. Yesterday I was visited by a student who left us three years ago. He'd had some difficulties in school, so much so that we could well have placed his home phone number on friends and family, but he joined up almost as soon as he finished school. What a difference it has made to him. We kept him going in school and were able to give him decent enough references etc to enable him to be selected. I'd never been very keen on the armed forces myself finding it easier to maintain a simplistic view of all things military in which they must be brainwashed idiots unthinkingly following their reactionary leaders who maintained the status quo in society and propped up the establishment. That might well be right, I still have my reservations, but they do make a difference to some people in a very positive way.

The young man has just returned from Iraq where he has been stationed for several months and I was able to chat with him about the situation there, far too complex for me to even attempt to comment on here, but he did tell me about the formations they had to patrol in and the training they'd had prior to deployment in Basra. It was very interesting and he was honest enough to speak of moments when the training kicks in and helps you overcome the natural fears you face. I have absolutely no idea how I would react in such situations. Not as well as I'd like to pretend I fear.

We ended up chatting about 'Band of Brothers', a series we'd both enjoyed, and discussed their courage under fire. At school we study 'Saving Private Ryan' as a media text in English. It's very popular as you might imagine. I chose it with the boys in mind, trying to get them more engaged in their English work. With the 60th anniversary of D Day last year and the VE celebrations this, it has helped give us all an insight into the horrors faced by those servicemen and the courage it took for them to fight on. I can't imagine being able to do what they did.

I've wondered of late about our curriculum in English. As well as 'Shaving Ryan's Privates' as we called it last year when we had a Ryan in the class, the coursework involves the violence and conflict in 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Jekyll and Hyde' and an original piece of writing on 'The Assassin'. A common theme emerges! In fact the other piece is 'An Inspector Calls' and even in that a young woman commits suicide. I'll say no more on that subject.

By the way one piece of coursework this year referred to 'Saving Pirate Ryan' which conjures up fantastic images of a bearded buccaneer stranded on a desert island surrounded by pieces of eight with only a pet parrot for company. Tom Hanks could make it work! He'd be Oscar nominated I'm sure and Speilberg could persuade schools to show it as testimony to the suffering of scurvy seadogs who were victims of the globalisation of real estate in acquiring new land.

Isolated with 10 others - oxymoron in action

Inclusion

Having started an inclusion room in September, I seem to be spending more and more time in the company of the poor waifs and strays who have ended up out of class for a wide variety of reasons. There's no doubt it has reduced the number of exclusions, something a few (maybe more than a few) would prefer but there seem to be more each day. Today I have 9 students in the room engaged in a variety of tasks. Unusually there are two girls amongst them, they are far less likely to be subject to any of the behaviour management systems in the school, following the national trend.

Three of them are working on their art folders, the theme of Australia giving rise to a debate about the Australian flag so they can paint one. The silence is occasionally punctuated by requests to go to the toilet or for more paper but otherwise they work in silence and I get on with writing reports, Year 10 this time. This is a few minutes worth of break from that as I have now moved into my third hour of supervising the room and am losing concentration and the will to live.

Strangely though for most of them, working with concentration and in silence is a welcome change as it means they actually get on and work and as one comments, the time flies then.

Discussed hats and hoodies with the Year 11 class as part of revision of non fiction texts having printed a couple of articles from the weekend press. Given the differing opinions expressed in the articles, I was pleased to see how much they understood the ways in which the arguments were framed and the tone adopted by the respective commentators. Interestingly they understood the feelings of those feel intimidated by the wearers of hoodies being, I imagine, the most common victims of young people dressed in that way, but also felt it was ridiculous to ban them as most people behaved well despite wearing them including themselves. Another instance of something being ok for yourself but irresponsible on the part of others perhaps along the lines of watching an 18 rated film because you have the maturity and experience to deal with it while it may have profoundly disturbing influences on the weaker minded.

Six a side football

To the astonishment of no one Simon was ruled out of action following last week's horrendous/comical injury. With the absence of Dave we were reduced to a bare minimum with no substitute and 2 games to complete on ageing limbs. A new signing (the promise of a free pint following the game being enough to win the bidding war) made his debut and Richard proved a useful addition despite the fact he should have been disqualified from the team on the grounds that he is not thirty plus. The first game was hard and although we held them 0 - 0 at the break, they ran out comfortable 3 - 0 winners. Perhaps the key word there is ran, something we were unable to do in the second half! Knowing we had another game meant we took it a little more easily than otherwise would have been the case - does that sound convincing to you? It doesn't to me.

It turned out to be an inspired decision, as if I had any choice in the matter, with the second game seeing us win 6 - 4 in a thriller. We were 3 goals up at half time but were drawing with minutes to go. Two quick goals at the end saw us home to stand at three wins out of the four games played so far. Not too bad for this bunch of unlikely lads.

Rosie having fun in the back garden 

Durlston Meadows looking fantastic 

Couldn't resist posting this lovely lilly from our pond at home 

A view from Durlston Country Park 

Cowslip 

Durlston Country Park

It was a lovely sunny morning for our trip to Durlston and we were instantly rewarded with a glimpse of a weasel bolting across the car park as we set out for a guided walk with the Ranger.
The guillemots are breeding successfully along with a number of razorbills. As well as the view from the cliff top, the action is captured via a camera direct to the visitor centre. A pair of peregrine falcons flew by, one with a small bird in its talons, and we had a view of a passing gannet.

In the caves at Tilly Whim we had a view of the adders with one in particular sunning itself.

Almost as spectacular are the meadows which are full of buttercups and cowslips although the latter are now coming to an end. I've attached a couple of photos.

The afternoon was as tense as the morning was relaxing with the final Premiership games of the season. At least I'll be able to watch Plymouth Argyle at St Mary's against Southampton next season. I expect the school to be quietly devastated tomorrow.

Busy week

On Monday I played my first competitive game of football for nearly three years! Little wonder it's taken a week to recover.

You can check the league on the link below. We play at Wimborne at QE School where a fantastic all weather surface has been put down. Our team are called Thirty Plus which says it all really.

http://www.yellowjersey.co.uk/

Backtracking a little, I will reveal that many of those I play with were just 15 when I met them, still at school while I was a veteran of 25! They are now 32, married with young children and all of us are somewhat past our footballing prime. Nevertheless we decided to gird our loins for old times sake and the prospect of a refreshing pint afterwards. Full of trepidation we took to the unfamiliar surface and to our surprise, even astonishment managed to turn back the years with two controlled performances in which I swear some of us even ran now and again. I say us but should more accurately say some of them. Mind you I bagged three goals on the evening and look forward to a revival of our old debates about who has scored the most goals. Modesty, and perhaps respect for the truth, prevents me from commenting that it was usually me.

Highlight of the evening though was the final action of game two.

Big Si had the ball pinged to him at pace and controlled it forcefully about ten yards ahead of him. Stung by the derision about him, he chased forward, the ground sloping slightly downhill. He careered toward the netting which separated the the pitches and spectacularly caught his foot in the net. Tsunami experts feared the worst as his mature frame fell like a wounded buffalo and giving the cue for much laughter from his colleagues, laughter which froze on our lips as he remained prone, agony etched on every feature of his face. Clutching his knee for all the world like Gazza in that fateful Cup Final, Simon looked to be trying to deflect the inevitable mickey taking but it was true, he had banged his knee. It became more swollen as we retired to the bar anxious that his availability for next week was far from certain.

Watch this space readers.

I will review some of the drama exam performances tomorrow undoubtedly the highlight of which was Bouncers. More to follow along with report and photos from Durlston Country Park which I'm visiting tomorrow.

No cricket today as rain swept over the channel and into Bransgore where Verwood had hoped to make a return to winning form. Can a team without a win make a return to winning ways? Who knows and who cares.

Just ordered the DVD set of Twin Peaks so lots to watch during half term in a couple of weeks.

See you later.

Monday morning

The start of another school week and I am reassured by the reappearance of one of my students without the obvious headlice which had frolicked so happily in her hair on Friday. Working with older students it’s much less common for them to get nits as they become more and more preoccupied with personal appearance and grooming but when it does happen it can quickly spread leaving the staff scratching away at the mere mention of them.

The Year 11 class are beavering away with revision and are as fed up with poetry as I am by now. I can’t believe that it is necessary for so many poems to be included in the requirements of the Language and Literature exams. Even for someone who loves poetry as I do, the number smacks of overkill. Having said that, it does help raise issues connected with the adult world which far too many of the students are disengaged from such as the religious divide in Ireland through Seamus Heaney’s poems and the conflict in former Yugoslavia in Gillian Clarke’s.

The inclusion room’s not too busy to start with, just a couple returned from exclusion but their number is added to during the day bringing the afternoon session to 5. They are all working well and you wonder how they can have found themselves in such trouble but there is a world of difference between this and the classroom for some of them.

One of the highlights of the school year is upon us with the GCSE drama exam running over the course of the next four days including an evening performance for parents and friends to enjoy. It is always interesting to see how the groups gel together and some of those who struggle academically shine in performing in front of an audience. As one of the school’s strongest departments it is no surprise that so many of the students enjoy it so much thanks to the strength of the teaching.

I shall report back on one or two of the performances. Last year’s three little pigs was a highlight and the year before saw a group of four lads tackling Bouncers by John Godber. They looked fantastic in their dark suits and menacing sunglasses and clearly enjoyed dressing up in women’s clothes for the female roles.

Having promised stories almost akin to those of James Herriot as a vet, the schoolteacher equivalent hasn’t quite materialised today. Too long in the inclusion room has put paid to that. Highlight of the day has been reading ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ with Year 8 following on from ‘The Signalman’ last week. A quick poll revealed the class spilt down the middle over which they enjoyed most but it’s interesting that this used to be GCSE work and they are coping with it well at an earlier age.

After the 8 month long break that is the football season, cricket started again yesterday. Given our promotion last season we were looking forward to the challenge of a higher standard of competition and weren't disappointed. I just hope our opponents weren't.
All out for 63 they reached their target with four wickets down on a sunny but cold day.
Skipper, Dan bowled well taking three of the wickets, other going to me. His was the only stand out contribution and if we continue like this, it's going to be a long season.

On the plus side we welcomed Steve into the team and he looked handy with the bat albeit during a somewhat foreshortened innings.

http://www.verwoodcricketclub.co.uk/

Plymouth Argyle stormed to a thrilling 0 - 0 result to finish off their season which has been a good one in many ways one being that we did not get relegated. The win at Wigan was a fantastic result and I really enjoyed the trip to Elland Road to see the Greens narrowly lose undeservedly to dirty Leeds.

http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/

It's a lot colder than it looks! 

Rosie having a walk in the woods but disappointed to find no squirrels to chase.