Football

Glen played in Poole at the weekend and almost scored his first competitive goal. His team were 1 -0 down with only minutes remaining. He shot from the edge of the area but the keeper pulled off a great save and pushed it onto the bar. However, his team equalised two minutes later only to lose when straight from kick off the opposition scored. That is Rosgarth's first defeat of the season.

On Monday Simon returned from the States were he'd been working for four weeks and had a very good game in a 2 - 2 draw, our thrid draw in a row. The equaliser for us was the best of the goals, a long clearance by Matt who found the opposition keeper distracted in returning the ball to the teams playing on the next pitch. The ball bounced into an empty net and allowed us to claim a deserved point. It was freezing cold! Perhaps this outdoor football at night isn't such a good idea in the winter.

Weymouth

Rossgarth played against Weymouth this weekend and came away with a creditable 3 - 3 draw which looked unlikely with just five minutes to go and 3 - 1 down. We combined the trip to Chickerell where the game was played with dropping Joe back at Crossways leaving Alsion and Natasha there while we watched the game.

The weather has been beautiful with lovely blue skies and frosty mornings - perhaps we are headed for a tough winter.

Much better week at school last week with the English standardisation passing peacefully and the pleasure of the Certificates Evening. Particularly pleasing was the fact that almost all of my ex students were taking English at college and that they remembered my lessons fondly, although the jokes weren't missed so much.

Last weekend

Mixture of photos of the garden birds and golf course. The highlight was Glen winning man of the match on Sunday with a great performance against Portland in the cup. His team won 3 - 2 and are safely through to the next round.

Potterne again

Some photos of our trek to Moors Valley from last weekend. The heron flew off almost as soon as I took the picture.

Tears on a Tuesday

Another week in school draws to a close. So far I've seen four teachers in tears this week and there's another day to go yet. The first had been taken apart by a Year 10 class and had been sworn at. The second had been dealing with a Year 10 boy and sworn at, callef a 'f****** slut', whilte the third walked out of a Year 11 class. She had been covering for someone else who the next dat walked out of the class as well.

The worst thing about that was she'd already sent a girl into me from the class who when she saw what was happening and heard that the teacher had been in tears, delighted in the fact. She was so pleased with the situation she couldn't help but let it show such is the contempt in which she holds that teacher. It's hard to understand how things get to that point but you can imagine how difficult it must be to keep returning to the fray each time.

Back to school

This has been one of the most stressful weeks I've experienced in school. A deputy head down and missing staff as the first of the winter bugs hits, the pressure has been non-stop and I've had trouble sleeping. So much so I've ended up watching the test match between Australia and West Indies from about 3 for the the past two mornings which isn't good.

Currently I'm trying to develop responses to our behviour management meetings, line manage Years 10 and 11 as the first reports of the year go out, coordinate a whole school approach to our ICT needs as well as bids for Excellence in Cities funds, write the school's Self Evaluation Form, run after school detentions, support staff in the classroom, meet parents after school, chair meetings after school, prepare lessons, mark, hold line management meetings with English and Humanities depts, the library, oh and teach. I might seem to be indulging in a little self pity at this stage but this is simply a reflection of what it's like presently. With Parents' Eve and Certificates Eve on the way next week, it is looking like a long six weeks to go!

One Year 11 class are now redrafting coursework and doing very well. I am so pleased with their attitude and they are gaining real confidence. It is extremely gratifying when they tell you how things are beginning to slot into place and make sense and they almost visibly grow in front of you. The other group, the ones I took over at the start of this year, have been working on Jekyll and Hyde. They are measurably less well developed in respect of their understanding in comparison to the other class but are nevertheless showing a desire to catch up manifested in their ability to read the novella in just three lessons allowing us to work at pace.

There seem to have been a lot of exclusions this week and perhaps the worst part was after 6.30 on Tursday when I rang a couple of parents to advise about exclusions. In both cases I was shouted at because it was so late in the evening before they had been informed. School finishes at 2.30 so they might have a point if you consider I spent the next four hours running a detention for other staff, meeting a parent who was in tears as her son has just finished one court case and has another for assault pending and she is struggling to cope. She came looking to inform the school and to seek support. This was followed by a management meeting which did not end till six and I still hadn't had a break since 8.30. I ended up telling them that I would have preferred not to be ringing them at that time either, that perhaps I could have been at home rather than in school still. Friday went much better though : )

Thirty Plus won on Monday by the way with Kevin in goal. He's just had to stop playing football at the age of 31 due to heart problems but he went in goal and helped us to a 3 - 0 win. I managed to score all three.