The sublime to the ridiculous

Having started with the notion that it was a great morning to be in school the day became one of the strangest ever. I can't give all the details and names etc but ought to explain at least some aspects of what happened as an insight into some of the extremes of school life.

The earlier post I hope goes some way to illustrating the fantastic things that can happen in school, the progress that is made, the work that grows in maturity and the rewards in respect of mature young people who leave equipped for their futures. That is all true and the vast majority of students and lessons conform to that. It's just that doesn't make for particularly interesting reading. Such is life. We prefer the controversial, the difficult, the outrageous and thatis exactly what we've seen today.

The first exceptional happening involved a young girl who had at first simply refused to go to class. She has particular identified needs which almost peclude her from mainstream school but nevertheless had made a steady start to school. She had, before Christmas, attacked a teaching assistant and that had been dealt with and resolved. The situation this morning meant she had to be taken home. Her parents arrived and she became very agitated. Based around a comment about her attacking someone at junior school things suddenly became heated and the girl physically attacked her mother which led to tears and a plea for help from mum as she released the pent up emotions of the situation. Her father was also attacked and assistance was sought.

On her own with a teacher, the girl spoke about herself as being a wolf and how she was clever in fooling everyone. She licked her lips in a manner reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter as she spoke of her parents. She lost things so completely the police had to be called and she was eventually taken from the premises. The policeman and policewoman who came to assist dealt with things effectively and sympathetically and it was not the last time I saw the policemen that day.

As the day progressed the mundane events saw two recent returners from exclusion put out once again and a lad on a reduced timetable absent locked up following aggravated burglary charges meaning my comment about how much quieter he'd been of late was based on misplaced optimism.

MSN - how many problems of late have started from MSN? Quite a few. This one meant threats about getting beaten up the next day (banged) were made. Two lads attacked a lad a year younger, a headbutt, punches and kicks aimed at him. The simple fact was that their culture was such that he ought not to have made the comments and he had to be sorted out. The next part saw a rumour of an older brother coming for revenge. Talking to them about this they simply did not seem bothered about having to look over their shoulders for possible revenge attacks. There was little worry about the inevitable next step which would see them seek out their attackers and so it would go on.

Despite sending the younger lad home while things were sorted out in school he arrived at the end of the day to collect his girlfriend and it all kicked off again this time with half the school in tow. He was followed home and attcked on his doorstep, initially one on one but then by a larger group leading his father to grab a plank of wood and hit out at all and sundry including his own son in the melee. Like something out of a wild west saloon the noise was incredible as people shouted and yelled. The police were called and the same guy from earlier arrived with several others.

Sitting in the front room I saw the older brother disappear quietly before the police came in, his father telling him not to out the back as they'd gone round that way. What he had to hide I don't not know but the family were distraught as you might imagine. It wasn't too long before the first rumours of threats to petrol bomb the house had been passed into the house via neighbours leaving me with several urgent phone calls to distressed or disbelieving parents in order to placate matters. At least I get to drive away from it all. What must it be like living there amongst that way of life?

Plans to attend the behaviour management meeting disappeared as I left school more than three hours after the meeting had been planned to start.

What does tomorrow have in store?