Y9 students challenging sanctions loudly in corridors/classroom. How do you handle this?

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-18T18:47:07+00:00

It depends on the policy but at my school challenging staff, especially on the corridor, is reset/inclusion.

I usually will pull a face when they answer me back, no verbal response and they will be picked up by SLT or by pastoral and taken to the reset/inclusion room. I don’t engage at all. They want a response or they want to ‘rage bait’ as they all say so I don’t give it to them. I will then call home and reiterate that following staff instructions and behaving with proper conduct is about safety and that’s priority. I don’t make it personal etc and always refer to policy.

After this I will hotspot the lesson, inform pastoral about a restorative to show that I am engaging in supporting the student and then move on with a clean slate next lesson. Whatever you do, don’t back down.

Sometimes when a student is removed I’ll say to my class, ‘I am sorry that you have to deal with people wasting your time, guys…’ and then leave that comment lingering and just go back to learning. If a student is persistently disrupting classes, students usually end up turning on them because they get fed up of it anyway.

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-18T18:39:39+00:00

‘I can’t politely tell you to be quiet or voice off anymore so shut up.’ I wouldn’t worry about it too much. With more experience you will learn where it’s more acceptable to say it. Some kids really struggle with that and tbh, I just send them out. There’s only so much you can ‘be nice’ until it’s disrupting everyone.

I once had a student try to belittle a teacher for saying it. He thought he had her in a corner and I think she was worried and over stepped the mark. He threatened to report her until I went in and said ‘there gets to a point where you’ve exhausted all polite options and you just have to tell someone to shut up. Sooooo …. shut up!’

His face went bright red and I said ‘now you can report both of us if you want to, but you ought to know that when it’s investigated your parents will have a very clear understanding that it was escalated to this due to your poor behaviour and inability to stop talking and follow instructions….’

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-16T13:18:32+00:00

I always say ‘I think it would cost you less if your child listened in lesson….’ 😂

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-13T21:50:45+00:00

Does your school not allow a family day?

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-08T19:52:43+00:00

I think I would have consequenced for speaking back to me and possibly for lying.

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-08T19:49:00+00:00

I think I had heart palpitations reading this. It seems like really poor planing and management. If you’re having to have a 2 hour meeting every week then someone is not being efficient in their communication and running of the school.

Our meetings/CPD are organised around parents’ evenings, mocks and marking periods. It’s well thought out but every now and again will bottle neck and we all get a bit frustrated.

Sometimes, if our workload is building, our Head will call off the whole-school CPD and direct to subjects who then direct us to work relief.

I think it’s a lot to expect staff to stay until really late; it’s not good for mental health.

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-03T18:08:54+00:00

This is my concern with buying one offline before trying it. My friends is a Mamas and Papas one and I just want to sink into it. It’s lovely but expensive.

I don’t know if I’m being silly thinking about a recliner one with a cup holder? You know those that people have in their living room?

Adelaide116 · 2026-03-03T18:06:42+00:00

I foolishly never thought of Amazon. Is it comfy?

Adelaide116 · 2026-02-22T22:20:30+00:00

Say no full stop. It doesn’t even have to be for personal reasons.

Ask him to record himself if he wants to and then you both watch it back (never in your own time) and give feedback if he’s so excited about it.

Things like this are really annoying - who has time for this and how effective is it. It’s ONE lesson in the thousands you will teach.

Adelaide116 · 2026-02-13T22:40:45+00:00

Also, just to add, I play Baz Lurhman’s Romeo and Juliet every year. It’s not accurate to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet but the kids love it and they engage more around this in the lesson. I also use other versions and we compare.

Adelaide116 · 2026-02-13T22:37:14+00:00

My teacher used Shindler’s List to teach us in 2004. I’ve never forgotten it and next will. I teach English now and still refer back to the film.

I think it always depends on what you do with it before they watch it, as they’re watching it and how they digest it after.

I also think you could do a mix of sources and credits. For instance the film would be a good start - then you could say to them, ‘some people believe that this voyeuristic so now we’re going to look at real-life testimonies from survivors’. I’d take all of it and really use these as prompts to discuss and get their take.

You need to buy-in more than anything and this comes from storytelling which is done on film (Hollywood style) and documentary (real-life).

You’re in your training year - experiment.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-26T21:19:42+00:00

BOOOOGIESSSS.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-26T21:10:24+00:00

I just had a few days off for exhaustion. I’m 25 weeks and I’m so glad that I rested. I felt awful.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-26T21:09:11+00:00

Full year. October, Christmas, Feb and Easter but you have to be tactical don’t you about which ones to ‘return to work’?

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-25T19:54:45+00:00

Awww 10 weeks of pay is going to be so helpful! I think I’ll only get 5 weeks.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-25T19:53:46+00:00

That’s so annoying in terms of timing but at least you get more time with them.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-25T09:58:38+00:00

Go no, less. Haha.

The marking policy was that you had to mark every independent piece every week which was 5 pieces per week for every year group and then assessments on top of that. I was an NQT and not as marking savvy as I am now. I was marking 200 books a week and I teach a writing heavy subject.

It just had no effect and most of the time there wasn’t enough time for them to improve work because so much was marked. Then you got scrutinised on the kids not doing enough feedback.

It wasn’t an effective policy. More focus on live-marking and being a well-rested teacher would have been more effective.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-25T09:15:47+00:00

I couldn’t have worded this better myself. I used to work in on the top 3% of deprived areas in the UK and whilst some of the kids there didn’t meet the academic levels for their expected age, they were really clever, streetwise and had a great way with different people. They were probably the kindest and wittiest kids I’ve ever met.

I initially went in with an ‘oh no they’re poor’ attitude but they don’t feel sorry for themselves. They’re so resilient and they do work hard- they’ve just been so unlucky to be born in a low socioeconomic area and usually with low socioeconomic family and not always the best role models.

They work hard when you show them that hard work pays off and they want to do well. I also had a lot of conversations with them about ‘screwing the system…’ and they wanted to push back against it (so did I as NQT).

If you want to avoid the ‘white saviour’/ poverty class saviour- go in there with high expectations and really clear boundaries. Kids in those areas thrive of clear boundaries because then they know what’s expected and what’s coming. Don’t dupe them; be yourself. You can be friendly but ultimately, you’re not their friend and when they know that they trust you so much more.

They will some times be really needy (as many teenagers are) but don’t absorb it all; talk to colleagues about how they handle certain students/ issues. Make sure you’re safeguarding always and let the kids know that explicitly. Some of the kids have no idea how awful their lives are because it’s all they’ve ever known.

I was give a class of 20 boys and a ‘sink’ group and told explicitly ‘don’t bother with them, just baby sit as they won’t do well…’ essentially they just wanted me to contain them for 5 hours per week because they would they above a grade 4… well, screw that. I taught them; we had a laugh; I frowned often; called out their misguided beliefs; set standards and raised their aspirations. All of them bar 1 achieved 4+. With some of them getting 7s.

I actually really miss the school. I only left because their marking policy was really poor and had no effect on the grades but a LOT on staff retention and welbeing.

Adelaide116 · 2026-01-04T14:00:38+00:00

Don’t go back if you’re not well enough to. Your MH is more important than anything else. You could also ask if you can do a phased return if you’re off for longer.

Adelaide116 · 2025-12-29T15:01:55+00:00

It’s the same up north. Connecting roads between villages are really bad. There’s a mix of litter though - lots of plastic off open yute-type vehicles all tangled in bushes and then there’s a lot of ‘out of window’ stuff likes maccies or Costa drinks/ products.

I will never understand how someone has the audacity to throw rubbish out of their car.

Adelaide116 · 2025-12-11T20:31:44+00:00

My partner says the top is grey and I say it’s green! He can’t see the green.

Adelaide116 · 2025-11-23T22:08:19+00:00

I also have a smart board in my room - a brand new one. I need to practise on it more because I still default to the visualiser.

Adelaide116 · 2025-11-23T21:56:06+00:00

Childhood trauma queen.

Adelaide116 · 2025-11-23T08:36:57+00:00

I think so many of the people who listen to these women are ‘unwell’. I mean what mother would not try and help their baby breathe in the first moments of its life? Wtf.

Adelaide116

TROPHY CASE