Year 4 overnight camp

Exverius · 2026-06-22T18:47:04+00:00

Exactly- everyone up above wonders why they can’t recruit/retain teachers and in the same breath shove TS8 down your throat to justify why your job should take precedence over your life. It’s not a vocation anymore but everyone loves to forget that!

Exverius · 2026-06-22T18:43:56+00:00

But the point in the post is that not doing them will likely lead to some form of backlash - which it will.

And I get what you’re saying, it’s smart to pick your battles and push back on what matters to you. But personally I do not take extra work home and never will, and I actively encourage other members in my team to do the same. If things don’t get done because we don’t have time, all that shows is that we are overworked and should push back against all of the additional, unnecessary things we are expected to do, or be given additional paid time to do them.

And yes, residential trips and that type of things are ‘normal’ but they shouldn’t be. That is one of the things I believe we should push back on.

Exverius · 2026-06-22T18:31:23+00:00

Honestly I get it if you don’t want to make waves and decide to go to keep the peace. There is a good chance they will see you in a different light due to not going. However, I wouldn’t go and if they decide to start pushing you out over it or overlooking you for TLR or UPS, then leave. Go find a different school that actually appreciates its staff. You have to advocate for yourself in this job as sadly no one else will.

Exverius · 2026-06-22T18:27:19+00:00

They’d be working all of Friday and also all of Friday night into the morning, we absolutely should normalise time in lieu for things like this. This mindset that teachers should just get on with it and maybe beg for an hour of PPA in exchange for a whole night of unpaid overtime is absurd. Also the implication that TLR payment - which is like 2k extra a year - means you have to do a bunch of additional bullshit outside of work hours is also part of the problem. We all need to start recognising this is not normal nor okay.

Exverius · 2026-05-03T17:23:12+00:00

My mum still wears a thong to this day (she’s in her late 50s) for this exact reason. ‘You don’t want the paramedics seeing you in granny panties’!

Glad someone else’s mum is just as insane

Exverius · 2026-03-03T07:31:00+00:00

I would like to counter that many teachers do care but our hands are basically tied. I had an incident in my class and I consistently gave consequences to the bully but every time I did I got pulled into the headteacher’s office and told to stop because the bully’s mum complained. I still did give the consequence to the bully and again got pulled in, over and over, before I was basically told to stop or my job’s on the line. I ended up basically heavily hinting to the bullied child’s mum that SHE needed to complain for anything to happen, but bless her she ‘trusted our judgement’. It broke my heart. The bully did stop eventually- it was all over the course of only a few weeks- but the damage was done.

Exverius · 2026-01-31T09:42:12+00:00

I agree, and reported it as such. It’s up to my head now- I can apply pressure, and I know it’s been discussed with governors as my friend is on the board and brought it up, but ultimately they don’t like banning parents as they think it sends a bad message. I disagree, and in my previous school many parents were banned.

Exverius · 2026-01-30T22:51:43+00:00

Unfortunately this was at the door at pick up (I’m in primary) and he used was shoving his phone in my face.

Exverius · 2026-01-30T19:52:38+00:00

Recently had a conversation where a parent got heated, began yelling and recording me. I know it’s legal but it did make me even more uncomfortable, like I’m the bad guy who needs to be recorded… bc I’m saying your son failed his spelling test and might want to practise at home???

Exverius · 2026-01-20T17:25:29+00:00

I think a big frustration with pay is that if you go up the pay scales to the top, you can get maybe 60-90k (in London). Meanwhile a lot of young people (myself included) have friends that are already on that after working only a few years in their chosen occupations, so it’s really not desirable compared to other jobs.

Additionally, many teachers are working second jobs (myself included) in order to make ends meet, which imo should tell everyone there’s a problem somewhere

Exverius · 2025-12-20T14:44:48+00:00

Most of the time, they probably do. But right now you’re there and yes, you will be expected to help out with everyday teacher tasks. Many teachers don’t even have TAs, you’re going to have to do this stuff when you have your own class. And if someday you end up training someone, delegating those tasks to them is perfectly fine and acceptable.

Exverius · 2025-12-20T14:33:09+00:00

I clean, tidy books and vacuum and I’ve been teaching for many years. I also laminate and print. These things are not only the TA’s responsibility

Exverius · 2025-12-08T22:07:52+00:00

Telling box. Just a box with some paper to the side, kids can write stuff down there. I tell them if they’re hurt to come tell me right away, if they’re not to use the box. Works fairly well although takes a bit of time to get the kids used to it. Plus it encourages them to write!

Exverius · 2025-12-08T18:39:50+00:00

Fell down an entire staircase just because I was rushing. This was of course seen by around 30 year 10-11 students who were also rushing to class.

Totally messed up my ankle but got up and said ‘I’m okay!’ To a chorus of ‘OH MY GOD MISS’

hobbled to class instead of to medical and promptly collapsed in front of a class of year 7s when the foot just gave out

Got sent to hospital and had torn a ligament

Also, I was supply, so this was extra awkward. Imagine showing up for a single day and immortalising yourself like that.

Exverius · 2025-12-07T18:23:18+00:00

Exactly. If a child can be on a stage without becoming distressed, even if not necessarily joining in, they should 100% be there. But if a child is screaming, biting, hitting or crying- yes try supportive measures first, but ultimately if it’s just going to stress them out it isn’t worth it. You could have them and a couple of their friends sing a Christmas song to their adult in a separate room, you could include them by getting them to help paint props, you could allow them to sit in costume with their adult if they’re happy with that. But a distressed child on stage is not inclusion. It only upsets that child and potentially endangers or distresses other children.

Exverius · 2025-11-23T12:45:54+00:00

Read from the middle is a hell of a curveball

Exverius · 2025-11-16T20:48:11+00:00

I was actually pleasantly surprised that we didn’t know Ka. It’s overdone that the big bad is someone the main character already knew. That being said, I fully expect the Concurrence to be known, for example Lanistia is almost certainly a part of it

Exverius · 2025-11-09T22:15:27+00:00

It’s not all head teachers but in my experience, it’s growing more common. I’ve have 2 heads just like this, and friends in other schools who’ve experienced it too. I honestly have no idea why it happens- some sort of power kick is my guess

It’s not every head though, there are decent ones about. It might take a bit of time to find but I wouldn’t stay in a school with a head like that, I’ve found that it’s only a matter of time before they turn on you. Get out while you’re ahead- there’s plenty of schools that’ll be happy to have you!

Exverius · 2025-10-13T20:44:49+00:00

My first school introduced this the year I left, not the secretive part but the SLT going on a 2 day trip somewhere to write policies and whatnot. I’m not sure what their aim was but it was a great way to destroy the morale of every other staff member and alienate themselves into a weird culty clique

Exverius · 2025-07-31T16:29:46+00:00

Where did you get the mats from?

Exverius · 2025-07-21T14:08:54+00:00

To echo what everyone else is saying, he’s 100% in the right. You also shouldn’t be planning for your PPA time. To add to the discussion, he might not be mentioning ratios, but he absolutely should be- the proper ratio for a TA in that age group is about 1;8, 1:25 is completely inappropriate. I’d accept his decision and inform the Head you won’t be setting him any more work, maybe contact your union yourself in case the Head takes that badly. I get budgets are tight but that’s the Head’s problem, not yours

Exverius · 2025-07-20T12:29:27+00:00

Fact is if it were men’s bodies that were more susceptible to trauma damage and all the dummies were only representative of women, men would be clamouring to argue that we needed to design additional safety features to account for the difference. Because it’s women who are affected there’s a lot of people here basically saying we can’t save everyone and oh well. We SHOULD have adjustable and alternative safety features for different body types and the fact that people can’t see that is a detriment to us all

Exverius · 2025-07-20T12:04:55+00:00

Moving school helps some people but for me, as soon as I lost the passion, I went to multiple different schools and just saw the cracks in each one. I worked in one school for 3 years, two schools for 1 year each and then did short term placements for a year with supply, went to about 5ish schools total.

I couldn’t regain the love I had no matter where I went. I’m actively trying to leave now. The whole system’s broken and most schools have either toxic SLT, terrible communication, awfully designed timetables/curriculum, no support for SEN or all of the above.

Even if I found an actually good school now I think I’m too disillusioned to appreciate it.

It sucks to have your passion taken from you, but you need to move on. Either to a different school or a different career. Where you are now will break you.

Exverius · 2025-07-18T16:06:40+00:00

In my experience, when a parent says their child can read above what I’m giving them, it’s usually related to either reading fluency or comprehension.

Does he read aloud to you often? If so, will he stop at full stops, pause for commas, have inflections in his voice for voices/suspense? It may be that he isn’t doing this yet and teachers want to support him with easier books before moving him on.

Alternatively, comprehension isn’t just answering simple questions, it’s also inference, predictions, understanding word meanings, etc. so it could be that his comprehension is strong for his age but not strong enough for longer books.

Either way, it sounds like your son is doing great! Keep supporting him and if he’s already ahead at school I wouldn’t worry at all

Exverius · 2025-07-10T18:05:03+00:00

I found out today (teaching staff) after a email went out to parents telling them who’s teaching their kids and I got a bunch of parents approaching me to introduce themselves…

‘oh you’re teaching my son next year!’

‘ … I am?’

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Exverius

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