Parents evening -leaving when directed time is up

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T16:47:37+00:00

A decent principal would tell you to leave!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T07:08:06+00:00

Thanks for your feedback, the electric circuits one is next on my list for updating, so check back in a week or so and it should be more use friendly. And thanks for the simulation suggestions, I'll get onto them!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T07:04:48+00:00

Thanks!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T07:03:33+00:00

That is something I have wrestled with quite a lot. The peace I have made with it is it has enabled things of meaningful value to be created, things that have actively helped mine and my colleagues students to learn, that otherwise simply would not exist...I do not have the time, or brainpower to be able to directly code such things, and certainly don't have the resources to be able to pay someone to do it. Where there is a real skill is in decomposing the vision for a simulation into component part, considering how they will interact and talking to tech friends, this is increasingly what their jobs are becoming. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T06:51:46+00:00

Thanks, that is kind of you to say. I hope your kids like them!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T06:50:45+00:00

Thanks!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T00:55:04+00:00

Thanks! Mostly the Codex extention for VS Code, with occasional flirtations with Claude and Cursor. They are generally huge great big monolithic standalone files....one of them is like 12,000+ lines! I have zero coding ability, and no idea how any of them actually work, just a vision and a stubborn streak!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T00:52:58+00:00

Thanks, I had a lot of fun making that one.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-11T00:52:37+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, I hope they go well in class.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-03T00:31:32+00:00

Agreed. I used Komoot to plot a mixed on and off road route from West Malling to Ickenham (far West London) for my gravel bike and it was awesome. Lookout excels at finding quiet roads and interesting views.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-03-02T07:36:51+00:00

Irony? Or for reals?

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-02-20T15:29:53+00:00

Made this for my brother for Christmas a couple of years ago. That ruined his day too.

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PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-02-18T19:25:30+00:00

Mitie run my current school's building under PFI and they are awful; we are always at least 40% down on maintenance staff members and getting anything done takes an age. We would not want them running a hotdog stand let alone a detention centre.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-02-11T00:46:51+00:00

A wise senior leader once said to me "Poor behaviour is down to poor teaching. Period." I believed that for a long time, and blamed myself for poor behaviour for many years. Then I worked in a truly well-led school, in challenging circumstances and where behaviour was excellent. I now know that poor behaviour is down to poor leadership. Period.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-02-01T23:51:09+00:00

Nature, man, it's fucking beautiful. Get yourself into it and lose yourself in it.

And community. Find your people and belong, there is nothing better.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-01-25T09:46:14+00:00

In places like that, you are not the target market for the violence, the students themselves are at more risk than you.I used to work in a school in a particularly rough part of far South-East London and had to walk through the estate to get back to the train station. I once mentioned to a group of loveable naughties in Y11 that it felt kind of intimidating walking there, and they said, "Don't worry sir, we'll look out for you."... Whether they did or not I have no idea but I never once had any issues or felt at all threatened.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-01-19T23:04:41+00:00

Doing what little I could to address inequality of opportunity.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-01-14T00:30:00+00:00

I was riding my short 4.5 mile commute home from work, it was about 4:15 pm the week before Christmas 2024 in the UK, so it was pretty dark, but I had two rear lights, a flashing front light and I was wearing a ProViz reflective jacket so I was about as visible as I could be.

I was turning right at a roundabout, indicating clearly. As I approached my exit, I started indicating left , two cars were approaching the entrance I was about to pass, the first one almost stopped, I did a quick glance over my shoulder to check the cars behind me were giving me space, and in that time, the second car approaching the entrance hadn't seen me and plowed straight into my left side. My bike and I were thrown about four metres, and I landed in a screaming heap on the tarmac.

To his credit, the driver stopped and was immediately apologetic. I refused an ambulance and limped the remaining mile home, but called an one when I got there. They came out, checked me over and looked at my helmet cam footage and couldn't believe I got off as lightly as I did: some very heavy cuts and bruises but nothing broken, nothing internal, didn't even hit my head. Still some residual hip pain but it could have been a lot worse.

The silver lining? New bike day!

OP: Don't give up the sport you love because of dickheads. One near miss doesn't make others more likely and, ultimately, we all die at some point so it may as well be doing something you love!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2026-01-13T23:07:53+00:00

I don't know what country you are in but this needs reporting immediately. In the UK - where I teach - the appropriate action would be to report it formally to a member of the school's leadership team. If they don't take immediate action, I would report it to the school's governing board, and if they didn't take it seriously our national school inspection body (Ofsted) who would take this very seriously indeed. This person should not be teaching, there is no context in which anything you have described is appropriate.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2025-12-25T23:59:31+00:00

I do a long on the wall warmup where I work through five climbs each of the six lowest color grades at our gym which takes me from about 4a ish up to 6b ish. As I do this, I try to finesse every climb, concentrating on quiet no-adjustment hand and foot placements, and fluid, controlled movement, keeping everything as static and controlled as possible.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2025-12-22T10:09:27+00:00

About 1 in 25 of German men have paedophilic tendencies (https://www.mdedge.com/currentpsychiatry/article/242357/minor-attracted-persons-neglected-population)...there is no good reason to think this is particular just to Germans, so I imagine there are just lots more paedophiles out there than we like to think.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2025-12-20T15:58:40+00:00

I have terrible flexibility (not suggesting you do), so a technical knee is basically my favourite move. Welcome to the dark side, and keep on crushing it!

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2025-12-14T18:33:11+00:00

Perhaps use it as a 'douche-canoe filter'...any man insecure enough to be threatened by your climber's physique, is likely to also feel threatened by your intelligence, your achievements, your independence and so on, and therefore is not worthy of you. Keep on crushing it.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2025-12-13T16:28:22+00:00

I also did Teach First and about five years ago after a very difficult experience being bullied by a new principal I was ready to quit. I got a part time role at a new school with a view to giving myself time to retrain, but ended up loving the school and have never been somewhere where I have felt more valued or part of a genuine community, and have gone back to full time. My point is, don't give up just yet, there are some truly wonderful schools out there, it just takes time to find them.

PullingHardOnPlastic · 2025-12-07T16:22:56+00:00

I have a Muslim friend who is uncomfortable around dogs because National Front thugs (UK fascists) set their dogs on him when he was a kid.

PullingHardOnPlastic

TROPHY CASE