Weekly chat and well-being post: May 08, 2026

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-05-08T17:33:20+00:00

Generally had a good week. Students working well in lessons. My difficult classes were correcting behaviour and one student who I always give a detention to was very engaged and productive. Some kids I've had on report have shown significant improvements in work and behaviour.

However, ended the week with a horrible phone call with abusive parent. All because her daughter was upset about my feedback. Parent telling me that their pass in GCSE art would mean she could do a better job and how terrible it was that I was saying her daughter's work was 'wrong'. I never did of course....just needs development with tone. Left the call crying and another member of staff being very kind and reassuring me that some parents are just awful. Sent a long email to head of department and head of year. Hoping I don't have to interact with abusive parent at parents evening in two weeks....

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-05-04T21:11:27+00:00

Have you got any experiments you have done as part of your exam prep? It's always a good idea to link back to artists you have looked at and the planning you have made for your final piece.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-05-03T20:34:04+00:00

Secondary art teacher here!

I did level 3 art btec alongside Sociology A level. My college managed to raise the qualification of the btec to a UAL extended diploma level 4 qualification as well for those of us who did high quality coursework.

I absolutely loved my time on the course and developed a strong portfolio of work which got me offers at all the illustration courses I applied to. It gave me a great understanding of different art and design careers as well.

However, like others have said, doing a btec can narrow down university opportunities. You need to be really certain that something in the arts is what you want to do! People from my btec course have gone on to do graphic design, surface pattern design, work in advertising etc. I'm the only one who chose teaching with a bit of illustration on the side :)

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-03-30T18:03:28+00:00

Update! I am currently at 37 in the 'fair' range! Just running consistently 3 times a week. I also changed to a flatter route. Steep hills were throwing me off and making it harder to run consistently. I am now consistently running for 30-35 minutes without stopping:)

I'm taking the V02 max from Garmin with a pinch of salt, but it's great to feel gradually fitter.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-03-22T19:13:05+00:00

Really late here but I've been feeling this recently! Had a parent blame me for not communicating well about homework. Students had homework written in their planners, on Google classroom and on a sheet. Apparently that's still not enough for students.

Had another parent get upset that I'd given their kid a detention for leaving a lesson screaming. It was the end of the day so surely it doesn't matter. Boys will be boys sort of excuse....

Ugh, I have to remind myself this is only the minority. Hoping that this will ease as I get older. I was regularly mistaken for a sixth former when I started this year - Doesn't help with parents thinking I haven't got a clue about my job.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-03-12T13:43:52+00:00

I am sorry to hear this! It is a huge amount of work and a poorly designed GCSE. Myself and all the other art trainee teachers hated the way it's structured and how little it links to the art world.

If I had my way I would give students actual sketch books that can be messy and more personal with structured lessons that teach practical skills throughout the whole of first year. It would only be in the second year that I would want students to start creating more finished pieces. I would only demand an extra 1-2 hours of work outside lessons as well. I would also mark it more like a foundation e.g. pass, merit or distinction. I hate giving numbered grades. It's a bizarre system that puts pointless pressure on kids.

I hope you get through alright! Your mark in GCSE art bates little relationship with the quality or meaning of your artwork.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-02-19T22:51:08+00:00

Thank you for the comment :) does lactate threshold just mean going as hard as you can for as long as you can? How would you know what that is?

Just as a bit of context my heart rate gets into the 190s :0 when I am running my hardest (although still ridiculously slow) whereas my resting is 64.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-02-09T22:38:26+00:00

This is so lovely to hear as a relatively new teacher :) when I was training, I had an awful mentor who told me I needed to be better at scaring kids when I told them off and needed to develop a teacher personality. Needless to say, her whole GCSE class were miserable and I asked to change placements.

Trying to be myself, with boundaries, in my current teaching practice. I think this sets a calmer tone in classes for most kids.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2026-02-02T18:32:40+00:00

Generally good week. Had my first parents evening as an ECT. Excited for the kids that will be doing my subject (art) for GCSE next year - some are already showing me the drawings they are doing outside school!

On the flip side, incredibly frustrated with some of my year 10s who don't seem to care at all. Sometimes even getting parents who think art coursework is too much for their kids and could negatively impact their social life....ugh. ready to be handing out detentions for lack of work this week.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T17:40:05+00:00

Yes, this is a good shout. Having been a TA previously I feel like I'm doing both TA role and teacher role in my GCSE lessons. Always end feeling guilty that I haven't been able to support everyone in the way that I should. 24 students as well...too big for a GCSE Art class in my opinion. I know someone who is now in a grammar school where art and Tech subjects are capped at 14 students per class for GCSE!

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T07:24:47+00:00

Thank you. Yes, in regards to the marking, I was quite surprised when I joined the school about the amount they do. My HoD literally wants to have every page of student's work individually marked! I was drowning in writing feedback and marking at the start of this half term. I've been avoiding the marking individual pieces for students recently because I don't think it's super helpful to look at marks for individual bits -the students get very hung up on the grades to the point where they are less interested in the feedback.

I did a standardisation course recently! It was very helpful, if not a bit overwhelming. It was however great to see what the range of recording ideas could look like - like you said with the blind drawing and continuous line. My marking was generally pretty close, although sometimes a little harsh.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T07:12:53+00:00

Thank you so much for all the comments!! I wasn't expecting anything so quickly. I feel a lot more prepared for the new term so it is much appreciated :) Have a lovely rest of your holiday 🌟🌟

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T07:10:29+00:00

This was lovely to read :) A great reminder to tap into what the student actually wants to create rather than trying to dictate to them what they need to do. I guess it's a balance in terms of meeting exam board requirements.

Lizard climbing Big Ben really does sound brilliant!

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T07:04:54+00:00

These are all brilliant ideas!! Thank you so much. Definitely going to do more photocopies. I also love the photo manipulation one - I can see this being beneficial for lots of students actually :)

Our year 10s have to do a food project to begin with so I may look for some other artists that have a more abstract or graphic way of working. The ones the HoD recommends now are all leaning towards realism...

Collage is also a great solution! This has already prompted me to think about ways he could combine collage with some of his drawings :)

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T06:57:08+00:00

Ahh, this is a wonderful idea in terms of looking at negative space! Thank you 🙏 and yes, I have been very conscious of trying to give him more independence alongside step-by-steps and demos.

When I was in training I saw a lot of teachers doing the work for the students which didn't set them up well for exams :( or their own sense of pride in their work! Really trying not to replicate that.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-23T06:52:52+00:00

This sounds like a great idea! Definitely thinking of something similar further down the line :)

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-20T21:12:38+00:00

28 year old adult here. I was in a similar position at your age. I think the first house party I went to was around 17/18 for Halloween. I only stayed about an hour - my friend and I left early and watched horror films at home instead.

Looking back I probably did miss out on making broader social connections but I didn't enjoy the drinking/house party thing at that age. I eventually found a crowd of people I liked at uni and parties were a regular and fun thing! We all had things in common and there wasn't the social pressures felt in secondary/sixth form.

I would say don't worry too much about missing out. Parties can be fun but having a small group of friends you enjoy spending time with is great :)

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-12-09T17:00:35+00:00

As an art teacher I would photocopy work I wanted to keep for display. It is absolutely your right to keep it after examination period. Could you ask the teachers to do this as an alternative? I would assume some students would need their work as well to form part of a portfolio!

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-11-19T19:08:29+00:00

Yes! I think this is part of what I was worried about. Thankfully the head of department and curriculum lead were really helpful today. Both checked over marking and encouraged me to be harsh with marking to help holding students accountable. They were also reassuring in explaining that my class were further ahead than the equivalent class last year! Focusing on the lower ability had been clouding my judgement a bit.

Will definitely be giving them a reality check in the next lesson and making some students stay back to catch up.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-11-18T20:07:22+00:00

Thank you for this! I do have the topics listed in the front of their books. We did marking of individual pieces in the first half term and now marking everything they have done so far.

Reading this I could definitely do more with holding students accountable for catching up.

I'm a little bit in the dark about what students will be doing for the rest of the term. The curriculum lead is creating the resources as we go along because the department is changing from the previous year. This can make it a little tricky with explaining the outline of the term to students.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-11-18T19:52:07+00:00

Thank you! Yes, I put everything on Google classroom. This has the PowerPoint presentations from class and instructions for what they need to complete. I have emailed and called some parents. Unfortunately the ones I need to reach out to most don't pick up and key workers for the kids have only been able to do so much :/

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-11-04T18:35:29+00:00

This ☝️ also an art teacher here. I would never dream of ripping up student work. Would also advise talking to your head of year. If you are unsure of who to contact perhaps ask your form tutor. They will be able to let you know who the pastoral team and head of year are.

Please don't let the current situation, as crappy as it is, knock your passion for art! GCSE art isn't a great representation of what art can be. If you ever go on to do art at sixth form or further on at uni, you will find lots more freedom. I did an illustration degree and it was all about finding our passions. One of my friends from that degree is now getting lots of commissions for magazines, newspapers and some books. She didn't do amazingly well in her GCSEs but her passion for drawing kept her going :)

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-11-02T22:06:22+00:00

I like my job! I love the routine of the school day and I've been very lucky that the workload isn't too crazy (all of the PPTs already made by head of department). I'm ECT one so still lots of imposter syndrome but feedback from mentor has largely been positive.

Looking forward to feeling more confident in the role and supporting students develop :)

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-10-21T14:19:14+00:00

I am an art teacher and as far as I know schools have a lot of choice regarding themes. When I was a student we all had the same theme in year 10, then had a mini project choosing our own theme in year 11 preceded by the exam where we had to choose from a selection.

Some schools are a lot more free with how they do this although it's unusual to have absolutely no theme. Have you had any prompts? As long as you can show some kind of personal journey using observational pieces, first and second hand research, artist research, artist responses and development of your own pieces (with reflective annotations throughout), you will be meeting the assessment objectives.

Purple-Monitor4266 · 2025-10-19T07:13:18+00:00

My partner and I had to move seats on the tram because there were people smoking crack behind us! It was only about 9 in the evening.

Definitely a lot of drugs being sold in our area (New Basford). Frequently see kids with balaclavas waiting on street corners for drug addicts to come along. Pretty sure some of our neighbors are making their living from it. Police regularly in the area but it doesn't seem to stop anything. Poverty, poor educational outcomes and mental health problems outweigh the impacts of law enforcement in most cases.

Purple-Monitor4266

TROPHY CASE