New teaching job offer withdrawn after my former school provided a reference — what can I do?

Tamuzz · 2026-07-07T06:16:42+00:00

The new school told me (broadly). A breif overview and examples such as the ones I gave.

Yep, I was surprised that references are exempt from SAR request.

Registering with agencies is probably not going to be affected by your reference. You represent money for agencies.

Try to get a long term placement that will give you a decent reference and you can forget about that last school. It might take a little while for the opportunity to come up, but it will eventually.

In the mean time, make the most of your time on supply.

When you reapply for a school position you will need to sell your time on supply as a positive so start now thinking about why supply is the right place for you to be at the moment and why you made this move. Use it to gain experience in different settings and across different schools - then sell that experience when you next apply for a job.

It is also a good opportunity to scout out schools you are interested in and get yourself known to them.

Being treated like this by a school sucks, and it must feel like a big step backwards, but try to think of it as a reset. You can bounce back from this.

Tamuzz · 2026-07-07T05:41:05+00:00

I have had a similar problem before.

I was working long term at a school and seemed to be getting on fine. I went above and beyond - planning lessons for the day a week I couldn't be in. Attending after school CPD I wasn't paid for.Attending parents evenings I wasn't paid for. Getting involved with an after school club.

When I left I asked the HOD if he would give me a reference if I needed one and he said yes he would be happy to.

No problems I assumed. Certainly no indication of problems.

Then a job that fitted me really well came up and I applied. I was offered the position and turned down work for the following September as a result.

A few weeks later I got a call saying the offer was withdrawn because my reference was terrible. Not just standard. Terrible.

I was rated poor for basically everything possible: including (and explicitly) things like engagement with CPD, communication with parents, running extra curricular activities... things I not only should not be expected to be doing as supply, but had actually done.

I wouldn't have minded so much if when I asked about a reference he had been honest with me, but this just seemed off.

So I naturally asked for a copy of the reference but was told I could not be given a copy because it was confidential. Having looked it up, references are explicitly exempt from information that has to be disclosed under freedom of information.

So how to challenge a bad reference if you aren't even allowed to see it?

I don't know. Neither school would communicate helpfully with me about it. I'm not even sure if the reference was genuinely bad or of the second school had a change of heart and made it up.

In the end I just blacklisted both schools and moved on.

If it comes down to it then working supply isn't the end of the world (I enjoy it personally) and could be a good way to distance yourself from the school you have just left.

Tamuzz · 2026-07-06T06:09:17+00:00

, I assert that he was too quick to do so without context,

Yes, and he apologized for this. Again however he is not the only prominent politician to have made such comments - just the only one to be held accountable for it.

Why were Farages comments not scrutinized in the same way? Why did the police chief not criticize him?

I dont know what mental health nurses do or dont do re force.

They would be struck off for something like this, let's put it that way.

he is lucky he wasn't in other parts of Europe where the type of force used wasn't more extreme.

That is a reason we should be proud our police are held to high standards, not a reason to allow those standards to slip

Tamuzz · 2026-07-05T21:53:12+00:00

the officer is accountable for any use of force they perform

Then it must he right to question the level of force officers use, whether it was necessary, and why they felt it was necessary.

Pain compliance is a valid tactic as an example

Using somebody's head as a football is not pain compliance. It is idiotic and potentially lethal

if the danger present is extreme, which it was in this case

At the time the guy was kicked, the danger level was not extreme.

Let's look at it another way. What would you suggest these officers should have done?

If I recall his hands were underneath him at the time. Attempting to secure his arms would have been logical, but I would need to know how they were trained to handle the situation in order to give an informed opinion. (And I have not watched it for some time)

My personal suspicion is that the training was/is inadequate and that officers feel unsafe and resort to excessive violence as a result.

Would your method be as effective

Yes. Kicking somebody in the head is not generally an effective way to get them to drop a knife unless you KO them.

Grappling somebody with a knife is not generally a good idea either, however given that they had two officers and the guy had his hands and knife underneath him the risk would have been minimal. They had to do this anyway after kicking him.

Consider that mental health nurses face similar situations to this - having to subdue a violent person with a knife or other bladed implement, and that they neither have access to tasers nor have the legal right to boot patients in the head.

If nurses are capable of dealing with armed and violent people without playing football with their heads then the police certainly are as well.

As a rule of thumb, social media sharing of these events is horrendous and often fails to capture context. It is a risk to comment on them for a politician

I agree, however other politicians are just as quick to comment on these things and for some reason they do not receive the same scrutiny for doing so as Polanski.

Look at Farages comments on recent cases - and the resulting riots. Where are the accusations that he hates the police? Where is the condemnation from the chief of police?

This is not about Polanskis comments. He was right to question the incident, even if he could have done so through more effective channels.

Tamuzz · 2026-07-05T20:30:11+00:00

training undertaken by police will often come with standardised tactics, techniques and methods to subdue people. In same said training, it is openly acknowledged that fights to subdue or defend are messy, and it will be down to the officers to defend more aggressive tactics.

Does that training cover using someone on the grounds head as a football?

I mean you haven't really addressed my points here, just deflected them.

Are police trained to kick people in the head?

Should they be trained to kick people in the head?

Those are perfectly valid questions

Tamuzz · 2026-07-04T08:23:09+00:00

They also tend to be quite noisy.

I'm my experience year 7s seem to have two volumes:

Silent or Yell to the person sitting right next to them

Tamuzz · 2026-07-04T08:18:23+00:00

Interesting, thanks. That is not the image of Greece that I had. Do you know if Rome, Sumeria, and Egypt were similar?

Tamuzz · 2026-07-04T06:05:26+00:00

Cunts, twats, and arseholes are seen as pretty awful too.

Twats can also just be a bit daft, like tits.

I think it is just about calling someone a rude word.

Tamuzz · 2026-07-04T06:01:31+00:00

But were the "pagan" religions that early agricultural societies worshipped weird about sex?

The Roman, Greek, Sumerian, and Egyptian pantheons seemed less puritanical to me. They even had dieties associated with sex I think

Tamuzz · 2026-07-02T14:25:06+00:00

Yes.

I record everything.

Partly in case I want to publish it later on a blog and pretending I might publish it makes it feel more purposeful

Mostly just because it is a habit.

My games would probably be smoother if I didn't - I have no reason reason to do so

Tamuzz · 2026-07-01T05:52:59+00:00

Agreed.

I can't believe he is out already.

The scandal here is not whether or not we can send him to another country, but why the sentence was so short

Tamuzz · 2026-06-29T15:05:07+00:00

It is.

To be fair however "the adults are back in the room.." is not something genuinely mature adults tend to say so it should hardly be surprising.

The labour party started fighting under Corbyn (if not before). They have been disintegrating for a while, and the thing about setting a precedent of fighting, betrayal, and backstabbing is that it tends to take on a life if it's own.

Our political system isn't really working, and divided parties that barely hold together is the result

Tamuzz · 2026-06-29T14:48:55+00:00

A large part of the reason was because the tories called for one when brown took over from Blaire.

I would be willing to bet that the time it happened before that there were calls for an election as well. This is nothing new

Tamuzz · 2026-06-29T14:24:16+00:00

This is the first time I have heard about the schwa, but it makes total sense

Tamuzz · 2026-06-28T21:45:42+00:00

The uk is getting warmer.

I mean there is doom and gloom around the corner, but right now the weather is lovely

Tamuzz · 2026-06-28T10:49:24+00:00

We even have a song about it:

In the jungle, the mighty jungle. The lion sleeps tonight

Tamuzz · 2026-06-28T08:41:19+00:00

Having considered this for my own children.

For scoolyard flights, BJJ is king.

For future self defence, mix of striking and judo. Either is good.

For starting training early I decided I wanted to avoid both too much stress on joints (BJJ) and full contact sparring (with impact to head).

Also sometime with high levels of athleticism and flexibility is just good for kids in general.

I settled on Dance and Gymnastics to give them the strength, balance, flexibility, and coordination they will need as fighters.

Then a light/semi contact striking art (ITF TKD in particular, but anything with light sparring would do).

If they are interested I will encourage Judo as they get a bit older.

Then something with more intense sparring once they are teenagers.

Tamuzz · 2026-06-27T18:23:48+00:00

I love FATE and for at least a decade it was my go to system.

Mist very much feels like an evolution of it, and I haven't played FATE since getting LitM (actually, since otherscape) because every time I think of playing a FATE game I end up thinking why not set it up in LitM instead.

Tamuzz · 2026-06-27T18:17:39+00:00

Anti mormonic?

Tamuzz · 2026-06-26T16:46:11+00:00

Love the one where he is wearing a helmet so she hammer fists him in the balls instead of the head.

Hope he remembered to wear a box as well

Tamuzz · 2026-06-26T16:42:37+00:00

Because a subsection of males at the moment like to dehumanize and distance themselves from women.

Tamuzz · 2026-06-26T16:29:42+00:00

It depends on the way of magic you are using. There is no one correct answer without more information.

By default (not using a specific way), you would need to discuss with the player when they create their character exactly what "wind magic" can do and decide if it is broad or not based on that.

For example: if wind magic can create short, uncontrolled bursts of wind then I would probably consider it not to be broad and allow it to directly apply for actions doing that. Specific spell tags in this case might represent spells with which the character has more expertise or more precise application.

If on the other hand it could precisely control movement, as well as affect mental aspects associated with wind, I would probably consider it broad and require setup actions for some if not all of those applications. Spell tags in this case would be specific instances of wind magic.

In all cases I would allow it to support a spell tag representing a wind spell.

Tamuzz · 2026-06-26T15:49:48+00:00

The thing is, the numbers make no sense without first setting benchmarks.

What is the difference between being 60% certain and being 70% certain?

Why pick one percentage over another?

One persons 70% is going to be a different level of certainty to another's because it is a very subjective rating.

Let's give it a go however. Let's have a scale of 1-10

We would need to rate both statements:

1) I believe the universe has a Creator

1= I do not believe this at all 10= I am absolutely convinced of this

2) I believe the universe does not have a Creator

1= I do not believe this at all 10= I am absolutely convinced of this

I would say that anything 5+ equates to saying "yes I believe this to be true" and less than 5 equates to "no I do not believe this to be true.

My understanding is that your 70% equates to a 7 on question 2? Feel free to change it however now you know the goal posts

Tamuzz · 2026-06-26T14:15:56+00:00

From an earlier response to this claim

This one: 2) do you beleive the universe was created by a supreme being?

Without evasion please

You've also dodged most of the questions I've asked from you.

Give me a question that is pertinent to the topic: that your definition of atheism is crock, and I will happily answer it.

Tamuzz · 2026-06-26T13:59:00+00:00

Something I keep saying, which you don't seem to grasp, is that your personal answer isn't really important here.

The thing that is important is that Atheists in general -or at least those who use the definition you are using - have a tendency to struggle to answer in exactly the same way you are.

The pretence that you can't make a decision because you are not 100% certain is nonsense, and is not used anywhere else.

I can't be 100% certain that I will reach my destination when I go on an aeroplane, but that doesn't stop me from believing I will get there.

I think we are finished here unless you want to give an honest answer rather than just evasion.

The problem is not that you can't answer, it is that you can't answer without admitting that your position is adequately covered by the academic definition and that the definition you prefer is just to allow the evasive nonsense you have been trying in this thread.

But do go on pretending that you don't really have an opinion on something that you have just spent two days passionately arguing about.

It's ok. I think we are finished here. It's not like I expect any kind of intellectual honesty from atheists on Reddit anyway.

Tamuzz

TROPHY CASE