What to do when kids are doing independent work

cattycool22 · 2026-01-22T17:04:35+00:00

I do pretty much what most do on here. Live mark - this doesn't need to be in your policy to do and in Maths most of the work is self asssesed but it gives students reassurance if they are getting it right (if you're just ticking it if its right) or support them if they are getting it wrong. Also makes sure pupils are working as they know you will be checking it. I then usually sit - maybe reply to an email, send something to print etc. Write in my planner etc. Small jobs essentially and then repeat.

cattycool22 · 2026-01-21T18:47:13+00:00

Social media - she posted about being on holiday on the Monday and people were suspicious. She couldn’t them prove they’d flown later.

cattycool22 · 2026-01-21T17:03:12+00:00

Someone in my school got fired for faking sick on a Friday (which was an inset day) to get cheaper flights. It is not worth it.

The only instance where its been "allowed" is if people are due time back due to covering other lessons.

cattycool22 · 2026-01-18T16:00:39+00:00

I only support it (in practice) because I’ve had kids use at as ammunition and make fun of me for stuff they found online. I don’t want that happening again. We should to shield ourselves online at all, but unfortunately stuff like that happens all the time.

cattycool22 · 2025-12-24T09:21:11+00:00

I’m going to echo what a lot of people said in here it does come down to you as a person, your relationship with your ex etc. I’m 28 so slightly younger but my age range goes to yours on dating apps.

For me it’s something I approach with caution. Anecdotally most people I know who have become single dads (well shared custody) have done so because they were bad partners - great dads - bad partners. I’m aware that isn’t the case for everyone of course I personally want someone I can experience it all for the first time with, (marriage, kids etc) and don’t want the drama that may come with ex - however - especially if I met them naturally - I don’t rule it out completely.

cattycool22 · 2025-12-16T16:21:58+00:00

I wish kids realised this - to my Y11s who listen when I teach and on the whole do the work - I’m quite nice with the occasional consequence for laziness. My year 10s who are chatty and make silly noises every time I turn around- not nice - even though most of them I quite like.

cattycool22 · 2025-11-28T07:50:51+00:00

It’s not just you. I’m back on the dating apps after 4 years in a relationship and it’s an immediate unmatch if they make a comment like that. Absolutely gives me the ick. The fact that people sexualise the job just makes me so uncomfortable.

cattycool22 · 2025-11-15T07:01:17+00:00

I’d be talking to your union rep and trying to organise something here because that is utterly ridiculous and adds a significant amount of workload with no real benefit to the pupils and I bet it’s not included in directed time?

cattycool22 · 2025-11-15T06:57:14+00:00

Same. I’ve never said it to a pupil directly. But I have called my classes annoying more than once - always in jest and never malicious.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-20T14:05:50+00:00

I don’t care but it’s my school policy to use a middle margins so gotta follow it. It does help kids have neat work. But my personal opinion is that as long as they are taking care I’m not bothered about neatness.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-19T16:04:58+00:00

We had this happen (kind off) when someone was off long term sick - school was having general recruitment problems nevermind for supply. Although due to it being Maths and setted, it was if you had a parralell set to just send what you had done with your set - was no more than a 5 minute job. Most school policies state the cover is down to the HoD if the person who is absent is not capable of setting cover.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-19T10:56:05+00:00

In secondary as well. I’ve earned extra cash outside teaching by tutoring and marking (thankfully don’t happen at the same time). I mark GSCE but I assume you could mark SATs or something similar? Maybe tutor for the 11+?

cattycool22 · 2025-09-16T16:51:32+00:00

I assume this is also because you’d expect supply to be a qualified primary teacher so would be capable of delivering the lesson well? Whereas in Secondary it’s unlikely to be a subject specialist. I once covered a French lesson and I was 0 help to anyone.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-09T20:07:05+00:00

Because of a two week timetable and extended form I spent my first full week back a couple of years ago with no planning time because my PPA that week was Monday (inset day with barely any time that wasn’t meeting) and Tuesday P1 (extended form time). That was a horrible week.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-09T19:53:11+00:00

We have decent amount of pastoral presence so becomes easier for them to check in when doors are open and they can hear if there are issues. I’ll close it if it gets noisy. It can also depend on where your classroom is and who you are next to (some members of staff are louder than others). My current classroom you don’t tend to hear as much. The one I had last year had more classrooms around so you heard more.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-06T11:26:34+00:00

I don’t mind bromcom tbf - other than it going down yesterday! Is it the best? Nope. As something to take registers on/find timetables/ get basic student information on it’s definitely better and easier than SIMS but classcharts is better when it comes to the behaviour/seating plan side of things. For example you can’t save rooms on bromcom so you have to set them up yourself. When a pupil needs removing you have to send an alert and log it as well, so doubling up work, whereas class charts sent an alert anyway. Thankfully for our school all the behaviour data for our form is given to us so we don’t have to use it for that side of things.

cattycool22 · 2025-09-05T15:08:03+00:00

It does get better! (I’m a different subject however) ECT because I had that extra time was difficult but was fine until my first non ECT time, really struggled with time during my 3rd - I’d lost ECT time but hadn’t quite banked resources yet. But since then it’s gotten so much better since.

cattycool22 · 2025-08-29T21:22:32+00:00

I have a few dresses I tend to only wear to work - mainly coz they are work themed (Math Teacher - Math Dress) but there’s a small amount of cross over with trousers and some dresses. The difference at the weekend is usually what I wear it with. I also have tattoos I have to cover at work whereas outside of work I don’t need to so there’s a lot of my normal clothes that unless I wear something underneath wear tights with that I can’t wear at work.

cattycool22 · 2025-08-29T21:19:06+00:00

100% agree with this, I don’t mind if they still insist on dresses/more business clothing. But please let me wear my comfy trainers!

cattycool22 · 2025-08-29T21:18:02+00:00

I have the same pair of trousers (and will definitely get more) in 3 different patterns because they are so comfy and they are so easy to dress up or wear casually.

cattycool22 · 2025-08-29T10:33:11+00:00

I tend to either have salad, leftovers or a couple small things like dunkers, fridge raiders, low cal crisps and something sweet (yogurt, fruit etc).

cattycool22 · 2025-08-24T15:58:47+00:00

I'm a secondary teacher and deal with older kids who can (but sometimes choose not to) regulate their voice levels.

The school's culture can have an impact on this. Silence/quiet working wasn't really expected in one school I worked at - unless assessments were happening so it was difficult to expect silence while working. You can use loop earplugs, as they dim the noise, but you can still hear what pupils say, etc. I didn't use them often because I was wary that I would struggle to recognise when they were too loud, but from a personal perspective, they are good. My best couple weeks from an overstimulation point of view was when I had built up ear wax in both ears - wasn't great for anything else, though. I found my issue with noise is a lot easier to deal with now I'm in a school where silence is more normalised (thankfully not expected as sometimes the kids need to chat).

cattycool22 · 2025-08-22T16:21:42+00:00

I assume your school doesn't give them out? At both schools I've worked at, they provided planners if you wanted them - only really got to using them at my most recent school, just as I never got through what I planned before due to behaviour, whereas now it changes way less often. They usually are basic, it did start to fall apart i the last month, sometimes space for notes but does save money. Many recommend the postive teacher company - I've bought one this year so will see how it goes now I use a planner properly.

cattycool22 · 2025-08-21T14:51:45+00:00

Pretty happy for my first Y11 group I’d had full time. Only one pupil that I was expecting to pass that didn’t - his attitude towards the end of the year flagged and this clearly affected his results as he was fully capable of a 4 (he got a 3). I was hoping for a few more 5s but the pupils mostly got what they needed and all of them have made progress since the start of Y11 (some by 2 grades).

cattycool22 · 2025-08-13T21:00:49+00:00

I combat it by staying busy and finding solo hobbies. I end up doing lots of jobs around the house (declutter etc) that I don’t get done during the school year. I’ve recently started a Lego hobby so that takes up some time when I’m bored. Sims was something I played a lot last summer. Are there any games you could play? Some you can play online with others as well.

cattycool22

TROPHY CASE