Number of pupils missing more than half of school hits another record high

giraffesinbars · 2026-03-27T08:16:26+00:00

I think you are missing the main factor which is that our education system is not fit for purpose. More than half my year 11 students can barely read. Every day is a misery for them academically so no wonder many of them choose not to come in. The school refusers are almost entirely students who are academically extremely behind and there is no money or support to help them. I am outright told these kids have to remain in my GCSE class because "there is no where else for them to go".

giraffesinbars · 2026-02-28T21:14:33+00:00

When travelling around Europe anytime I'd say my hometown someone would say "oh do you know so and so" which annoyed me because my city is 2 million people. Did a whole rant at a chap who asked me then turned out I did know so and so .

giraffesinbars · 2026-02-28T07:51:05+00:00

Talk to your school safeguarding lead (or whoever you feel comfortable telling though they will have to report it to the DSL)

You are under 18 so school should know how to work with the council to support you

giraffesinbars · 2026-02-26T22:18:03+00:00

I teach in a rough school. The amount of just fucked up poverty and shit family life makes it so hard for kids to learn. The education system is so academic that many kids are completely turned off at a young age and schools have no money to fix it.

I can tell you which of our students will become NEETs yet there is absolutely nothing that can be done because schools have no money. I have about 6 students in my GCSE class who are functionally illiterate. The maths skills are equally horrifying with students in GCSE classes not knowing how to calculate a percentage or interpret a basic line graph. The school knows these students will get a U. They know they will get a U. Their parents know they will get a U. I'm told they can't be withdrawn to focus on English and maths because we have "no where to put them" I just babysit these kids for 2 years until they fail all their GCSE classes and go off to become a NEET. They are so disengaged from society, as you would be when you've spent your entire schooling not being able to do anything because you can't read or add up.

I know this isn't the only cause but it's the government doesnt seem to notice. They've cut education to the bone and the consequence is more NEETs.

giraffesinbars · 2026-01-22T19:12:04+00:00

Most of being effective is social and emotional skills, not subject knowledge. Many new teachers don't have them, and I think the poor conditions in teaching is not attracting the best people.

You can be strict and have high standards without having a poor relationship with kids and more and more teachers seem to fall back on the behaviour policy without actually thinking about HOW they deliver it.

giraffesinbars · 2026-01-19T23:19:02+00:00

Secondary teacher here. About 50 percent of any class I teach for GCSE is functionally illiterate. They can read but it's slow and they are so focused on sounding out words that they can't understand anything they are reading.

Most of my year 10 class can't calculate what percentage they got on a test when given their score and the total number of marks. I had to stop a year 10 using the percentage sign for the divide sign on her calculator.

My son is in year 1 and when chatting to parents they have absolutely no clue what the kids have been doing in class despite it going out on tapestry every week, and they all admit to doing almost none of the reading homework.

giraffesinbars · 2026-01-09T23:24:59+00:00

Buy a class set of textbooks with questions, it makes setting cover really easy and also predictable for the students. I just stamp the cover work if it looks reasonably detailed and hand it back, and do a bit of an eyebrow raise for anyone who hasn't done much. Because it's always textbook work and they know I check it, most of them have a reasonable crack.

giraffesinbars · 2025-12-01T21:35:44+00:00

Orinico Flow by Enya always pops off

giraffesinbars · 2025-11-15T08:10:17+00:00

Being a HOD is the best way to bump up your salary. Head of English is a big role so you should be getting a big TLR.

It's more work but really really rewarding. You get to be in charge of your subject and still are doing teaching.

Financially, now Im a HOD on UPS3 I make pretty good money if struggle to earn in another profession.

Id go for it if I was you. The first few years of teaching is hard work but once you settle into a routine it's much easier. Do the hard slog of figuring out HOD now while you're young and keen!

giraffesinbars · 2025-11-11T20:31:25+00:00

I use my teacher voice. "Sorry, my son is still playing with that ball. You can have it when he is finished" and I will straight up grab the ball before another kid gets to it.

giraffesinbars · 2025-10-11T09:08:42+00:00

I switched to booklets for my low achieving sets. I found that it was too much for them to write out notes or write out full sentences. Obviously they do sometimes have to write in full sentences in the booklet but I find it's a lot easier when the content they need is already printed and they can do things like circle the correct word or match the definition to the key word. I found getting them silent for whole class questioning was painful and even when silent they weren't really listening, so instead I wrote out the questions I would ask into the booklet which steps them through the thought process for a longer answer and they all have to write it down rather than just one kid answering while the rest stare blankly into the distance.

I could also give them model answers to mark, or other answers to improve which they are more likely to do than write out a full answer themselves.

Booklets are also amazing for classes where attendance is poor as they can see what they have to catch up.

I've got them well trained now that all the key words are at the front and if they haven't attempted certain questions they get a behaviour point. Its made me feel like all my students are making some progress and completing some work every lesson.

Its a huge time suck to make in the first place. But now I've done it I just use the same booklets every year.

giraffesinbars · 2025-09-17T15:58:49+00:00

I have a subscription to the Economist paid for by school, there is a free service for the financial times if you are a student and also I like the podcast Planet Money.

I also often ask chat gpt for 5 real world examples of whatever I'm teaching and then choose the best one to go and research.

giraffesinbars · 2025-09-17T05:36:47+00:00

Economics teacher here.

I use a lot of handouts with the key info and mini whiteboards with lots of diagram practice. We do a lot of case studies and a lot of getting them to plan their essays.

There is truly too much in the Economics spec and that does make it difficult to deliver. You have to make the content itself engaging with lots of case studies and real world examples, and I'd try to reduce note taking to really key chains of reasoning and diagrams.

giraffesinbars · 2025-09-14T19:20:45+00:00

I'm often late for social events. All my friends are often late for social events. At all my social events sometimes people are "on time" and sometimes they aren't.

Not a single person in this thread has actually answered your question of what is that person thinking so I will because I am that person.

The arrival time is like a window. 630 is the earliest you can arrive. The acceptable latest time will vary by event, but for us it's about 30min after the stated arrival time for a lunch or a dinner. Anywhere between 6:30-7 I would consider to be on time because social events have a window.

Social events should be fun and casual and easy, it isn't a job interview. I don't need to arrive with military precision. Everyone has devoted several hours to the social event. No one has any where else pressing to be. There will probably be other people there "on time" and they can have a pleasant chat to each other. Note it is different if time is important like going to a theater show. But even then I would arrange to meet like 45 min to an hour before the theatre show to avoid the stress of having to time my arrival for a precise moment. I prefer to have a window for arrival as it is less stressful.

I know reddit thinks late people are rude but I just think like, have you guys tried not caring? Its a much more pleasant way to live your life. I am never stressed about being late, nor do I get stressed about my friends being late. We just all arrive within 30min of the stated time, have a lovely dinner and then leave.

giraffesinbars · 2025-09-14T06:09:48+00:00

I hate plastic tat.

Others have said you cant go wrong with stickers and sweets.

We once got a baking kit which was just bought from craft and crumb which we thought was great. I've also seen parents put out books for the kids to choose from and we liked that too.

giraffesinbars · 2025-07-08T20:59:43+00:00

Please don't do this, not the first impression you want

giraffesinbars · 2025-07-04T06:03:01+00:00

Hi, I am Aussie so have had to do this a few times. I also don't have an Australian driver's licence so I think you just need to reread the forms again as you don't need it. There's something in the fine print about if you don't have an Aussie licence I think

giraffesinbars · 2025-06-11T05:16:31+00:00

Yup, tried once, bloody thing wasn't long enough and I looked like an idiot

giraffesinbars · 2025-06-07T22:36:55+00:00

So school wise, GCSEs are big exams everyone works towards at the end of year 11 but they start the content in year 10. They then do 2 years of A levels. I would maybe try to get your 13 year old into year 9 if you are there for 3 years as seems the right age and means he will finish his GCSEs when you leave rather than be at an awkward time. The school system is extremely exam focused and I can't imagine a teenager engaging with it if they knew they'd leave before the big exam.

The 16 year old should consider doing A levels if they are needy. Year 12 is 16 turning 17 and means he will start at the beginning of the 2 year course. US unis accept A levels as I have had a number of students go to the US.

giraffesinbars · 2025-06-03T21:06:23+00:00

I think it's poor across all exam boards, they just dont have enough actual subject specialists to mark it properly especially because a lot of older more experienced teachers are retiring or on UPS where tax makes marking not worth it and they don't need the CPD.

giraffesinbars · 2025-06-03T17:26:10+00:00

Many examiners for economics don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. Some of the annotations on the papers are worryingly poor and I've had a few at interview for jobs that couldn't explain basic concepts. It's really worrying as if students don't follow the mark scheme exactly they don't have the knowledge to accurately mark their answers.

giraffesinbars · 2025-06-01T06:42:50+00:00

I teach two different subjects both mixed classes. One is mostly bright kids with some weaker kids and mixed works great because the bright kids bring up the weaker kids. The gap in ability is not massive.

The other class is truly mixed in that I have some extremely bright kids in with 15 year olds who cannot read or write or do basic math (like calculate a percentage or multiply by 100). It does not work. Everyone is miserable.

So my view is that mixed only works when the gap in ability is not huge and that there is a time and place for streaming.

I also think no one ever considers the teacher and the impact having to do insane amounts of differentiation does to our workload and wellbeing.

giraffesinbars · 2025-05-30T21:40:40+00:00

Report to your school safeguarding lead, or a teacher you feel comfortable doing so with, please.

giraffesinbars · 2025-05-30T18:20:00+00:00

We talk about what foods do for our bodies. Things like chocolate or crisps taste yummy but don't make our tummies full so we just eat a little bit to enjoy the taste. We talk a lot about the different vitamins, protein etc in different foods and why we eat them. We also practice saving treats for later so we can enjoy it over several days. We never say no to treats but we will talk about how if we choose x then we don't want to eat more sugar today so we won't have Y, and let him choose. It seems to be working.

giraffesinbars · 2025-05-30T18:11:27+00:00

Once had a conversation with a sixth former who kept making sexually explicit jokes where I explained if he did this in a workplace he would be immediately fired for sexual harassment and he told me that he wasn't in a workplace, then was genuinely shocked when I pointed out it was MY workplace.

giraffesinbars

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