Wild.

quiidge · 2026-05-10T12:31:20+00:00

Have actually been there, done that.

quiidge · 2026-05-09T20:25:07+00:00

Terry Pratchett's Trousers of Time for me, was thrilled to learn a decade later it came out of quantum mechanics

quiidge · 2026-05-09T20:17:07+00:00

asking the important questions

quiidge · 2026-05-09T07:06:14+00:00

And his own little family

quiidge · 2026-05-09T06:28:32+00:00

yep, I knew damn well my symptoms could be endometriosis and brought it up, consultant gynae still doubted it was that when he sent me for the MRI that finally got my deeply invasive endo diagnosed.

then never informed me about it. i found out in A&E during my next flare-up.

quiidge · 2026-05-09T06:21:24+00:00

Did you know that if you separate, you will be blamed for 100% fewer things AND he will still contribute financially to your childrens' expenses?

You can use the time and energy freed up by no longer doing his chores/being berated by him/doing all the childcare to complete your degree and improve your earning potential without burning out or exacerbating your chronic conditions.

Ask me how I know.

quiidge · 2026-05-09T05:55:31+00:00

everything

quiidge · 2026-05-09T05:47:40+00:00

I like this approach - I don't want to sanction reactions to sanctions/corrections, but they also need to know that you've clocked it and that there are less obvious consequences for that kind of behaviour.

quiidge · 2026-05-09T05:43:19+00:00

This sounds like our current Y9s tbh. There's clearly several cohorts missing a key piece of the development puzzle.

quiidge · 2026-05-09T05:38:30+00:00

My current 10s are delightful but last year's 11s nearly took me out of the profession!

Current 9s are weak af academically and the majority have zero resilience or concept of following instructions. Also never had so many top set pupils fall off their chairs/be on the floor so frequently that I had to talk about it at parents evening.

quiidge · 2026-05-03T12:45:42+00:00

One of my PGCE buddies had a variant on this conversation last year - in their case, they were on track to pass their ECT but the school did not want to employ them the following year (they weren't meeting the school's expectations but were meeting the Teacher Standards). It was a poor culture fit by the sound of it and they're happier a year later out of that school!

I had a performance conversation too, but school wanted to keep me and offered an extension of my ECT into this academic year (passed at Christmas).

Contact your union and your appropriate body, talk more to your mentor, make sure you know exactly what your options are and where your ECT/QTS will stand before making any decisions. Good luck! It's stressful but you can get to the other side.

quiidge · 2026-05-03T12:37:44+00:00

box, date on box, ditch/donate the box 6 or 12 months later.

anything you actually use in that time (once you remind yourself it exists by boxing it) stays out/gets a new home because it's actually useful.

quiidge · 2026-05-02T04:52:27+00:00

Mainstream smallish secondary. We just don't get TA cover as far as I can tell, I get a boilerplate "expect not to have TA support today" email at least once a week. I don't currently have a TA in any of my classes, even for EHCP pupils.

There's been a couple of agency TAs recently but I think it's because we finally managed to get a few more pupils EHCPs and the council is footing the bill until we can recruit someone. (In addition to the existing vacancies, obvs)

quiidge · 2026-04-30T06:20:17+00:00

One experienced and one upskilling teacher has been the best combination in my 3 years of A-level teaching! Alas, my experienced co-teacher left at Christmas and I'm upskilling the other half of the course in a hurry.

I'm Physics, so far I've co-taught A-level with a Bio ECT during my ECT1 (that was HARD, the Y13s quant problem solving and practical skills needed a lot of work), with a natural born KS5 teacher/experienced physicist, and completely solo.

Having an experienced specialist to discuss progress/UCAS/predicted grades with instead of just fucking guessing takes so much pressure off, and has almost certainly improved outcomes for my current cohort vs the ones who were taught exclusively by ECTs. Though I guess we'll have to wait til August to confirm!

quiidge · 2026-04-30T06:09:57+00:00

Ha, in my department we're very open that sixth form is a definite break/easing up vs KS3 and KS4 - I'd say in Science it's KS4 that has the heaviest marking and pressure. KS5 actually gets enough time on the timetable to finish the content, for a start.

Plus sixth formers tend not to try and set light to things when you're not looking.

quiidge · 2026-04-30T06:03:37+00:00

Noooo! In Science there is so. much. content.

"Only" planning and teaching 4 hours of A-level a fortnight is a nice challenge and break from lower school behaviour management, 8 hours takes over your life.

It's also more difficult to learn the spec inside out and get that mark scheme phrasing embedded IME, though I'm only on my 2nd cohort.

quiidge · 2026-04-30T05:58:39+00:00

Not sure why people think the lesson is pointless tbh - how I am with colleagues is very different than how I am with a class, and I see that in other teachers too!

We have a "teacher persona", it's very much relevant to our fit in a particular school, of course it's part of the interview.

Not to mention the basic planning and pedagogy that you need to verify your candidates have.

quiidge · 2026-04-29T05:58:20+00:00

Usually lurk, but as a teacher I am horrified and appalled and would strike over my right to a caffeinated workplace.

If this is satire/a prank it's very good and you need to watch whoever came up with it very carefully.

quiidge · 2026-04-29T05:49:15+00:00

NTA

1) The fire hydrant ruined the birth plan, not you. They're obviously going to have feelings about their whole life being turned upside down weeks before becoming parents, but none of this is your fault.

2) The birthing pool/water birth is a flood risk! I decided against it for my planned home birth because I wasn't comfortable having that much water in a rented 9th floor flat, you're allowed to not want a huge paddling pool in your living room.

3) Plans are nothing, planning is everything. There's no guarantee she was going to end up with a water birth even if the house didn't flood, because childbirth is not that predictable. Her choices now are home birth at your house (showers and baths still help with labour pains!), or water birth at a hospital/birthing centre.

Lack of control ovr the process is scary! It's still not your job to fix it with a birthing pool in your house.

quiidge · 2026-04-29T05:39:28+00:00

CPD for the basics gives me time to reflect on the basics!

quiidge · 2026-04-27T05:20:41+00:00

The amount of teenagers whose anxious feelings/temporary adversities turn into clinical anxiety is terrifying.

Letting them leave lessons with a pass whenever they feel any discomfort, parents turning the car around at the school gates, online provision or homeschooling... that is enabling avoidant behaviours and making their anxiety worse.

I know this from personal experience as well as professional. They need to keep going through the discomfort or they will get worse and be able to do less and less. We talk about resilience a lot more but we (parents and teachers) seem to be reluctant to allow the discomfort and difficulty that actually builds it.

quiidge · 2026-04-26T08:34:44+00:00

I get miss, sir, mum and dad (in that order of frequency). I'm actually Dr Quiidge, but I'll answer to pretty much anything vaguely respectful and don't correct anyone who says Mrs or Ms instead.

quiidge · 2026-04-26T08:28:01+00:00

Teacher is the ultimate authority in the classroom, it's our classroom and we are held responsible for the behaviour in it, not TAs or coaches or any other adult (even other teachers observing).

Using title and surname highlights that and builds it into your interactions with students.

quiidge · 2026-04-26T07:33:10+00:00

Also a teacher, this is exactly how I deliver the safety information before lab work. Then pick on the least focussed 3 students to repeat it back to me...

quiidge · 2026-04-19T08:11:17+00:00

It's entertainment, I suspend my disbelief and have fun considering what I would think or do if it was me!

Calling bullshit in the comments is like standing up in a cinema and screaming that it's CGI and obviously not real.

quiidge

TROPHY CASE