Notes on happenings and non-happenings:
routine reports from a 50-year old comprehensive school
SEPTEMBER
Root word of the month is port
Week 1:
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Wednesday 1st
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Staff training, missing bacon sandwiches disaster. Curriculum training, curriculum departments. Optimistic buzzing.
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Thursday 2nd
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Staff training, excellent bacon sandwiches, also sausage or egg. Inclusion, pastoral, vociferous input from y13 students on gender oppression at school, discussion of words to ban. Pastoral meetings. Timings need attention, note to self. Bustling to add to buzzing.
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Friday 3rd
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Covid testing for year 7 and 12, lots of y7 parents at the gate waiting for newly-uniformed testees. Staff meeting to make up for the mistiming in training patiently endured. Promise parents I’ll email them on Wednesdays. A gussying-up day.
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Week 2:
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Monday 6th
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Early leadership group meeting. 7 and 12 in after break, testing 11 and 13. First of 7 assemblies on Tallis the man (apparently a patient quiet sort, O happy man), the importance of knowledge, honesty and kindness. What’s the answer to every question? Floor, block, room.
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Tuesday 7th
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Testing 8, 9 and 10. Y7, 11, 12, 13 in after break. Two more assemblies, just as well we’re getting better at it, children remembering phlegmatically what we used to do before March 21 ended assemblies. Leadership meeting. Very hot.
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Wednesday 8th
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All in from 1130. Fell at first hurdle forgetting to send parent email, even hotter. Finally airborne.
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Thursday 9th
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People say ‘it’s very full’, which it is. One CV case from testing. Year 7 very cheerful, if a bit sweaty. Online heads meeting: vaccinating children about to happen. Stand by your beds.
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Friday 10th
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Another CV case. Salads so beautiful it’s a shame to eat them. Not a vaccine in sight.
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Week 3:
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Monday 13th
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Another CV case over the weekend. Will I regret starting the year noting them individually? Heads of Year meeting. Blockage at the foot of Block 5 stairs: where’s the Dojo? And what is it?
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Tuesday 14th
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Tallis Tales building up. Note to self, get act together on diary. Torrential rain but no Monsoon declaration, wet day routines work well. Annual reminder: no skateboards in assembly.
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Wednesday 15th
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The Association of School and College Leaders launches a new blueprint: A Great Education for every Child to try to subvert the research finding from last year that at the current pace it’ll take until 2581 to close the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children. Early close, more curriculum training. Vaccine details soon.
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Thursday 16th
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Vaccine details, but goodbye Mr Williamson and – astonishingly – Mr Gibb as Schools Minister. Tallis gates accidentally still locked at 0820. Narrow pavement, K P Road jammed. Children everywhere like a turquoise extinction rebellion installation.
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Friday 17th
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Week two of the two-week timetable foxes some. Skipping ropes in the yard instantly turn teenagers back into children. Pointing and gesturing. Dover Patrol curfew reminder – ‘and stop eating chicken and chips all the time’.
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Week 4:
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Monday 20th
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Outraged email from a pedestrian nearly knocked off the pavement. Literacy assemblies this week, and reassurance about a body found in the park at the weekend. Tension between year 10 and 11 boys, question: why is bottled water still being sold when the new catering contract agreed otherwise?
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Tuesday 21st
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Toiletrollgate, a tissue issue. No supplies. Hard conversations with premises management. Governors’ Achievement Committee meeting.
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Wednesday 22nd
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Briefing in a hall set out for GCSE maths retake mock: hilarity about pens, extra time, candidate numbers. Year 7 and 12 Settling-in evenings for parents – very happy to see live people again!
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Thursday 23rd
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How to mark and consider the murder of a young teacher in the park, reflecting on our work in 2021 about gender-based violence but without terrifying the children?
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Friday 24th
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..and did we get the balance right between respect and fear? What about all the other deaths, every year? Sunny day, friendly emails from other Heads asking about how the year has started.
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Week 5:
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Monday 27th
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Wet morning, year 8 too noisy going into assembly, Improvement Partner from the LA visited to pick over our performance in all areas, two-and-a-half hours. Hoax Covid vaccination consent letters spotted.
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Tuesday 28th
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Planning a big gig for to launch the T50 year, a bit late in the hope of it being a joint celebration with the Creativity Collaborative bid. Character banners up already for Open Night.
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Wednesday 29th
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Mask-wearing in briefing makes for muffled communication. Open Night, 1405 guests (270 places), four hall-fulls. Lovely!
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Thursday 30th
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In pursuit of an elusive year 13 student despite being at a meeting in Victoria.
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