Apple muncher's number crunching

apple_muncher

Pip missed dance but did go to the climbing comp. And won their category!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a champion climber in the household!

Today is mostly about the struggle to complete hwk. Pip is overwhelmed by it and is unable to start it as they feel so behind (they aren't, but that is how it feels). So my job is to encourage, nag, start it myself...and generally 'help'.

Green soup made yesterday is for lunch today, with a baked tato. It is more like garlic soup with a hint of broccoli- just as well I'm not at work tomorrow, eh?

I have set my work for Friday - it's unpaid leave yet I'm still expected to set work... Sigh...

Very grateful for video recorders as I can record all the women's world cup rugby over in Oz and watch (and fast forward, of course) at my leisure.

apple_muncher

After the half term break, I would like to not have to spend my days off avoiding doing admin etc for school. I need to re-write a doc after Friday's meeting as I should have known that the template wanted me to split the grid by tier of entry and also by gender, even though it did not give any indication of anything else other than results.

Realised that I got 'told off' for not doing something - but I passed the info to my line manager (dep head) who did not at any point tell me to do anything about it myself. She said that she had spoken to the pupil + parents and gave me their decision. Now, being cynical, and knowing said dep head better, I really wonder if any such conversation was had with anyone at all...

No effusive praise or even a 'well done' for my work last year and the last couple of years of great results. Nope. Just informed that I'm rubbish at internal marketing and need to do more of it. And an implication that it is my fault that there are no pupils wanting to continue with my subject to A level. And what am I going to do about it???

And there's another doc to rewrite as it got mentioned in passing at a meeting that there are 3 levels of x whereas we wrote this doc with 4 levels. No one has informed us of this change.

Feeling piddling well fed up. However, dh is more amenable to me finishing there at the end of this academic year. I think he has realised just how much it is affecting me at so many levels.

Enough procrastinating for now! Best get on with redoing the template doc...

Karmacat

apple_muncher said:

After the half term break, I would like to not have to spend my days off avoiding doing admin etc for school. I need to re-write a doc after Friday's meeting as I should have known that the template wanted me to split the grid by tier of entry and also by gender, even though it did not give any indication of anything else other than results.

Realised that I got 'told off' for not doing something - but I passed the info to my line manager (dep head) who did not at any point tell me to do anything about it myself. She said that she had spoken to the pupil + parents and gave me their decision. Now, being cynical, and knowing said dep head better, I really wonder if any such conversation was had with anyone at all...

No effusive praise or even a 'well done' for my work last year and the last couple of years of great results. Nope. Just informed that I'm rubbish at internal marketing and need to do more of it. And an implication that it is my fault that there are no pupils wanting to continue with my subject to A level. And what am I going to do about it???

Oh boy.  That school is toxic, there's no two ways about it.  Can I suggest that in future, when you have a meeting like that, you send a quick email confirming?  I realise that may be ridiculous, given the amount of chat/communicating that has to go on all the time, but if you're leaving, you're looking at a need for a reference.  Would the union help, not to take action, but to give you advice on how to safeguard your future employment prospects?  That's a better use of your own time!

apple_muncher

Thank you karma. I actually think that I'll be leaving teaching altogether and looking to my exam board marking and invigilating as sources of income. Maybe some tutoring? That said, I am still looking at the job pages on an almost daily basis!

When I talked to the union over the summer about the timetable, it was unfortunately as case of 'you are at the mercy/discretion of the head'. The head seems to expect perfection without telling you what exactly you should be doing, and the dep head is a load of fluff. As effective as a chocolate teapot (and that is an insult to chocolate) I'm staying on my terms and just keeping detached - even if my posts don't sound like that!!!

I've done 90% of my rewrite. Turns out that the '2 line response' that was referred to in the meeting was actually a heck of a lot more than that. Another unnecessary belittling.

And I've also redone the doc where it was mentioned in passing in a recent meeting about Developing/Achieving/Excelling. I shot my hand up to ask 'What happened to Surpassing?' To be told that it no longer exists. Oh. Right. Thanks for telling us. After the hours spent last year writing it with 4 tiers, now there's only 3. It's like the primary 'working towards, working at, working beyond'. Sigh.

So, I'm going to put the laptop away, get some lunch and then read or knit and watch recorded tv until it's time to collect pip.

apple_muncher

That's me done for 3 weeks. Whoop, whoop!

Pip was off school today, with a rotten cold. Even dh agreed that they were unfit for school. We'll see how they sleep tonight as to whether they go in tomorrow or not.

apple_muncher

This morning, I got up as normal and did an early gym session, came home and washed and changed and went to see my counsellor. Then did a large aldee shop and was home by 10.30. This afternoon, I have mown the front, given some pulled-up-passionflower-sprigs to a neighbour, chatted with another neighbour and planted the daffodil bulbs I bought the other day.

And answered some work emails - sigh.

Pip is off school again but is much improved and I hope will go in tomorrow. The arrival of the A3 guillotine and the 3 white pens has perked them up to do some art.

Karmacat

Ooh, an A3 guillotine!  I used to have a tiddly guillotine, when we still sent out paper leaflets, not pdfs, they had an insert for the prices - I cut them by guillotine.  Lots of fun  

apple_muncher

Here we are, in Penzance. This place is exactly what an Airbnb place should be like! DH is happy with the huge TV screen 😂. Pip has already climbed out of their bedroom window onto the flat roof 😵. I'm simply happy that it has an abundance of loo rolls, tea towels, cleaning stuff, spare blankets, crockery... And the doors all shut properly (for those who recall where we stayed in North Shields...)!!!!

It has 3 bedrooms, so we'll rattle around the place without pip here.

Karmacat

Sounds wonderful!  I love a lot of the AirBNBs I've been to - especially that one that had the pet chicken jump onto the tv table

apple_muncher

Pip is off in St Ives doing pottery this morning and the Tate followed by harbour sketches and photos. And the weather is lovely - mild, breezy, sunny.

We've been along the coast to Mousehole and back. Add in my walk to and from the youth hostel this morning, and I'm over 25000 steps before lunch. Go me! And we're determined to go into Penzance this afternoon...

Tomorrow we're hop ing to go to St Michael's mount on the causeway. Limited times by tides, of course. But it's about 4 miles each way and I don't know if my feet will let me!!! Hmmm. There must surely be a bus along the coast...