Days of Wine and Posers

Senior Pupils discovering the joys"of horticulture"at Nuova Lazio's largest Marijuana Plantation

Our Seniors had their prizegiving last night, and as we wish them adieu with a song in our heart, we can look back on a year filled with many delights, hard work and a hard core of little shits.

The majority of our kids want to achieve, are pleasant young adults, showing increasing maturity and good manners. I remember:
Students holding the corridor doors as you struggle past with an armload of books
Students spontaneously creating a Birthday card for me (She should have been making web pages, but bless her little cotton socks, it was just what I needed)
Students laughing at my jokes

Students laughing at their own foolish mistakes
Students laughing at my lack of hair. (I'm not sensitive about it, and it gives me the opportunity to laugh at their (often) bloody stupid hairstyles)
Students discovering a method in advanced programming to complete a task which was more efficient than my example method
Students developing a working semi-professional database, utilising techniques they had discovered themselves.
Students who take up part-time work to support their single parents and siblings, yet never spend money on themselves, and study and work really hard to make successes of themselves.
Students showing me a new shortcut, a hidden area I didn't know was there, a beautifully designed poster.
Colleagues who volunteered their time to cover someone else's classes, when the teacher was unexpectedly taken ill.
Colleagues who sent in work for their students when they were really ill
Colleagues who came in at the weekend/evening to help their students pass a major piece of work/assessment.

I also unfortunately remember the little incidents which make teaching an increadibly difficult job.

The student who threatened a female colleague with a firework because she hadn't won a prize.
The three idiots who decided to play football on our flat roof while lessons were on in the class rooms underneath.
The morons who turned up completely pissed out of their heads at a junior school disco. (And who threw stones at staff)
The unbelievably disgusting buggers who left bottles of urine and crap-filled pants in Richard [of RBB]'s music room.
The usual 5 - 10 kids who resolutely refuse to go to classes and roam the corridors, disrupting every class they pass by shouting obscenities and banging on the doors.  But who also refuse to leave school because they know that home is worse.
The very difficult student who swore at me because I was trying to make her do some work.  The same student who broke down and cried when she saw that we were really worried for her health and about her succeeding.
The countless kids who turn up to class stoned out of their tiny little skulls.
The countless parents who give their kids weed and booze without control.

Enjoy the beautiful late spring, look forward to a beautiful summer to come, look forward to the end of the bloody term.

Look forward to going back to visit bloody Scotland in the middle of the bloody winter, which was one of the main reasons for leaving the bloody place 7 years ago.

The Idea of WInter

The reality of winter