Bell Boy Rings It In

I miss this place. With daily views down at an all time low I have to acknowledge that facebook is winning...

but I wanted to tell you about this...

We have a new Reception boy this year. He's 'one of mine'. Diagnosed with Sensory Modulation disorder, we think he's probably 'on the spectrum'. He's demanding huge amounts of time and resources as we assign a Teacher's Aide to him 1:1, mainly to ensure his safety. If he doesn't like the class activity, he removes himself. This might involve a saunter off into the less structured area of the classroom or a complete runner where we find him sliding up and down the wooden 'fill-ins', between stairs and wall; or hiding in a PE store cupboard. (He's VERY quick!)

Today was another of those classics. I was in the middle of a class with my year 9 maths kids when the fire alarm went off. We dutifully made our way downstairs, wondering idly whether this was the 'surprise' drill following on from the practice drill last week....
Once I had been 'ticked off' the list, I went looking for the little lad, to see how he was coping with the change to his routine.

Before I got there, one of our First Aid ladies came striding purposefully across the oval, with a face that would sink ships. As she approached, she pinned me with a killer stare and announced "BELL Boy set off the alarm" before striding off to inform the two attendant fire engines that they would not be required.....

I moved on to find Bell Boy making his way bemusedly from classroom to the evacuation area with his class. When I greeted him he was quite happy and seemed totally unaware of the chaos he had caused. Not so the rest of the staff and students, who cried for his blood like a banshee pack!

Tomorrow he has the day off but by Thursday we are back on duty,  in the defence of the realm. Wish us luck.

And Now For My Next Trick, I Will Fit 5 Employees into the Same Timetable!!!!

We have been in the throes of some major changes on the work front. Towards the end of last term, three girls with very little English applied to enrol at the school. They brought with them, $6000 worth of 'New Arrivals' funding which we are to use to give them intensive English lessons. With the incorporation of their 5 lessons a week into our already overloaded support timetable, I was faced with finding other staff members to fill the gaps. One has doubled her hours and another, a visiting tutor, has been put on 4 days a week! But that's not all!

In addition to our new ESL girls, we have a new little Autistic boy in Reception and a change in focus for our Down Syndrome girl. In summary, we have basically had to throw the timetable in the air and start again. It's been quite a jigsaw puzzle; although maybe more like one of those alphabet puzzles where you've got one free space and you have to move all the tiles around, one space at a time, to get them into alphabetical order!!

Our timetable is now so complicated one almost needs special glasses to view it!

With all this going on, we are still looking for a beefy male type to be on duty around our 'Oppositional Defiance Disordered' child, who is on reduced enrolment after having thwacked the teacher over the head with a pencil case. We thought we had the ideal guy: a nuggety Kiwi with a background working for a national football association training kids in schools, he was gentle yet intimidating. Unfortunately, after 2 weeks, he pulled the plug citing over commitment and demands of family. We were gutted.

Yesterday, we had a behavioural specialist in to observe said child (let's call him Gabriel). There was a relief teacher on the class which amped his behaviour up several notches and the specialist came out of the observation shocked and disturbed! She claimed he was the 'most severe' child she had ever observed!

Excellent.

As a staff we are being challenged daily by these kids who want to be in control. Whether they be autistic, abused or indulged, their agenda is identical. It's all about trying to get their hands on the Flaming Sword and, I gotta tell ya people, we can NOT afford to give it to them. This does not always make us popular. The mother of our newest autistic boy burst into tears as she saw him shouting and screaming at home time today. He didn't want to go home.
"Thanks for ruining my child" she spat at the astonished teacher, who had to walk the child to the car as he wouldn't go with mum.....

Kids do not really want to be in control.

In the meantime, we have come into some $$$$$$$$$! Well, more like $$$$$
I am going crazy ordering plumbers and carpenters, electricians and landscape designers. There is the small disappointment that Himself spent 20% of the inheritance buying a new boat and trailer!!! Cos we really needed a second boat!!!!! But I have decided not to let it bug me. On the other hand, I can't get overly excited either....:-(