Another good day. I don't wanna jinx it, but things really have been going ok for a little while. Must be under some good stars at the moment :) Whatever it is, I've had three days now and no detentions yet! Could this be the first week since the start of term where I have no kids in detention? Let's not talk too soon.
My girls lost 5-0 last night. They were playing Y11 girls from Lammas, and we didn't have a full strength squad. Nevertheless, they did well, and I'm pleased that they took their defeat well. Most of them did at any rate. Had a rather cross PE teacher tell me today that one of my girls had walked out of PE that morning "because she was tired from playing football". Obviously not good. Hopefully after our little chat "A" will apologise and go back to participating in lessons (for the sake of the team at least...I have to drop her if she won't behave).
In equally troublesome news, "G", who is usually so good, has been banned from playing football for the school for the rest of the term by the Head of PE due to extreme rudeness to a member of the SLT (Senior Leadership Team). I was caught up in a maths lesson that over-ran, so I wasn't there to let the girls into early lunch at 13:10 on the dot so that they could get to football practice at 13:20. "G" challenged the teacher in charge of the lunch queue for not letting her through and was really mouthy with him and rude also to the Head of PE. Consequently she is on the bench until she apologises and learns to respect authority. Dramatastic.
I know these sound like bad things, but to me they are actually good things. I'd far rather kids learned these things in school rather than out there in the big bad world. I'm also kinda pleased that the girls are dedicated enough to the team (hopefully) to change their behaviour and realise they are better than that. Particularly now that we've got Y7s and Y8s in the same training, it's important for the girls to see that they are role-models and need to lead by example. I remember when I was at school thinking all that stuff about role-models was rubbish, but I can see so easily that it's true - kids really do wanna be like the older ones. Now if we can only get the older ones on track...
Speaking of role models, saw an excellent program on Channel 4 called The Secret Millionaire about a millionaire who went into Hackney masquerading as a youth worker and tried to change lives. Was really inspiring - my Mum was in tears when she saw how grateful the youth centre people were with the millionaire's donation; it really was emotional. One line in the show: "you're not just investing in kids, every time they share a detail with you, they're investing in you too" really stuck with me. I think it might be true, you know.
My girls lost 5-0 last night. They were playing Y11 girls from Lammas, and we didn't have a full strength squad. Nevertheless, they did well, and I'm pleased that they took their defeat well. Most of them did at any rate. Had a rather cross PE teacher tell me today that one of my girls had walked out of PE that morning "because she was tired from playing football". Obviously not good. Hopefully after our little chat "A" will apologise and go back to participating in lessons (for the sake of the team at least...I have to drop her if she won't behave).
In equally troublesome news, "G", who is usually so good, has been banned from playing football for the school for the rest of the term by the Head of PE due to extreme rudeness to a member of the SLT (Senior Leadership Team). I was caught up in a maths lesson that over-ran, so I wasn't there to let the girls into early lunch at 13:10 on the dot so that they could get to football practice at 13:20. "G" challenged the teacher in charge of the lunch queue for not letting her through and was really mouthy with him and rude also to the Head of PE. Consequently she is on the bench until she apologises and learns to respect authority. Dramatastic.
I know these sound like bad things, but to me they are actually good things. I'd far rather kids learned these things in school rather than out there in the big bad world. I'm also kinda pleased that the girls are dedicated enough to the team (hopefully) to change their behaviour and realise they are better than that. Particularly now that we've got Y7s and Y8s in the same training, it's important for the girls to see that they are role-models and need to lead by example. I remember when I was at school thinking all that stuff about role-models was rubbish, but I can see so easily that it's true - kids really do wanna be like the older ones. Now if we can only get the older ones on track...
Speaking of role models, saw an excellent program on Channel 4 called The Secret Millionaire about a millionaire who went into Hackney masquerading as a youth worker and tried to change lives. Was really inspiring - my Mum was in tears when she saw how grateful the youth centre people were with the millionaire's donation; it really was emotional. One line in the show: "you're not just investing in kids, every time they share a detail with you, they're investing in you too" really stuck with me. I think it might be true, you know.
