P45

Having proved myself in my performance management this week as an outstanding teacher in my new school, I had cockily invited the Head to pop in 'any time'.  Obviously any time does not mean period 5 on the Friday before half term!

My Year 11 students have worked like dogs since I arrived.  They are producing work that they could only have dreamed of six months ago; but not today.  We were having a bit of fun.  They have been stuck in a computer room for a month and will be again after half term.  Therefore when the Head arrived this afternoon it was unfortunate that one of the alpha males was dressed as a woman, a more able A grade hopeful was giving it gangster speak, the Jeremy Kyle theme tune was playing and every other word on stage happened to be 'shag'.

I was watching the horror unfold assuming that as I get on with both the Head well enough, and my Year 11s extremely well, one of them would do something to stop the carnage. Surely he would leave or they would stop and we would all make polite conversation until he respectfully WENT AWAY.  It didn't happen.  The Head stayed and watched the car crash unfold and due to a combination of nerves and exhilaration, the dreadful improvisation went on for about 10 minutes.  They'd only been devising it for 10 minutes - how could it last that long in performance?!

I couldn't decide on the spot,whether 'shag' is a word that can't be used in school drama.  I let it go once assuming that it could have been missed by our leader.  Wrongly assuming that the students wouldn't then take that as a green light to use it as often as possible for the remainder of their piece.

The correct teacher response would have been (a) stop the (already shit) drama and correct the use of possibly inappropriate language and (b) make a point of the fact that Year 11 students could have achieved so much more with the stimulus given. Unfortunately, this harassed and strung-out-newly-crowned-Head-of-Drama tried the following: (a) whooping up the crowd into a Jeremy Kyle frenzy hoping to blank out what was happening on stage and (b) sidling up to Head, WINKING (really, REALLY?!  WTF?) and saying sotto voce, 'it is so nice to have a bit of fun just before half-term, isn't it?'

He left then. ;-)