.....the end of the year......

At last, it's here...the end of the year....six weeks holiday.....and then back to new rules and regs....ever changing goalposts....relentless pressure.

It's been a really crap year.......Ofsted.....hebs illness.....two colleagues retiring.....new dictats from above.....spats and arguments........late evenings.....tiredness....exhaustion....sure there's been some good bits....and there's always mates and we hang together...but by and large it's been pretty crap and relationships have been strained and stretched almost to breaking point.

It's not the job it used to be......but that's because teachers are our own worst enemy...we don't know whether we want to be a profession or a trade union.......people (and mainly politicians) who wouldn't dream of telling a surgeon, a barrister or an architect how to do his/her job have no problem telling teachers how to do theirs......politicians who chant a mantra of equality....and let exam boards dictate pass rates to make themselves look good .....don't realise that an exam that every one passes is worthless........and when the penny finally drops change the boundaries and make pass numbers go down...and then blame teachers for failing.....Governments that make every thing above 6th Form a University and flood the market with largely worthless degrees..........a belief that every one has a "right" to go to University....instead of it being something that needs to be worked at...and earned ....and a privilege. I could go on and on.........

But you know what's really good about it ?........the kids........and the dedicated people who work in the system and take the crap.....and keep getting knocked down and bouncing back up......and I mean every one.......kitchen staff, office staff, cleaners, technicians, teachers....the lot.

So here at the end of the year....a bottle of wine from my HoF......liqueur chocolates.....a book of weird articles from New Scientist...........and a mug...a unique mug...from a grateful pupil and his parents........that means everything......six figure bonuses for incompetent bankers......flash cars for City whizz kids.......foreign trips for dodgy politicians..........this mug means more.....because it's sincere, it's been thought about....and it was totally unexpected.

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