Roll on Year 7

Bloody well slow down will you? I spent ages on here this afternoon, trying to catch up with you all, and what happens? I go to the local high school for the new intake evening and loads of you have been posting again!! How on earth am I meant to get anything done?

Had a good evening though. The high school is great, it gets some of the best results in the whole of the UK. Jedi loved it there and can't wait to go. She is really excited about all the new subjects. I don't know how she will ever choose her GCSEs, she wants to do everything!

She had more trouble with that damn boy again today. During P.E. he jumped on her back, knocking her to the floor and landing on top of her. She has handled it all remarkably well but I think it is really starting to get her down. I do hope my letter has made an impact in the review. That's four attacks in the four weeks they have been back at school. What must it be like for her, wondering what the hell is coming next? Going to see the head again tomorrow.

Hmmmm, just noticed that Google ads are advertising rabbits of the Rampant kind on my blog! Not quite what I expected and I'm not even allowed to click on it!! Nevermind.

A Better Day Today

Firstly, I want to thank you all for your kind comments and words of advice regarding Jedi's awful problem at school. I managed to grab the head today and we had a most reassuring chat. Like I thought, he hadn't heard the whole story and was actually horrified at some of the attacks. He told me that the boy had a review coming up, so I asked him if he thought me writing an official letter of complaint might acutally be quite useful. He agreed quite enthusiastically that it would. To be honest, although the school does what they can for children with problems, I just don't think they can cope with this child any longer. He told me that although the people who control inclusions are aware of the situation they do not see the real affect it has on the rest of the pupils and in fact the whole school. The boy currently has one to one support during lesson times but the school has no funding to cover breaks, so it places further strain on staff.



So, I have written my letter and sent it to my dad! He has a wonderful way with words and has promised to look it over and edit it if need be. And then it will be handed to the head for the review next week. Fingers crossed we will have a good result, for Jedi and the rest of the school. I do feel very sorry for this lad, I mean, what kind of an upbringing is he getting if he thinks pinning girls to walls by their throats is acceptable? And, like Eve (http://everedstone.blogspot.com/) pointed out in my comments, what kind of a person is this young lad going to grow into?





That aside, as promised I was a good girl and went for my smear test today. The nurse I had was so lovely. We talked about the HPV vaccine and she admitted that her daughter probably would not be having it!! She did make me giggle though. There I was in that God awful, undignified position, relentlessly chatting away to help take my mind off what was going on and she says 'Where has your cervix gone?' Lordy, I don't know, it was there last time! (I was going to say 'last time I looked' but that would be impossible). So I said 'Why? Is it in a funny place or something?' 'No', she says 'You just have extremely good pelvic floor muscles!' Ok then, at least that's one thing I still have going for me after two kids, a cracking scar and the disappearance of my boobs!

It's been such a nice sunny day today too, and I am feeling quite pleased with myself and my pelvic floor!

An Awkward Dilemma

There is a boy at my daughters' school who is a huge problem. He was excluded once, but the local authority made the school take him back. He is rude, disruptive and violent. He has one on one support and is mostly taught outside of the classroom, only allowed to join the others when his behaviour shows improvement. At the end of last term he was doing quite well and had started to spend quite a bit of time with the rest of his class. Since the summer holidays, however, his behaviour is worse than ever.

Because the school is relatively small, each class has two years groups in it. This boy is now in Jedi's class. Although he is not being taught in the classroom at the moment, they come into contact much more than before. Although this boy is generally pretty disrespectful of just about anyone, he appears to have developed a dislike for Jedi. You have to know at this point that Jedi is a very kind, thoughtful child and would never knowingly hurt or upset someone, in fact if she does, she gets as upset about it as the person affected.

The first week back at school, Jedi accidentally bumped into the boy outside the toilets, she apologised immediately, as she would to anyone. The boy grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall! This happened at lunch time and Jedi still had the boy's fingers marks on her neck when I picked her up after school. The incident was reported and the boy was made to apologise to Jedi. To me the forced apology was pretty pointless and meaningless but there you go. I didn't act any further because I believe the school is doing it's best in a difficult situation.

The second week back at school the boy tried to take Jedi's skipping rope from her. When she refused to let it go and pulled it back, he head butted her in the stomach. When Jedi told me about this incident I promised her that if anything else happened I would speak to her teacher. Yesterday the boy approached Jedi and offered her 'a fight' and then promptly started to try and punch her. My husband happens to have been an undefeated boxer in his younger days and has not only taught the girls to punch but to block. Luckily Jedi chose the blocking option. As promised, when she told me I went to have a word with her teacher. I also spoke to the school secretary, as the head was unavailable.

I find this a really difficult situation. I volunteer at the school and am more aware of the issues with this boy than a lot of the parents. I know that the school has been put in a very difficult position by the local authority but how can I allow this to continue. Jedi is in her last year in junior school and is doing extremely well. I really don't want this year to be a misery for her. The school has promised to monitor the situation but if it continues I really don't know what my next step will be.


On a different note I am off for my smear tomorrow. I am a real baby when it comes to smears. I am highly sensitive in this area and really hate the procedure. But as yesterday's ABC Wednesday post pointed out, it is one of great importance, so I will 'wince and bear it'.