Today was a pretty rough one!
Monday’s are always the hardest days in my eyes. We have to resettle some of our most tricksy characters, because all of the routines that we try to embed as common practice in a school, can easily go out of the window once the wifi code is back in their possession and the gamer tag and instagram personas are once again engaged. Two days of late nights, lie ins, ignoring all social norms to get out of pyjamas, untold amounts of junk food and making their Mom do everything for them really begins to take their toll, and I’m only talking about the teachers here.
So when you couple all of that with 30 degrees of pure heat, in a school where there is no air con, it really does become a recipe for disaster. Especially for us in Blighty, who as recently as 5 days ago were suffering from torrential rain and a weather forecast a kin to October. Dressing for work in the UK is a total ballache in my eyes because we never fully have the ability to embrace one wardrobe or the other. Don’t you dare have ideas above your station of packing away you winter coat in June, or the audacity to kick those open toe sandals to the attic in November, because UK is a fan of “Indian Summers” and “seasonal showers’ throughout the year, you know, just to keep us on our toes. You all think that Bear Grylls went through SAS training to make him prepared for all occasions? Nope, he just grew up in England where “Keep Calm and Carry On”, is just a sentiment for “Who bloody know’s whats going to happen, just go with it, and if you could do your best not to complain/be sarcastic about it, that would be great, thanks”.
Which in essence is why I think that we struggle with weather, especially in schools. We are just not prepared. See, whether you like it or not, we are creatures of habit. We like to know whats happening when, and how. And anyone who disagrees with this is currently trekking somewhere in Thailand on a gap yah, and as soon as they return, they will slip nicely back into “What times the next brew peeps?” So all that we can actually prepare for, is expect the unexpected, and however our pupils react, you better damn sure prepare yourself for the ride, because if they’re going down, they’ll be taking you with them. If you live a climate where you know whats coming, you can have a contingency plan in place, whether that be snow chains on minibuses or air con and slip slop slap throughout.
So today, I spent it dealing with grotty, way too hot kids. They were like babies that you struggle to keep cool in the heat, and you don’t know what to do, or whats wrong with them, because they are babies, and babies don’t have the power of speech. And neither, I discovered, and not for the first time, do teenagers. Especially the boys. I can only imagine that with the heat, it took away their power of speech. It was the heat version of watering a Gremlin after midnight. With each degree increase of heat, the most put together lad was turned into a whining mess.
I do empathise, I was in a breathable skirt with my arms out to breath, whilst they were in too short black trousers (its that time of year where they have their growth spurt but parents refuse to buy new trousers until September, I both find it hilarious and sad to see some of the arguments the trousers are having with their shoes).
So what can be done to make their day more bareable, and in doing so my own? Well for one, I’m bringing my water gun to school tomorrow. I might be in the Senior Leadership Team, but even I can remember what it was like to be kid in school, and if i’m struggling to concentrate, then they sure as hell are.
If they annoy me tomorrow, and I squirt them in the face, they will cool off and I will feel a release. Win Win!