The dreaded 'O'

Yesterday my head teacher told us that Ofsted will be visiting us this week. The school has been waiting for this for over a year now, before i graced them with my presence.

Previously, at my last school, i found the news of an imminent Ofsted inspection a joy. I knew that the head and other senior leaders, who were not pulling their weight, would get found out and get a shock. I loved watching them squirm and look sweaty for the days the big 'O' were in. I listened to their 'motivating' speeches and knee-jerk policies, knowing deep down that their previous incompetence cannot just be glazed over, that the inspectors will spot it a mile off (and they did)- therefore i left with a smug smile on my face.

So i found myself this morning in a impromptu staff briefing at the start of the day. I sat there waiting for the familiar happy feeling as i regarded my new head and leaders mooching around getting their notes together with slightly tense faces. This time it was different, i didn't get the same feeling as before. This time i actually believe that the school is brilliant, that we deserve an 'outstanding' grade, that the senior leaders all work extremely hard and don't deserve to feel even a little bit stressed. So i didn't feel happy at their predicament, our predicament, i just wanted to do my best to help the school look great.

We had an assembly straight after, topic: remembrance Sunday. There was music, films explaining the symbolism of the silence and poppy, a poppy man created by students (like in the add), the head talking about his own family caught up in wars and pupils reading war poetry. It was wonderful, i almost shed a tear!

How many other people got through anything like this before 9am this morning?
(Excuse my french) teaching is fucking great!

Char