The 2026 Classroom: A Teacher’s Reality Check

What does teaching really look like in a modern secondary school?

In this episode, Amanda, a passionate teacher from Surrey, shares an honest look at life inside today’s classrooms. From 30+ student classes and rising SEND needs, to the behaviour challenges that emerged after COVID, she explains what teachers are really dealing with and why the story is far more complex than headlines suggest.

We talk about the fragile partnership between schools and parents, why the “teaching has gone soft” narrative misses the bigger cultural shift, and what it actually takes to help a mixed-attainment class succeed without leaving anyone behind.

Amanda also shares practical advice for families, why resilience matters more than ever, and how small habits at home can make a huge difference to a child’s confidence and learning.

If you care about education, inclusion, and raising resilient young people, this episode offers clear insight straight from the classroom.

10 Key Points

1) Classrooms now regularly include 30+ students with a wide range of learning levels and needs

2) Post-COVID changes have affected student resilience, focus, and behaviour

3) Behaviour systems only work when parents and schools work together

4) The “teaching has gone soft” narrative overlooks wider cultural changes around authority

5) Rising SEND diagnoses may reflect better recognition rather than overdiagnosis

6) Teachers spend significant time adapting lessons for mixed-attainment classrooms

7) Resilience and confidence grow when students face challenges rather than avoid them

8) Simple habits at home—like checking homework apps and discussing the news—support learning

9) Funding pressures and teacher retention are shaping the reality of schools

10) Even sports day matters, teaching children how to handle both winning and losing

Roundtable Featuring: Amanda (guest), Georgie Lucas, Micaela Leal, Jacq Inwood, Maureen Jones & James Tidy. Host: Clive Hilton. 

Please click on 'Send a text' above & join our Facebook group to share your perspective and suggestions for future topics - Thank you for your interest! Clive.

Transcript

Meet Amanda, Secondary Teacher

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Susin's Slurry Snoopbox. Real viewpoints, real opinions, and a balanced conversation on the community issues that matter.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

If you listened to an episode a few weeks ago, we were talking about gentle parenting and we did allude to headsets in the classroom and we got a little bit of pushback from that. So we thought it'd be good to get a secondary school teacher in the room with us with the round table. So let's quickly do some introductions. Firstly, our guest, Amanda.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

So I'm Amanda. I've been teaching for about six years now. I teach at a large secondary school in the east of Surrey, and I teach secondary school geography from ages 11 to 18.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Thank you very much for joining. Explain to us. Let's myth bust the classroom. How is it on the front line?

Classroom Realities After COVID

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So I really enjoy my job. I'm a teacher that I feel like teaching is my passion. I do really enjoy my job. But probably since after COVID, I have seen challenges become significantly harder in the classroom. I have very good classroom management and my school have a very, very good classroom behaviour system in terms of rewards and sanctions. But increasingly I feel like the problem is that the support you don't always get the support of parents. So if a child has done something that I've had to give them a detention for, remove them for the classroom, parents don't always support that decision. They will take the child's side over an adult side. And as a teacher, my workload is enough that I don't have the time to phone up parents to sort of say things have happened when they haven't. If I'm phoning home, it's for a reason because the learning has been disrupted. And I also find that meeting the needs of all the children in my class, which can be anything, sort of like my lowest class is about 24, my highest is 33 children. And meeting the needs of many, many SEN needs within that is extremely challenging when I have children that need to sit near an aisle or away from somewhere busy or near a window or not near a window or not near so-and-so. And then I don't have I don't have a spare seat in the room because there's 33 children, and meeting the needs is extremely challenging with that. So it's just it just feels like the constant pressure of having to do that at the moment on the front line.

Sanctions, Detentions, And Support

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Wow, there's quite a lot to get into in just that in just that piece. And and firstly, thank you for everything you do with the children because it is a tough job. Um, just quickly on the rewards and sanctions, what what are the rewards and sanctions, by the way? Because I'm thinking back to when I went to school and I think it's a little softer now, isn't it? Detentions, I'm surprised you use that word.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Yeah, no, we do have a detention system in place um for sort of lateness to lessons, or if a child is given so many sort of warnings in the classroom and still hasn't corrected their behaviour, so they would be expected to remove themselves from the classroom and go to a centralized place so they're not distracting the learning of others, um, and then they would serve a 20-minute lunchtime detention within that as well, um, which works for some children, but other children it's a constant negative spiral for them. And this is what I kind of think with sometimes a more gentle touch is needed with those children because they are maybe more disadvantaged than their peers. So sometimes more a more gentle approach is needed. But we are a firm believer at our school that actually a children should serve the sanction and it shouldn't be one child that disrupts the learning of everybody.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

And and getting that parental support is really important, uh, especially when you've got the parent WhatsApp groups and things kick off there as well. Uh, so we can get into that. Uh the the SEND report, I know the Department for Education um are looking at SEN and how they do that going forward. So that's another topic we can get into, especially as a teacher, as you say, trying to meet everyone's needs where you've got different needs within the group. I don't know how much training you also get in CEN. So there's a lot of topics here we can get into. I'm just gonna open it up to the round table here.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

The only thing is, my my mother worked for many years as a teaching assistant and she saw not only the behaviour nosedive, especially after COVID, of the children, but also the number of people with SEN needs. You know, we are overdiagnosing it. That's that's widely known. So if if we can only diagnose children who do have actual issues and not just diagnose any child with an issue with a mental illness, I think we'll get a much clearer understanding of how we can actually benefit these children.

SEND, Overdiagnosis, And Inclusion

SPEAKER_06 4:31

When I worked in job centres as a psychologist, one of my jobs was to assess ability. And I think one of the difficulties is um people are in the job market, maybe they haven't ever had a job or they've been doing a manual job for a long time, then their body sort of gives up on them, the knee goes or the back goes or whatever, and so they're being reassessed. And I found one of the issues there is literacy, um, but also low ability. And I think we are quite coy um about talking about low ability. Now, I don't know, people say, oh, it's what you just said it was overdiagnosed, James. I think actually we're becoming cleverer, you know, that the science of psychology of education, we are getting better at spotting things, but whether we are getting better at actually helping people as individuals, I think is debatable. Um I get a bit cross when I see children being ferried off to in taxes to send schools or saying that there should be more SEND schools. I actually don't understand why mainstream schools can't cater for everybody, why they can't cater people of low ability, they can't cater with people who um perhaps are high achievers. It just seems sad that people are segregated and um when in real life people have to mix together and get on. And I'm sure Amanda would say if she had more time with individuals, things would improve. And also I think there's a disengagement of parents as well. I think there and I I've mentioned this in a previous podcast. People just give up responsibility, personal responsibility. There's a learned helplessness. Somebody else is going to fix something. The parent parents think the teachers will magically educate or fix their child when actually a lot of it begins at home.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Okay, so um we don't really talk about ability now, we talk about attainment and what a child that comes to us after key stage two can achieve within their own attainment rather than ability. So within my subject, we don't set, so we don't have a high high attainment class or a low attainment class. I can have children in a class where they come to me in year seven, and some of them will have reading ages of six and a half, and some of them will have reading ages of age 17. And I am expected to be able to provide them with material in the within the same lesson that each of those child can children can access, which, as we rightly say, is much easier if I have less children to do that for. But to say that if within state schools, there is a place, there is a place for everybody. Absolutely, there's a place for everybody, but state schools cannot be expected to do everything with the resources that they are given, primarily the funding. You know, within our school, we have quiet areas, we have chill-out areas, and actually, we do cater for a very, very wide range of attainment. We cater for a very, very wide range of SEND needs, and we do that with very limited resources. So it absolutely can be done. It is just about providing schools with the right resources, the right money to be able to do that, because there's some fantastic teachers in state schools.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

So I guess some might be hearing this and thinking, are we pandering to kids? Are we getting too would you would you think we've gone too far that way? Or do you think it's a good thing for inclusivity, different needs, and even different schools for people with those needs? Um, because I think that's where, if we think about West Sussex County Council and Surrey County Council, they're going to create extra establishments purely for SEND. And I think in when you're taught as a teacher, there'll be modules where you can specialise. Do you think we we we've lost it a little bit? Are we going slightly mad with this?

Resources, Class Size, And Funding

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Um, I don't think so. I do think I am a firm advocate for in-state schools, there is a place for everybody. I see it every day in my school where we have had children with children with Down syndrome come through, and the children are very accepting it. It's a far cry from when I went to school sort of in the 90s and bullion was rife. I don't really see that in my school, and that may be because I'm the perspective of a teacher, not a student. But I don't see that we have gone too far with pandering for children. I don't personally agree with the fact that we are over-diagnosing conditions. I just think we have become more aware as a society of that different conditions can present in different ways, and that we have a lot more education to know what that's like. In the 60s, we didn't really wear seatbelts. And then as we educated ourselves, we realized that actually the safest thing to do was to wear seatbelts. Actually, the neuro the neurodiversity that we have within our schools is purely because we have become more educated as a society to identify those needs. And if we are able to cater for students within the state school system, we 100% should do that. But it is very, very tricky with those huge class sizes sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

And I have to say, I do love the passion in your voice. Obviously, teaching, you love teaching, you're trying to make a difference for these kids. Obviously, bottom set, midset, top set, that's all gone away now. We don't do it. And even sports day, we don't have winners and losers. But if you were in charge of the education system, what what three changes would you make?

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So I would definitely have more resources for S C and D within the state system as it sits today. I have an autistic son, he attends mainstream school, he struggles with it sometimes, but I am a firm believer that I need I need to send him in and I don't sort of go, no, you know, you're not feeling well, have a day off. Um, I feel like we need to focus more into getting our S C and D students into a mainstream school where they can access education, and that might be that it looks slightly different for them because they have different resources, they might have an LSA with them, who knows? But I feel like getting S C and D students into a mainstream school so they are able to go into out into a society and function is a really, really big priority. The second thing I would be looking at is it's bringing that retention back for teachers. Teachers are leaving in droves, and we see it every single year in our school where people are leaving, and it is probably primarily, I would say, because of workload, because what we are expected to do is way above what I was expected to do maybe six or seven years ago when I first started. And I'm sitting here in front of me with a pile of year 11 mocks, for example, that have you know, I have two classes with 50 children, each paper takes an hour to mark, and I don't get any time to do that in school in school. So the retention of those teachers to have more teachers that know what they're doing and don't have to be taught from an ECT, keeping that experience within within any sector, state or private, is absolutely valuable. How we do that, retain those teachers, that I couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

I have to say I agree with pretty much everything you're saying. I mean, it sounds like you're doing an incredible job with you know very few resources and uh the class sizes being 33, it's just ridiculous, and you're never going to go and to be able to get the best from each child with class sizes that high. The area that I disagree with is I think you'd agree that we've got softer teaching children, and I think you'd also agree um and disciplining children, but I think you'd also agree that the the behaviour has got worse. Do you do you think those two things are linked?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

I think that parenting has got softer, um, and I think that is linked to the children's behaviour in the classrooms. From as in I've worked in a few schools over the last few years. I don't see that, I don't think teaching has got softer. I feel like that um sometimes what happens then is when the parents complain that schools are so scared the parents are going to complain to Ofsted and it will bring Ofsted in. That is why then schools back down to essentially pushy parents that don't want their children disciplined, is what I feel like, rather than teaching becoming softer.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

And that links back to what Jack was saying, that that sense of helplessness and almost transferring the responsibility of parenting to the schools. Jack.

Have We Gone Too Far On Inclusion?

SPEAKER_06 12:23

Yeah, I'm just going through training now. Um, finished it today actually. My DBS has come through to listen to children reading in school. So I'm going to be going into a Surrey primary school, and they welcomed me with open arms. And I actually was quite emotional when they said that I will probably, apart from the teacher in the classroom, I'll be the only adult that that child reads to. And I thought as a parent, one of my greatest joys was uh listening to my son read and doing the reading. But sometimes he didn't want to do it, you want to go and play Minecraft. And as I I think as a parent, probably people just take the easy path. And sometimes I worked full-time, I was tired, I didn't necessarily want to do it. But you you have to, it's a self-discipline, you teach your child discipline and you you mark off the reading card and they they go through the reading system. But I think a lot of parents just can't be bothered to do it, and then they they present it back to the teacher, educate my kid, it's your job. And I think that's shocking.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

And I think if Ichabelle Carm was here, uh he would agree spending time with the kids has helped discipline the kids when we were talking about gentle parenting in that previous episode. Georgie, you're very quiet.

SPEAKER_07 13:26

I read with my daughter, and she read to me as she learnt to read. Um, and that bedtime half hour was a you know really valuable part of the day. I think that's a a really good time for children to be able to connect with you because yeah, we do all have busy lives. And you know, my daughter had a busy life even though she was young. She had her clubs and you know, her friendship groups and uh and uh studies and homework and all that sort of thing. But that half an hour a day I think was really valuable. But but the one thing that I did uh feel was that I uh respected her school uh uh her teachers and uh I uh would listen to them. If they rang me with a problem uh or if they emailed me with a problem, I would uh immediately uh initially b believe the teacher and I would support the teacher because uh I have great faith in in the education system and I I I really genuinely think that no no teacher is doing something to the detriment of your child. They're there to try and help them. And I think that supporting the teacher and supporting the school um is a major thing. I you know, I'd run the PTA, I'd be I'd have a little foot in the door of the school in some way so that I could be there. Um sounds like I'm a sort of helicopter parent, which I I don't think I was, but um, but just so that I could be there to to be sort of contributing to the education in some way.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

You sound like the ideal parent that Amanda would love. Uh isn't that right, Amanda? But I uh I guess you haven't got many parents like Georgie, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 14:56

We we do. We that we do. It's just the problem is with it's not usually those parents that I'm calling, it's the parents that are kind of shrugging their shoulders and going, yeah, well, you know, can't can't really get them to do much at home, so you know, I don't really know what to say to you. And yeah.

SPEAKER_07 15:12

But Amanda, are these the sort of parents uh forgive me, but are these the sort of parents that drop their children off to school? Well, no, it's secondary, isn't it? So they don't drop them off, but that would have dropped them off to school in their pajamas. Because I think that this is the problem. I think that the parents actually aren't setting a good example to the children. One way or another, there's no leadership from the parent groups, and I think that's the problem. I think we've got this whole swathe of society who probably don't really believe in school, but it's quite good. Childcare gets them out of the house. Um, and then with parents working from home, there's a lot of parents who probably say to their child, you know, oh, you don't need to go into school today, darn, if you don't feel right, just don't go to school today because they're going to be there at home, so they don't have to worry about childcare. So I think there's a lot of very wishy washy parents, and I think that's the problem because I think we're going to have to be able to do it.

Discipline, Parenting, And Ofsted Pressures

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah, I do agree with that. I do agree with that. I think that resilience within children has decreased definitely. Um, you know, I have children in year seven that struggle with being told, well, no, actually you're wrong, because actually they've not really been told that they're wrong before. And it's like, well, you must you can't have gone through your whole life never being wrong. And it is just that, as you said earlier, the parents don't necessarily want to say no, they want to be their child's friend. And, you know, I have children and I would love to be their best friend, but they have to also be a part of society with societal norms. And my role as their parent is to help them to understand that as well. And I really value everything their teachers do. Um, I just think that since COVID, our society has lost a lot of respect for people in authority, um, and that's going past teachers as well. That is the police as well. I think we've lost a lot of that. Um, and I've definitely seen that as a parent, I feel like because we had the lockdowns and because of the trying to teach from home, et cetera, et cetera, which was hugely stressful for everybody. Um, parents are kind of like, well, you know, we managed before and they did it, but and so we're going to do it again. We don't need to send them to school. We can home educate. I do think there's a place for home education within our society. Um, I just worry about how those children will eventually then get some qualifications to then get a good CV and then go out and contribute to society, is my biggest fear with home education. But I do feel like there's a place, and maybe we could balance it more with having three days at school, two days of home education for certain children that need it. Um, but it's a worry that they don't really have many qualifications to their name when they've they are done with that system.

SPEAKER_07 17:47

Yeah. I I actually have a uh an acquaintance who home educates her daughter, and um what's very interesting, I think, is that she's sort of she's been doing it for a couple of years now, and um, I think she's very good at it actually. But what they end up doing is they end up driving around for a lot of the day, and she drops her daughter at different places to join with another couple of children who are also being home educated, so they can do a little group activity. And it actually ends up being uh almost like school, but just sort of like in different parts of the county or the the village um doing different things in different people's houses. So they have an art teacher that comes to one house and teaches them art, and then that afternoon they go off and they do a bit of bushcraft with another teacher. Actually, it's kind of school because they're with other kids, and you just think, well, why don't you just send them into school? It'd save you a hell of a lot of petrol, take me a hell of a lot of time driving around and dropping this lovely girl, actually, but you know, off to different places to have different different experiences. I think it's exhausting.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

I wonder who's gonna volunteer to do the cross-country running. Uh it might be a little difficult. Uh Amanda, as you were saying there, you know, you can't be a friend to the children. There's some structure, there's a no. There were lots of smiles around the table and nods as well, because uh we're gonna talk to Michaela in a moment because on a previous episode she was saying it's that look, and it's good to say no. Georgie has missed the point that she was talking about her pancake uh van, and uh, you know, you're not gonna ask to make good choices, it's get off the van. So we'll come back to that in a moment. But um Maureen, any thoughts from you?

Reading At Home And Parental Engagement

SPEAKER_04 19:21

Yeah, I I'm just listening to all of this, and I think, you know, in an ideal world, yes, parents would be there reading, they'd be um, yes, lovely to have the luxury of being able to offer homeschooling because you're not doing anything else. Um but I think the society's changed a lot. And you know, when I was at school in the 60s at primary school, I can remember in a class of about well, there was probably about 38 children in the class, there was one little boy that stood out like a sore thumb because his parents had got divorced, and that was like a big, huge thing. And he was quite troubled. And I think now if you went into a class, well, probably half of them have come from you know, split up parents, and a lot of children. I think we've got to be remember to be kind to these kids. We talk about pandering to them. A lot of them are coming to school with emotional issues before they even start learning anything. Um and and society's changed. There's a lot of single mums, they do their best, they feel like they're, you know, getting judged when they haven't knocked up a costume or they haven't, you know, ticked those boxes, and there's people people and people are having to work a lot more than they did, mothers and things, you know, back in the day, there were a lot lot more stay-at-home mums and whatever. Um, I think it's a shame. I think reading is uh something that's dying out, unfortunately. And I think the use of screens with children, they're not really looking at books, they probably haven't got the interest in having a bedtime story that they're used to. Um, so that's a real shame. I don't think they're getting exposed to literature enough before they get to school.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm not a primary school teacher, so it's difficult to know when they get to school what they've been exposed to, but definitely the love of reading is dying out. Um, two of my children uh do enjoy reading one not so much. Um, but we still read, um, my husband and I too, our children, not the oldest one, she's a teenager now, but the youngest two, they get a story with us every single night, and they're into separate things now. But um, you know, every single night we read to them, and that helps their love of reading. And it might be as they get older, they make the choice to cut steer away from that. But you hope that you sort of do enjoy, they do enjoy it enough with you in the time with you that they enjoy the reading as well. And it's nice to share that time at the end of the day. But you know, um, there are evenings where where my husband can't be around, and you know, so there are evenings where it it may get skipped, but it's kind of the last thing that would get skipped, if that makes sense. It would be if we, you know, if anything's gone on, we would always try and read with them. But I just don't think other people, as you said, single mums, etc., they can't always do it, and that sometimes isn't for any thought of a thought of their own at all. Um, we all are, you know. Struggling with wages not rising, with um everything else seeming to rise at the moment.

SPEAKER_05 22:04

So I do feel like some schools have tried to push the reading because they're sending us home homework books to read. So they're asking the parents to go through with some kids' um books and to tell to tell the teacher how they went, because some kids are shy to actually read in school in front of other kids.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

That is something that um we do popcorn reading, so we popcorn around the classroom and get them to read, but there are certain children where we're told don't get them to read out loud because they don't want to read out loud, and that can be because of an S End need where they actually struggle to do that, or it can be a preference thing where they don't like to be singled out, um, which can be difficult to keep track of as well sometimes.

SPEAKER_07 22:46

I was um asked actually, Mike, I have a small dog, and uh I was asked by a friend of mine who's a headmistress if I would mind taking my dog into the school so that the children could read to him because he's he's got a lovely temperament and absolutely love it. And I just think that's really nice to have a reading dog, isn't it? That that kids would you know they can give him a cuddle and then read a story to him, and you know, he's not gonna judge them if they get their words wrong. Um you know, as long as they give him a treat, I'm sure he'd be absolutely fine. But I thought that was a really nice idea, and it would obviously be very labour intensive because it'd be one-to-one with with each child. But I just thought that'd be a nice thing to do, and I'd I'd be quite happy to do that, you know, one afternoon a week.

Home Education Pros And Pitfalls

SPEAKER_01 23:24

So so obviously I go back to my mother who worked, as I say, as a teaching assistant. Um, very, very keen on reading, would give up her breaks to her um have the teeth children read to her. Uh a child would ask for a book they don't have, she'd go out and pay for it herself, get it herself to school. But she would never say to a child, don't read out in front of other people. Because it's natural to not like public speaking. Um, but what's what's negative is to say to the child you don't need to, because because they will need to. And I understand that there are children with severe um sense needs who may not be able to, but growing up in a classroom, everyone would read out out out loud, and there were no issues, there were no negative consequences from that. So I think encouraging a child that they can say because they perhaps don't want to because they feel uncomfortable isn't the best thing. You unfortunately you have to do lots of uncomfortable things to progress through life.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Yes, I I completely agree with that. Um, and it isn't myself that makes those decisions with children not reading out loud, it's um information that's usually come from elsewhere in the school. But I completely agree with you. And I've said this to children before when for a seating plan, for example, if they're saying, but I don't like the person I'm sitting next to, and I'm like, okay, but unfortunately it's a full classroom, I don't have any other spare seats, and sometimes you are going to have to get on with people that you don't always want to get on with. When you go out and work, for example, you aren't going to enjoy working with everybody you work with. But sometimes that's again when then if their parent emails in and speaks to somebody above, etc. etc. Sometimes then I will have it filtered back down. Well, actually, you need to change that seat, and sometimes that is then a whole class that's shifting the seating plan for one child that has gone, I don't really like sitting there, and the which can be really, really tricky.

SPEAKER_06 25:06

I think parents are failing children because, as you said, Amanda, when they go out to the world of work and they their knees are knocking and their mouths are dry when they have to stand up and do a presentation, or we're not teaching them how to deal with conflict, we're not teaching them how to be confident, how to speak publicly. We are setting the parents, I think, that that and I I've probably done it myself. I I'm sure if I think long and hard about something, I probably say something about my precious little darling at school. But actually, we're not doing them any favours because they're not resolving conflict, they're not dealing with issues and managing things themselves. We're trying to wrap them in cotton wool and protect them from everything, and it doesn't do them any favours, we're failing them in that respect.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

So if we think the problem generally stems down to parents perhaps being a bit too overprotective and getting in the way um of their child's development, shall we say? Is there anything that can be done about that? If the children aren't respecting the teachers because they're not getting taught that at home or they're not respecting the police, what what what can we do to solve that issue if it's the parents aren't teaching the um children? What we you know, what what can we do? Do we send the parents to school to teach them how to raise children?

SPEAKER_05 26:16

They actually have meetings in school for parents. But teachers should just tell the parents how to raise their children.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

Well it's difficult, isn't it? Because in this country particularly, we avoid the elephant in the room, we avoid those difficult conversations, and we would rather say, you know, at work someone's smashing it, or your your child is lovely. That's great. Uh and I always ask, but what what things could they improve? How how could we help further? And tried to encourage that. But Amanda, you know, in parents' evening and in your interactions with parents, what would be your call to action? So any parents listening to this now.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

I think the first thing is is that to go to those appointments. I mean, they're online, it can be really tricky sometimes to get the actual appointments, um, and but to actually have an interest in going to those appointments and how your child is doing is the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Um, some people literally don't turn up. Is that right? Some people don't even bother going to parents.

Confidence, Public Reading, And Resilience

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Sometimes it can be a case of, for example, for for year seven, for example, I have um uh the 95 students that I teach for year seven, and I physically don't have enough appointments in an evening for that. There's not enough time. Um, so because we get a five-minute slot per student is just not enough time for to see everybody. So it can be that they've tried to make an appointment and they haven't managed to, but there are genuinely just parents that just won't make an appointment at all. Um, so I would say being having those appointments and showing an interest is the first thing that I would be wanting to do. And sitting down with them and looking at what homework they have. And yes, it's on a screen, you know, we use a system where it is all done on an app, for example, but knowing what needs to be doing and when and supporting them with that because sometimes children they need to be shown that first. They need to be shown well actually, have you got a folder for geography? Have you got a folder for history or maps or what is it you need to do? Can we put a timeline in place for you? Because they're skills that will help them as they get older as well, and they don't magically know it. Some primary schools don't set any homework at all, so they have to be shown this sort of thing. So all of these skills, and I as a geography teacher, I always say to the parents, sit down with the children once a week and watch the news and watch the weather, because for my subject, it's always changing. And I have children that come in in year seven and don't know their continents, they have no idea, they couldn't pick the UK out on a world map, and it's such basic skills. So I say to them, sit down with them, watch the news, watch watch the weather forecast and talk to them about what's happening because for geography it's all relevant. You know, we talk about geopolitics, we talk about rainfall, we talk about climate change, you know, um, and having that holistic education for them, I think is so important. So I say that to most of my parents going through, but particularly year sevens, that I'm getting at the very beginning of their geography career to mould them and showing that interest of sitting with them and engaging with it.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Brilliant suggestions. Thank you so much, Amanda. And just before we wrap up, I know you're based in Surrey. Let's first start with West Sussex County Council. They've just talked about their budget for 2026-2027. Uh, 142 million for capital expenditure. Uh, of that, road maintenance 30.9 million, which I think we'll all be grateful for for the potholes and everything else going on. But a larger amount, I quite like this. So a large and the largest amount of the pie chart, 39 million going for schools, education, children, social care, um, including adapting mainstream schools to provide more specialist places, which is bang on point to what you're saying, Amanda. But do you feel that money gets used in the right way? Do you do you see when these budgets come up, do you sort of do a big yawn and think, yeah, yeah, we'll see? Or do you believe that things will change?

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I mean, what's frustrating is when teachers get pay rises or when something happens, when it has to come out of existing school budgets, because all that means is that something's going to be taken from somewhere else. So having that money coming from elsewhere with to fund S E N D is absolutely great if that is what we see and it's not right. We'll give you a percentage, and then the rest of it's got to come from existing budgets.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

Yeah, and of course, you know, all the fundraising efforts by um committees to get parents, and again, it's the same parents that were lean in and help with that. Uh so Surrey County Council, uh, let me just find the numbers here. Education, new send, that's special educational needs and disabilities, just for those that are wondering what we're talking about with send. Uh, so there's new units in mainstream schools and expanded school places as well. So that's in your area, Amanda. Um, just one question from me. I've got a bit of a bugbear about the whole sports day thing because I think we've got to teach kids to lose well in life, right? Because, you know, any messages, Amanda, from you when it comes to sports day, do you do you think there should be first, second, third place and losers and winners, or just participants? Well, there is at our school.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

So there is at our school. They get points for participation, but first place will get more, and we have a really distinct system within school where we have um different sort of you know, year groups will win certain prizes, etc. etc. And you know, the points are weighted for year 11's less, etc., but um, because obviously they're bigger and stronger. But we do get like a sports day cup, for example, so there's distinct winners and losers for our school, so I don't feel like I can really comment on that one.

Closing Thoughts And Listener Prompt

SPEAKER_03 31:26

That's brilliant. Should have come to your school. Um and and it's nice to hear bullying is on the decrease from what you were saying earlier. There's l a lot less bullying these days. Whether that's true across the counties, Sussex and Surrey, I don't know, because in Crawley, I know there are people that are employed to basically keep the peace in the classroom. So whether that's true across all schools, but it sounds like you've got a fairly well-behaved school, and thank you so much for sharing life on the ground as a teacher. That was Sussex and Surrey Soapbox. Thank you very much, Amanda, and to the amazing round table.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

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