More Right Rudder

Going completely off topic, but here we go… 🤔

One of my daughters finished her degree earlier this year and has been working at a local zoo — which basically means she’s spent the last few months feeding Polar Bears 🐻‍❄️, chatting to visitors, educating school groups, and professionally relocating p**p from one place to another. 💩➡️

Now that winter has arrived 🥶 and the animals are doing less, well… everything, work has slowed down. So she’s on the lookout for some part-time work over the next few months. She’s fantastic with people, works ridiculously hard (we’re still teaching her that “taking a break” is a valid life choice 😄), and is happiest when covered in mud and doing something vaguely chaotic.

She also has experience running the day-to-day operations of a small food store — so she can handle customers, tills, stock, and the occasional escaped penguin at this point. 🐧

If anyone has any leads, please message me. We’re still in Tutbury and she has her own car. 🏰🚘

Thank you.

PS. In my new role, silk ties have become a talking point wherever I go. 🤠

'Plan B' is keeping me on my toes.
I wrote this for a different audience - if you're interested, what I've written gives an insight into a classroom support role.

Cover Supervisor
Dream, Reality & Truth.

Statement of Purpose
To supervise whole classes during the short-term absence of the class teacher, under the guidance of teaching/senior staff. This includes implementing work programmes, managing pupil behaviour, and assisting pupils in relevant activities.

Cover Supervisors are either directly employed by schools or work through agencies — I fall into the second category.

My Perfect Day...

Wearing my rose-tinted glasses, I stroll into school. I pick up a laptop from the staffroom, head to my classroom, and check the day's schedule: what subjects I'll be covering, who’s present, and who might need extra help or adjustments.

Classes come and go. Each student is welcomed into the room with an encouraging smile. I support where needed. If I don’t know the answer to a question, I work alongside the student to find it. I believe it's more important to teach how to learn than to learn by rote. At the end of the day, I drive away with a quiet sense of satisfaction, knowing I helped a few students in small but meaningful ways.

Then There’s Reality...

Wearing my old varifocals, I walk into school. Reception hands me a few sheets of A4 — attendance registers and my timetable. I enter the building, hoping there will be lesson plans waiting in the staffroom or classroom.

Classes come and go. Students stream in, ignoring requests for quiet and to sit in their assigned places. A handful show respect — to themselves and others — while the rest behave as if I’m invisible. The first fifteen minutes are often spent just trying to establish some semblance of order.

I look at the students, but have no way of knowing who needs additional support or personalised adjustments. I do my best regardless. Three 14-year-old girls call me over for help. I read the text, pause to think — only to realise they've forgotten I’m there. They’ve moved on. I’ve become an unnecessary interruption. I quietly step away.

Sometimes classes settle. Sometimes they don’t. Insults and inappropriate comments fly — and I’m 12 again, being teased by the ‘cool kids.’ I issue verbal warnings, speak positively to students in the corridor, and, as a last resort, give out detentions. For many, detentions feel more like an after-school club — a chance to hang out, walk home with friends, or avoid going home altogether.

At the end of the day, requests to tidy up are ignored. I do it myself — the cleaning staff shouldn’t have to.

In Truth...

Most days are a mix of both scenarios. Some go smoothly; others test my patience and resolve. What keeps me going are the small victories — the quiet student who finally speaks up, the one who feels seen, the one who finally understands something they struggled with.

These moments matter. They’re the reason I return, day after day.

#ukeducation #edchat #coversupervisor #workinschools #classroomreality #supportstaffvoices | Martin Handley Cover Supervisor Dream, Reality & Truth. Statement of Purpose To supervise whole classes during the short-term absence of the class teacher, under the guidance of teaching/senior staff. This includes implementing work programmes, managing pupil behaviour, and assisting pupils in relevant activities....

Throwback Thursday...

Martin Handley on LinkedIn: #pilot #diabetes #careerchange #education Throwback Thursday... A lot can happen over the space of two years.