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At the chalkface: Breaking Point

Teaching staff
So he yells and yells and yells. And then he yells and swears. Then he throws a chair across the room. It hits the teacher’s arm...

The Teacher – let’s call her Ms Swansong – is an NQT, excellent, professional, and having a pretty good lesson with a pretty tough 9th year. She’s reading Robert Swindells’ Stone Cold and most of the class are really enjoying it. A couple might be “humming and fidgeting”, but unless you’re Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Clint Eastwood of Ofsted, this low-level disturbance isn’t serious. The only real static comes from a high-level Nutter.

The Bad Pupil – let’s call him Connor – is disturbed, distracted, dysfunctional, and trying to dismantle the lesson. He doesn’t listen at all. He plays with some rosary beads and just shouts. 

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