My last day of placement today was once again a great experience. It started with the same morning routine of my train being delayed and having to walk to the school but I didn’t let that ruin my day as I was determined to make a difference again.

The day was similar to the days I have had previously as I have already created those relationships with the pupils. I was most looking forward to Hayleys double Sport and Rec class and working with the disengaged group of boys again, the scene was similar from the first time i had walked in the previous week, there were two boys banging there heads of tables, another throwing a rubber in the air continuously whilst about 5 others had earphones in, all ignored our arrival into the class. It is important to not take interactions like this personally, I have noticed especially within Armadale that there are deep rooted cultural issues within the community, that flow into the school and cause issues like this. I acted the same as I normally would in a class, I facilitated group discussions around there session plans and encouraged them to think of ideas. Getting information out of these boys is a massive task, one which can not be done by just one teacher in one class, you have to approach them on all individually and discuss with them for at least 10 minutes for them to write one thing down – which isnt practical in a class of 17.

At the end of the session one group of boys at the back flung a pencil which hit the head of a pupil in the class with ASN, Hayley and I did not see who exactly threw it but warned them not to and that it was unacceptable, as soon as our backs were turned it happened again and the pupil who was hit was very upset. The head of PE got called in and the whole class were spoken to about there behaviour, warned about the consequences etc. They continued the class without any further issues and delivered there coaching sessions during the second class. One boy stormed out the class as he was getting frustrated with his peers not taking the session seriously, i could feel his frustration and anger. Hayley put in a health and well-being concern into senior management after that class, hopefully the boys can get the support they need before they get themselves into serious trouble.

I enjoyed my placement so much and learned so much during my time there, i plan to keep going back for a few more weeks to keep building relationships and learning,