Lessons in despair and broken dreams
1 I have been a teacher for eight years but I don’t spend much of my time actually teaching any more. These days my job is more as a social worker to the most vulnerable children from the toughest homes. I spend my days running a team of people within the school who handle the most difficult and most vulnerable kids.
2 There are 1,500 pupils, mostly from white working-class families and large numbers from one of the most socially deprived areas in the country. About half the families are living on benefits and most of the parents whose kids get into trouble have alcohol problems.
ESCAPE
3 For some kids, school is where they come to escape from home. Most of the pupils will be vulnerable because their parents are alcoholic or they’re in foster care. If they do well, get good grades or win on sports day, their parents couldn’t care less. They’re not interested. They don’t see the point of school. These people just have children without any thought. When they become a nuisance they leave them to fend for themselves. That breaks your heart. We have to pick some pupils up from home just to make sure they arrive at school to sit their GCSEs. When you turn up at the family home the parents are often still asleep after a night drinking. We knock on the door, get them up and take them to school so they don’t miss the exams. Some of the parents aren’t allowed to come into the school at all. We have a list of about 10 parents who are banned from the premises because they would come to the school and abuse the teachers, usually only verbally. However once or twice I’ve thought: “This might end up with me lying in a pool of blood.”
BAD DADS
4 Typically, the children I look after will have to get up by themselves in the morning. Most of them don’t eat a proper healthy breakfast, they just have something like a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar on the way to school and then have chips for tea.
5 When parents have no interest in education and don’t see any purpose in it, it can be a struggle. Once there was a dad who was angry with us about a GCSE exam that lasted until 4pm. School usually finishes at 3pm and he wanted his son home at the usual time. We tried to explain that it was a national exam but he wanted his son home to get his cigarrets from the newsagents.
MOBILE
6 We had a girl of 15 with an alcoholic mother who often got drunk and brought any man she’d met in the pub back home. The girl’s older sister got pregnant when she was 15 so we considered her a high risk. We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant. It’s so disheartening.
HOPE?
7 It might seem surprising but some of the pupils from the most damaged homes can be the most committed.
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
2 There are 1,500 pupils, mostly from white working-class families and large numbers from one of the most socially deprived areas in the country. About half the families are living on benefits and most of the parents whose kids get into trouble have alcohol problems.
ESCAPE
3 For some kids, school is where they come to escape from home. Most of the pupils will be vulnerable because their parents are alcoholic or they’re in foster care. If they do well, get good grades or win on sports day, their parents couldn’t care less. They’re not interested. They don’t see the point of school. These people just have children without any thought. When they become a nuisance they leave them to fend for themselves. That breaks your heart. We have to pick some pupils up from home just to make sure they arrive at school to sit their GCSEs. When you turn up at the family home the parents are often still asleep after a night drinking. We knock on the door, get them up and take them to school so they don’t miss the exams. Some of the parents aren’t allowed to come into the school at all. We have a list of about 10 parents who are banned from the premises because they would come to the school and abuse the teachers, usually only verbally. However once or twice I’ve thought: “This might end up with me lying in a pool of blood.”
BAD DADS
4 Typically, the children I look after will have to get up by themselves in the morning. Most of them don’t eat a proper healthy breakfast, they just have something like a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar on the way to school and then have chips for tea.
5 When parents have no interest in education and don’t see any purpose in it, it can be a struggle. Once there was a dad who was angry with us about a GCSE exam that lasted until 4pm. School usually finishes at 3pm and he wanted his son home at the usual time. We tried to explain that it was a national exam but he wanted his son home to get his cigarrets from the newsagents.
MOBILE
6 We had a girl of 15 with an alcoholic mother who often got drunk and brought any man she’d met in the pub back home. The girl’s older sister got pregnant when she was 15 so we considered her a high risk. We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant. It’s so disheartening.
HOPE?
7 It might seem surprising but some of the pupils from the most damaged homes can be the most committed.
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
ESCAPE
3 For some kids, school is where they come to escape from home. Most of the pupils will be vulnerable because their parents are alcoholic or they’re in foster care. If they do well, get good grades or win on sports day, their parents couldn’t care less. They’re not interested. They don’t see the point of school. These people just have children without any thought. When they become a nuisance they leave them to fend for themselves. That breaks your heart. We have to pick some pupils up from home just to make sure they arrive at school to sit their GCSEs. When you turn up at the family home the parents are often still asleep after a night drinking. We knock on the door, get them up and take them to school so they don’t miss the exams. Some of the parents aren’t allowed to come into the school at all. We have a list of about 10 parents who are banned from the premises because they would come to the school and abuse the teachers, usually only verbally. However once or twice I’ve thought: “This might end up with me lying in a pool of blood.”
BAD DADS
4 Typically, the children I look after will have to get up by themselves in the morning. Most of them don’t eat a proper healthy breakfast, they just have something like a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar on the way to school and then have chips for tea.
5 When parents have no interest in education and don’t see any purpose in it, it can be a struggle. Once there was a dad who was angry with us about a GCSE exam that lasted until 4pm. School usually finishes at 3pm and he wanted his son home at the usual time. We tried to explain that it was a national exam but he wanted his son home to get his cigarrets from the newsagents.
MOBILE
6 We had a girl of 15 with an alcoholic mother who often got drunk and brought any man she’d met in the pub back home. The girl’s older sister got pregnant when she was 15 so we considered her a high risk. We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant. It’s so disheartening.
HOPE?
7 It might seem surprising but some of the pupils from the most damaged homes can be the most committed.
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
BAD DADS
4 Typically, the children I look after will have to get up by themselves in the morning. Most of them don’t eat a proper healthy breakfast, they just have something like a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar on the way to school and then have chips for tea.
5 When parents have no interest in education and don’t see any purpose in it, it can be a struggle. Once there was a dad who was angry with us about a GCSE exam that lasted until 4pm. School usually finishes at 3pm and he wanted his son home at the usual time. We tried to explain that it was a national exam but he wanted his son home to get his cigarrets from the newsagents.
MOBILE
6 We had a girl of 15 with an alcoholic mother who often got drunk and brought any man she’d met in the pub back home. The girl’s older sister got pregnant when she was 15 so we considered her a high risk. We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant. It’s so disheartening.
HOPE?
7 It might seem surprising but some of the pupils from the most damaged homes can be the most committed.
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
MOBILE
6 We had a girl of 15 with an alcoholic mother who often got drunk and brought any man she’d met in the pub back home. The girl’s older sister got pregnant when she was 15 so we considered her a high risk. We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant. It’s so disheartening.
HOPE?
7 It might seem surprising but some of the pupils from the most damaged homes can be the most committed.
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
HOPE?
7 It might seem surprising but some of the pupils from the most damaged homes can be the most committed.
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
8 They do surprisingly well in school because when things are really bad, when you’re the one getting breakfast for yourself up in the morning, getting breakfast for yourself and your younger brothers and sisters and turning up in time for registration with your homework done, then you have to have a much greater commitment than students in ordinary, loving homes. We had a girl of 15 who was being systematically beaten by her alcoholic father. She moved in with her grandmother and grandfather but then they threw her out.
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
9 We helped her to get a foster placement so she could continue at school but it was a very long way from school and her friends.
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
10 She had to take four buses to get to school every morning but she finished her CGSEs, went into the sixth form and now she’s going to university and wants to work in social services. She’s one of the positive stories but they can be few and far between. I had one boy who was a horrible, really unpleasant character. He’s now beating his girlfriend and although he hasn’t got children he probably soon will have, so he’ll be in the next group of parents causing problems. It’s a vicious cycle.
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
Glossary:
CGSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) é uma prova que os estudantes britânicos prestam aos 16 anos, ou seja, no final da escola obrigatória).
(FONTE: Speak Up Magazine issue #303, 2012)
In “…We gave her a mobile phone with the single condition that she always answered when the school or her teachers called. A fortnight after we gave it to her, she sold it for beer and cigarettes and two weeks later she was pregnant.”
The word underlined can be replaced, without compromising the meaning, by
