Thanks all for your support re my little boy.

I really needed to let it out yesterday.

Feeling a little better about it all today.

The teachers are keeping an eye and will follow up any more reports of unpleasantness.

Re the discipline thing it turns out he wasn't entirely blameless - had done something a bit silly but harmless in the big scheme of things. I do think the punishment was a bit harsh though - he was meant to be stood in "time out" for 5 mins and I think he may have got forgotten about - also he seemed to be able to see another child who'd been one of the instigators playing with "his toy" at the same time.

I CAN see how all this may have come about - with my teacher head on - but my parent head still feels it was all a little unfair and unnecessary - a warning would have had the desired effect.

It seems that everything happened at once (It was the same day he was hit with sticks!!)

Re the computer - Bought a new power lead and things are a bit better though it doesn't fit entirely securely....

my month old buffet r13 is going to get stuff done to it cos the joints stick and my b/low e doesnt sound properly as the mechanism is unalighned. it is likely i bent it slightly when wrestling with the sticky joints. Hope i have it back for regional orchestra course a week tomorrow. Temporary repairs of paper and blue tack won't do.

How frustrating to have lost your new instrument so soon. Let's hope it's returned to you in the condition it should have been in from the start, and in good time for your orchestra course.

Exam date - 15th July at 11.51am

Grade 7 piano? Good luck!

ARRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *sob* AAAAARRGHHHHHHHHH!!!!
DAMN!

What's wrong, Aurora?

C4?

My daughter has been struggling for over a year with legato-tonguing on the trombone. I told her to ask her teacher if he would take five minutes at the end of her lesson to explain to me what she was supposed to be doing so that I could try and help her/re-explain to her. When she asked him he got really cross and told her that she was the one learning the trombone not me, that he had already explained hundreds of times what she has to do, that it is really easy and that if she can't do it, it's because she's not trying hard enough.

Good luck

My grade 7 exam will be on the 16th July...

Car Expert

What a terribly unhelpful attitude!

Particularly annoying as my daughter is a) dyslexic and b) her strongest language is English (despite always having lived in France) and she is struggling with what syllable to say. She really doesn't know what she is supposed to be doing with her tongue and because legato-tonguing is so specific to trombone, I don't know what she is supposed to be doing either.

That really is terrible then! I'd perhaps speak to her teacher, just to let him know that you were only trying to help? It's not fair on your daughter at all!

Indeed
I found the unofficial markscheme on the student room this morning, and yep - I really did do as badly as I thought I did
Really annoyed with myself: I worked so hard for that exam and now I'm worried that my C4 grade will mean I can't get an A overall. BAH!!!!

My son said it was a b@**@r of a paper - harder than any of the past papers and harder than the revision pack he's been using which was itself more difficult than the past papers...

Did he do Edexcel yesterday? (That's the exam I did)
Although I've calmed down now, it was awful when we came out and everyone in my year began comparing answers and none of them matched. I think most people were quite disappointed with both themselves and the paper - though you always get a few who say it was fine, and one lovely individual asked me what I'd written for each question and then told me every answer was wrong. Nice!

How awful of him/her-who's to say they were right?! If it was a really tricky exam, then maybe the grade boundaries will have been lowered?

Wait until you get your results before writing it off, Aurora. When I did my GCSE maths the higher paper we sat was considered by all the staff to be by far the hardest one that had been set since the GCSEs had been introduced. I went into the exam having never achieved a pass mark on any of the practice papers (the lowest mark available was a D, which was a very narrow band, and below that was a U). I didn't expect to be able to do a lot of the paper and so didn't realise that it was harder than the ones we'd done before. I just chipped away at the paper until there was answers for pretty much everything - although there were quite a few bits where I didn't really have much of a clue about what I'd written - and I actually ended up with an A.

Edit: an A was the highest mark available - the A* didn't exist.


You don't know which of you was right, so don't be put off by what was said. Someone did this after our A-level Human Biology exam, and she got an E despite what she said about everyone else's answers being wrong.

And to think that I nearly went into town this morning!

Ukelele-fest!

that would have woken you up!

Yes, that's the one. He says everyone was a bit shell-shocked. I think the charming person who decided that they were right and you were wrong is making a bit of a dangerous assumption and, as Fran*Piano said, if it was hard across the board, then the grade boundaries might move. My son has maths on Monday, so it will be interesting to hear what his teacher has to say about it (he's year 12, supposedly doing double maths - though maybe not, after Friday!)

Now I wish I had been invigilating this one!

I'll no doubt pick up a paper on Monday and see what all the fuss is about.

More of a sob than an argh...

Tomorrow will be the first time I haven't seen my dad on Father's day. I miss him all the time but more than ever this weekend.

In a way I share your sadness. This time last year both my kids were living at home.

My son will drop in later to see his dad. But I'm unlikely to be here when he does.
Not quite the same I know - but still --

Hope you get to see your dad soon.

Obviousely my playing has regressed so much that the neighbours were yelling "shut up" through the walls this evening as i ran through my exam pieces i'd only been playing half hour and got so stressed about annoying them i had to stop as i couldnt actually play anymore am so annoyed considering i've had to listen to them drilling and sawing wood and their annoying frickin kids all day plus the diabolical music being played full volume all afternoon if i wasnt so upset i'd be really frickin angry

Aw no!

Try not to be too upset, sometimes neighbours can be horrible.

Tell you what I'll give you the notes to "The Muppets" for next time they say it, see if they take the hint!

yeah good idea.have gotten angry now lol, i really feel like sitting by the dividing wall screaching out high notes till i pass out through lack of air. or just setting up my speakers and playing metal music on constant repeat while i go out to work tomorrow. but i wont i'm a good girl

but then i wasnt in the best mood before i started practice and they have tipped me over the edge i could fill this thread up with all the things i want to rant about today lol

My computer's been responding so slowly today - it's been agonising!

After they made all that noise...how annoying, Netty...

Juniper : good move...

How awful for you! Don't take any notice of them, Netty-I bet you're a thousand times better a clarinet player than your neighbours!

I see what you mean - OUCH!

Do-able but not your average paper, I grant you that!

You have no idea how much that means, thank you!
I didn't really stop to evaluate the difficulty of the paper at the time: my confidence in maths had really reached rock bottom in revision and so I decided that it was all my fault and I couldn't do any paper at all

Whilst the topics were standard, some contained little twists that would at the very least slow you down. Furthermore having to differentiate the term (2^x) in Q2 would have thrown many and occurring so early on in the paper would both have soaked up time and also left many folk feeling unsure.

The substitution in the integral made it much more manageable, yet e^(cos x + 1) might have looked a little disarming at first, giving another unnecessary jolt.

These jolts then cause panic which can often make other questions seem harder than they would normally be for you, because now you're wary and expecting the next question to be unnecessarily hard.

It seems like the reaction of students to this paper was universal. You're definitely not alone!

Pupil's mother signs the reply slip to say her son will be present at the end of year concert. Pupil's name is on the printed programme. He should announce for two younger children, one of whom has learnt her announcement for him. The theme this year is older and more experienced pupils helping the younger ones. Announcements and pieces are structured round this.

Last week pupil said he might not be able to come as he had a scout camp. I told him his mother had signed to say he would be present and the programme had been printed etc. This evening he mutters that he definitely isn't coming. He is actually almost as upset as I am as his scout master insists he go to the camp and he wants to come to the concert. He has worked hard at his piece and is leaving to go to boarding school so this should be his last concert with me.

I hit the roof. I told him just what I thought of scout masters who taught their scouts to break their word. The camp was arranged well after the concert date was known.

I have been remarkably patient all year with lesson changes, football matches, tennis tournaments and karate competitions. I think the least I can expect is that they will all be there for the concert - particularly if they have signed to say they will be. Aaaaaaaagggghhh!!!!!!!!!!

Changing things at the last minute (or informing you at the last minute) seems to be typically French and it's one of the things that drives me mad. Trying to co-ordinate everyone's end of year activities is a nightmare; everyone changes days and times and then just expects you to be there. For example, my younger daughter was singing in the chorus of a play. We were told rehearsal time was at 4.30 which was fine as she had a dance class which finished at 4.00. Two days before they said they'd changed their minds and it was going to start at 4.00 and were most disgruntled when I said she'd arrive late. As I pointed out to them, if they'd told me a week before I could have got credit for a missed lesson, but not when I only knew two days before. And then the rehearsal finished an hour late (when they'd told us we had to be on time!) so my other daughter was kept waiting as I was supposed to be picking her up 30 minutes after the youngest had finished. Had I known, I'd have picked them up the other way round.

My work place is just the same. I don't even know when I'm supposed to be working next week yet and had to make an appointment about six weeks ago for my daughter to have braces fitted. I opted for Friday afternoon on the theory that neither my colleagues nor the students like working on Friday afternoons and am keeping my fingers crossed...

I have a rash all over both of my calves and it's driving me crazy...

Aquarelle, kerioboe... that sounds awful.

I think my road is the starting-point for the refuse-collector's route, since they arrive bang on 7am. So, although I was very tired last night and didn't need to rise too early this morning, I decided anyway, to set my alarm for 6.25am in order to put out what I needed for them to collect.

So why haven't they arrived yet at 7.18am?

Simple! They come on Thursday!!!

At hayfever season, I also get itchy calves , and also some eczema type rash in a couple of patches , its worst round the tops of my socks.

I never knew that 1% could be so annoying.

Right, Nicki_Flute, you go into the 'what's made you happy thread' now. Thank you.

*looks for pointy stick*

Oh Nicki - not 69? That's extremely annoying!

Congratulations on a brilliant mark, though; you've done so well.

Yes, 69...

You have still done really well Nicki - very many congratulations!

Bad day....
Stressful week.... had to move lessons etc due to leaver's services etc... so pupils all over the place! I have AB exams at my house next week.
Taught all morning. Went from school to pick up my accompanist- then off to Taunton for a pupil's Gr 6 exam. Only in petrol station put in petrol not diesel.
Not happy.....
Thankfully there was a break down garage there too- left the car there- got a taxi to the venue (My pupil was borrowing my A clarinet for her orchestral excerpts).
Got there in time - just-
The pupil's mother drove me back to car- I had to wait a further 45 mins (football on in the garage!!!!)
Then I was late for teaching......
Then I had to drive to Bath to pick up eldest child who has a hospital appointment tomorrow- and drive past Glastonbury site- but thankfully, the traffic had gone by 9pm! Then my daughter grumped at me cos I didn't help her in with her bags!
And it cost me £150- plus the fuel.
I am feeling a little foolish!

Still being left up a certain creek, paddle-less by housemate C, who is a selfish ... *rant continues*

Would it be wrong of me to start counting down the days til I can move out? Only 2 months now.

It seems so wrong that my placement year is being made so stressful by the people I live with. The only good thing, is, its starting to make me look forward to final year and going back to uni! Its such a shame when I really like my job, my colleagues are great, but my housemates manage to treat me like... dirt...

I wouldn't blame you for counting down the days But at least there is an end in sight, and of all the things you are doing at the moment, this is the one that will matter least in the future, so you can put it behind you without a backward glance. It's brilliant that the placement has gone well and that you get on with your colleagues - that will set you up well for your final year and beyond. Finish the two months, enjoy the rest of the summer, and look forward to a great final year



What a day! I hope everything looks better this morning

ARGH! My choir has a concert tomorrow. We know most of our songs fairly well, that's not the issue. The issue is that the MD and AMD are being impossibly difficult. Neither of them can make it to tonight's rehearsal - the MD has a good reason, and the AMD promised a month ago that he would be here, no matter what because we'd need him.

Until yesterday that is, when it seems he got a better offer - because the CU are having a fun social to Edinburgh, which is way more important. Now the MD, who was supposed to meet me this afternoon to go over some important things, is trying to cancel, because she's tired, and is saying "lets take those bits out if we don't know them..." We are already short on songs. The pianist is coming for the first time tonight, and since we don't have any written music, he's going to have to just busk it, and there's no MD to answer his questions - I don't know anything about the music!

I know everything will be fine - it's amateur, but people don't tend to mind because we get a pretty cool gospel sound. I feel like I'm the only person who cares if everything crashes and burns though. I can't do it all on my own.

It's horrible when it feels like that

I'm feeling a bit similar at the moment. I have so much going on, so many projects I need to get done and no flippin' support If everything goes wrong it's going to be me that gets the blame and yet I have had no help doing it (yet you can guarantee if it's successful everybody will be patting themselves on the back!

I know that for the last couple of weeks my tolerance levels have been seriously lowered but I'm wound up like a coiled spring now

Oh how I hate the end of the summer term and all the events and dos and stuff that pupils have to do so that the piano lessons have to be moved and I go from teaching on 3 evenings a week to having to do all 5 to fit in round them. Grrrrr. Bl**dy end of term!!!!

(Not helped by the rest of the family being in holiday/semi-retired/geriatric mode)

Sorry for the rant, and sympathies to all the other posters who're having a rough time too.

This is not meant to sound unsympathetic at all, but do you really have to?

If giving up your two free evenings makes you feel that negative about your teaching it's no good for you or your pupils. Simply have a policy that you do not guarantee to move lessons - after all, if you already taught five evenings a week (or had existing commitments during the other two evenings) then it would be impossible anyway. Much better to say no in a firm but kind way than run yourself ragged - noone will appreciate or even realise how much of an impact all these rearrangements have had on you.

Move or swap the ones with exams and give the others the week off. After all, if they're that busy they won't have had time to practise anyway!

Sometimes saying no is better for everybody.