The dilemma over whether to take work home is one every teacher will face at some time in their career - before giving up the fight and realising it is inevitable so they might as well get on with it. But the advent of that pernicious missive, the email, has added a new dimension to the conundrum, and one that has been the topic of debate on the TES online staffroom.
The Red Heron wants to know if other teachers get emails about work in the evenings and at weekends - and if they do, what do they do about them? In response to a “workaholic” deputy head who bombards staff with emails, Heron has set up an automatic response saying that work emails will be checked only on Sunday nights and anything urgent needs a phone call, but gets the impression that colleagues think this is strange.
While it may be fine for SMT to send a work email at weekends, giraffe says they should not expect a reply. “You can choose whether to read them or not, but it should never be assumed you will,” giraffe adds.
Daffodilval reports getting emails at all hours from a keen new head, while Beestoni admits to being one of those who emails out of hours.
But for teachers unable to resist the pressure to check work emails, steffiw has a neat solution. “I have a policy of not learning how to access the school e-mail system from home,” she says.
Seemingly oblivious to the possibility of total war with any popular parenting websites that happen to be out there, lillipad wants to know what teachers would like to tell their pupils, but don’t.
Confectionery features high on the list. “No, I don’t want some homemade biscuits... I know where your hands have been,” says marymoocow, while Waterfin chips in with: “Please stop bringing me in cakes from home, complete with the cat hair embedded in the icing.”
Lest this seems ungrateful, there are teachers queuing up to tell their pupils how much they admire them. Waterfin again: “You are the lowest ability child in my class and you try your hardest, yet you get no support from home in anything. You deserve better.”
But before we come over all misty-eyed, lardylegs has some words of wisdom for the boy in her class who counts down the last three minutes to the end of the lesson: “I am counting down too, inside.”
As if upsetting Mumsnet is not enough, posters go for the jewel of the North West. “Blackpool - England’s worst resort?” asks Mr Read. While it is tempting to assume he has never been to Morecambe, he claims a recent trip to the land of the illuminations was “like visiting a friend in a precipitous spiral of decline”, where even the smell of fish and chips “cannot mask the overwhelming aroma of mould and decay”.
MeanAverageJoe sticks up for the town, if a little half-heartedly. “Blackpool is great - albeit for a day,” he says, while Streetcleaner extols the claims of the far nicer east coast resorts. It’s left to Losbennett to step in with unequivocal support for Blackpool: “Southport is nice.” Says it all.
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