This latest blog has been written by one of our four Heads of House – Mr O’Connor, Head of Merlin House. 

It is such an honour and privilege to be part of the House system at High Storrs School, no two days are ever the same and there are lots of things to keep you busy all week.

My day usually starts around 7.45am, when I log on and check my emails that have arrived overnight. There are some urgent messages that need prompt action, and there are a few notes about students that I need to pick up over the next few days and parents that I need to call back. I touch base with our wonderful House SSA, Mrs Stephens, and we update each other on any news from the previous day.

On this particular day, at 8am, I have a meeting with a parent and child to discuss how we can work together to support an improvement in behaviour after a recent ‘blip’. The meeting is successful. The child understands where they went wrong and what commitment is needed to ensure that they have a successful return to school. The parent is supportive of the school and helps to challenge their child’s poor behaviour.

At 8.30am, there is a Tutor Briefing, where important notices are given out to our House teams about our fundraising plans – the Christmas Chocolate Tombola is coming up soon which raises money for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The tutor groups love bringing in their chocolate and wearing their Christmas jumpers on December 1st. It is also a brief opportunity to share some messages about tutor time, ready for the following week.

At 8.40am, I head back to the House Office where a student is waiting for me. We’ve agreed to meet as they are struggling to concentrate in some lessons due to some personal circumstances. We talk through how to manage the day ahead, and what to do if they feel overwhelmed in class. We also look at some mindfulness strategies.

I’m teaching all morning today, starting with my A-level Further Maths group who really keep me on my toes with some really hard maths! Then I have my lovely Year 9 class who have impressed me with their enthusiasm this year.

Break time arrives and I manage to get back to the House Office to make a quick coffee as I wait for students to arrive to show me their report cards. There are some students that have turned up unexpectedly to ask for help. Luckily Mrs Stephens is there to support also and between us we help our students and send them on their way.

Period 3 is Year 11 Maths; they are a great group and we’re aiming to cover the Higher GCSE in the summer so are trying to cover as much as we can before the Christmas so that we can spend lots of time on practice papers. We’ve just completed the trials and so there are quite a few papers for me to start marking later (approximately 90 scripts!)

Lunch time. This is a chance for me to catch up with my emails again and of course with Mrs Stephens. There is an opportunity for other staff to pop in and ask for advice about a child’s particular needs in their class. Often, we have some students who pop into the office just to sit and have a moment of calm, or to share something that is worrying them (e.g., an argument at home, a friendship issue, or they need to find a way to put money on their Parent Pay account). We do our best to support them and give them some advice about how to deal with it. In some circumstances, we might also signpost students to other services. I’ll try to get some time to eat lunch and have a coffee, even if for just 5 minutes.

I’m not teaching this afternoon, but I have an online meeting with multiple agencies at 1pm. It finishes at 1.40pm which gives me enough time to drop into a KS3 lesson to check in with a student who has had a bit of difficulty lately. They’re doing well, we go for a quick walk around the building and talk things through – sometimes a sit-down meeting can be quite intense, going for a walk can take the pressure off!

Period 5, and I’m On-Call. This means that I have several responsibilities during this lesson to support the school community. I go to collect the ipad from reception. During this period, I’m constantly moving around the building checking that registers are completed and tracking down students that may have wandered off. Occasionally a student needs to be removed from a classroom for disruptive behaviour that is affecting the learning of others. Over time, you get to know where the hotspots are around school and so can start to build relationships with students and teachers which helps to alleviate pressures later in the year.

The 2.55pm bell goes. It’s the end of the day! Students begin to leave the school site. Not my Year 11 class though, they come and join me in my classroom along with another one of our Maths teacher Mrs Bullough, for some extra revision. We’ve had sessions for around 5 -6 weeks now and the numbers are building. They enjoy having a go at the exam papers and this is a great opportunity to get some extra help. The session finishes around 4.30pm.

Heading back to the Merlin Office, I’ve got a few phone calls to make to some parents and I try to review my plans for my lessons the following day to make sure that I have resources in place. I head home around 6.30pm.

Once home, I manage to get some dinner and then make a start of those exam papers… I know that it is more sensible for me to go up to my ‘workroom’ to do this, but I do like having a bit of telly on in the background and I’m currently starting to become engrossed in I’m a Celebrity!