Their words can cut through loving hearts

Like schools of fish with sharpened tips

That slice the swimmer daring to

Grace the waters in their shores.

But what of gains that come from this?

The cuts bleed out in scarlet streams

But these fish just flutter further on,

Oblivious to pain they cause,

Just a flicker of their twisted pride

As they see the tear within your eye.

I went to a classroom today to give out some homework. I felt optimistic as I bounded up the stairs, but as I reached the door I realised that something wasn’t quite right.

The cover supervisor who was looking after the class was already standing at the door and as I approached she told me that she had to go immediately, that she’d had a bad lesson and she couldn’t stay in the room for a moment longer.

I could see that she had tears in her eyes and she looked really distressed so I let her go, even though, as a student, I’m not meant to be left alone with a class (especially not in week 5!).

The room was silent when I stepped inside but I didn’t want to ask any of the students what had happened only to have it all kick off again while I was on my own. So I doled out the homework and dismissed the class.

I bumped into the cover supervisor later in the day, and thankfully, she looked a lot better than she had done when I last saw her. She apologised profusely and told me what had happened.

There were two girls that had given her loads of attitude, they had been picking on several of the kids in the class (throwing things at them and making really disrespectful comments) and they had generally been really disruptive.

I had a run in with these girls when I was on break duty and they gave me attitude too, so I could only imagine what trouble they had given her for almost two hours.

I just wanted to write this post because I find it shocking that 11 year old girls can be so nasty and so confident with it. I wonder what they get out of it and whether it makes them feel good about themselves? Did they think about the teacher they made cry when they went home this evening? (I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and say ‘no’).

I felt so sorry for the cover supervisor, but I also feel oddly sorry for those girls. What is going on in their lives for them to think that their behaviour is OK? What is their home life like? Do their parents treat them like that? I have so many questions that I’ll never know the answer to.

I think that these girls will be in my prayers this week, because there is obviously a lot going on for them to feel the need to act like this. I hope that they can see a better way, sooner rather than later.

Much Love

Rachel xx