Year 8's burn down the disco; hang blessed DJ

As the schools shifts its focus away from teaching as exams finish up, there is much rejoicing to be done, whether it be the students who will never have to speak French again, the Science paper that was revised for in an intense lunchtime session or the final piece of coursework for AS Travel and Tourism. So, as a reward these exhausted year 10, 11, 12 and 13 students, there was going to be a disco... for the year 8's. I say 'going' because the disco was recently cancelled by the school; a lack of students wanting to go stopping the disco fever in its tracks.

I truly do not understand why the students did not want to go, whether they worried that there would not be enough cheap fizzy drinks or out-of-date crisps, or that the dancing wouldn’t be awkward enough for them to have an enjoyable time. Maybe it’s the worry that there wouldn’t be enough teacher supervision to stop students disappearing into the music practise rooms (We have all heard the stories folks, including the ski trip ones. Especially the ski trip ones).

I despair to think as to why the school would reward a year that has done very little this year (the only exams they had to sit were end-of-year assessments that mean little and amount to nothing in the long run). Leaving the rest of the school (apart from the year 7’s, but they don’t count) with the joyous feeling of relief and gratitude as they are done with the exams this year. Sure there will be more, there always will be, but we celebrate the ending of this stressful time, not with flat coke and regulated bathroom breaks, but with students who have a well-earned sense of relief, teachers who are proud of their teaching and the work of their students, and another set of stats for the Disembodied Head to festoon the next batch of banners that will adorn our school walls.

Oh wait, Year 11 have prom. As do Year 13.

Dammit.