Job Discussion Forums

[veiledsentiments]

TLA?

[Stephen Jones]

Three Letter Acronym

[lemonsong]

Glad the idea of a gardening forum having people who flame made you laugh - sadly, it's true, however. The forum has threads about the world in general, not just plants and suchlike, and some of the stuff discussed got rather political. Oh well, I suppose all forums get their share of pains in the neck.

I'd rather not enter into a slanging match with anyone who has an axe to grind, but perhaps I should explain that I replied to this oldish thread because it was constantly being hyperlinked as an example of how awful the school is - which I feel was unfair and unjust.

At the moment it's end-of-year time - as usual, as in any school, we're all frantic making sure exams, reports and preparations for the final awards day are all in place and ticketyboo - so I haven't been online much, except for the odd quick check of emails, of course.

Still, school finishes at the end of this month (earlier than usual!) and we can all look forward to a decent summer break and some trips. One of the guys is off to Cuba, which makes me jealous.....

On the other hand I'm soon off on my first safari, which is really exciting, so I shouldn't complain.

Am off now to go and watch the FA Cup Final, have a few drinks and meet up with friends - good way to round off a weekend, eh?

[clovis]

Glad to see the school has finally got some pictures! Shows the school for what it really is, a haven very very small children!!!

[clovis]

oh, and another thing, if you visit the school web-site and look at the galleries please note the quality of the photos. They parallel the level of the education, i.e, pretty dubious in quality.

[stoth1972]

Clovis, I don't intend to offend, but the last couple posts take away from your credibility, in my opinion. When I read this board and find strong opinions about any institution, I look for rationale arguments, clear examples that the OP witnessed....attacking the quality of the website and drawing a parallel to the school's quality, well, it makes you seem a bit crazed, grasping at straws. We don't know what your allegations were on the 'other forum' so this feud w/ Lemonsong is lost to the rest of us readers.

[clovis]

stoth1972, I 'm sorry you feel my last few threads have taken away any credibilty I might have had. I made my arguments on the TES forum, rather than on here. This is a forum more for ESL, TEFL teachers etc rather than for international school teachers I guess. Lemonsong was originally using the TES forum to defend the school, but decided to leave that forum and come onto here. I think he has explained his reasons.

However, it was the comments made by pyramid on this forum that first got me alarmed about this school, but unfortunately by then I had accepted a position (this was last summer by the way).

Am I a little crazed, well, that is probably debatable, but Lemonsong, as far as i'm concerned anyway, acted in a manner that I felt, and still feel, was despicable. I won't go into the details of what he did on here, as it is quite personal.

However, if you are interested in what I witnessed at this school, I would be more than happy to share my experiences with you.

However, for now i will give you some brief facts. Three UK trained teachers started at this school last September. I had my contract terminated at the end of November. There is a story to this if you wish to hear it. At the same time, one of the other two (both females) left the school to return to the UK. Unlike myself, this teacher had initially been heaped with praise by the owner/principal of the school. This teacher was extremely unhappy and left without giving any notice. OK, you could say she was unprofessional on this matter. In her defence, she was scared to give the required notice due to her fear of the owner/principal.

The third teacher left shortly after Xmas. She had asked for 4 weeks off to return to the UK because she claimed her mum had become very ill. She had mentioned to be whilst I was there that indeed her mum was ill. The owner/principal, infronyt of other staff and children, accused her of lying about her mum's illness. The teacher returned to the UK and did not return.

A male UK teacher appointed to replace myself lasted all of 4 weeks. The school makes a big point that it finds it abhorrant to hold teachers' passports. It instead holds their teaching certificates (in the case of UK teachers the award of Q.T.S, Qualified Teacher Status). This teacher went into school office whilst director was away and retrieved his certificates. Teacher was then accused of stealing. Quite how one steals one's own certificates is beyond me.

Another UK teacher (she is a secondary design technology teacher married to an Egyptian) was initially employed to teach Kindergarden kids. However, she was seconded to teach my Year 2 class upon my termination and before my replacement teacher arrived. She has described her year so far as the worst of her life, the experience of the school for her has been THAT bad.

I could give you more details of my experiences there if you want to know more. Quite simply, I believe myself to be an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher. Lemonsong will obviously endeavour to make me appear otherwise, or atleast he did on the TES forum. I have high standards, as the children in my care deserve the best I can offer, but also, the school I work in should provide the best it can offer as well. Take my old Year 2 class, they are now on their 4th teacher in less than a year. Surely to god that should be ringing alarm bells!!!!

[Stephen Jones]

Can we have a link to the TES forum. Must be quite new, as it used to be impossible to criticize any cowboy outfits that offered jobs there.

[stoth1972]

Clovis, I'm sure people do want to hear the specifics of your experience w/ the school. I'm not really concerned how they contradict Lemonsong's specifics. Just tell us what you know so that people who come to the board seeking details on this school can see various perspectives. I've worked for some crap employers in my day, but I always managed to find someone in the company/school who didn't think things were 'so bad'.

Stephen, this looks like the link:

http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/thread.aspx?story_id=2373371&path=/teaching+overseas/&threadPage=5&messagePage=1

[clovis]

Please bear with me stoth1972, I'm currently doing primary supply teaching in the UK and it is quite exhausting. I had 34 year 5's in my class to-day. I was teaching in an inner city school near London.

It is half-term in UK next week, so I will have time then to relate some of my experiences of The Continental School.

Stephen Jones is correct about the TES forum, threads have indeed been deleted.

[lemonsong]

How nice that someone has so much time to vent and sling mud. I�ve been rather busy lately so I haven�t checked these forums as much as perhaps I should. However, I had a rather disturbing conversation this morning with a distraught lady who has been misquoted by the mud-slinger and is now feeling more than a little upset.

So � I�ve just spent the best part of two hours checking this website and the TES site for the comments that have been flung out and the accusations that have been made by this gentleman and it is apparent that he has been really, really busy.

Thanks to Word, I have been able to take some of his choice comments and paste them into this (I hope) slightly more composed composition; and I�m actually feeling rather gratified that Mr. XXXXX is so infatuated with me that he even assumes that another poster is actually me, using another �handle� � sorry my friend, you got that totally wrong!

Quote : �I did admit to having my contract terminated due to, as stated in my letter of termination, differences in educational philosophies.�
Yes, this is true. I should know, having written the letter. I felt that this would be less damaging to a teacher than �gross misconduct�.

Quote : �The school i'll be working in is certainly not of the same ilk as the one you work in. Kids go from there to top universities in US, UK, Europe and Canada.�
Meaning what? That a two year old school with mostly primary students should be sending kids abroad for a degree?

Quote : �You are many things Redsea, none of them very complimentary, but at least you have a keen sense of humour, well, not keen, perhaps delusional would be more apt. Oh, but I hear your assembly was absolutely fantastic, as I believe you think everything you do is.�
Well gee, thanks for the compliment about my kids� show. They did the work, not me, as I said at the time. And � why do you keep calling me Redsea? And � isn�t this a personal attack (the delusional comment etc.) rather than a balanced viewpoint?

Quote : �Perhaps if you spent less time on the 'john' you'd notice things a bit more. I once broached you on that subject, but you denied spending time there. I know, I know, this is totally unbecoming of a teacher, BUT I CLOCKED YOUR your shoes through the gap at bottom of the cubilcle........I admit to checking, sure enough, they were indeed your shoes. Tough job eh?�
Sorry � what is this about? I don�t think any comment is necessary here���

Quote : �You quote on there that 'it is so unfair that someone can lambast people, or an institution, without any redress or response'. Do you mean lambaste?�
This is mean of me and I apologise � but really, don�t you think you should check in the Oxford English Dictionary before writing this sort of thing? Both spellings are acceptable. Sorry � now I�m the one being petty.

Quote : �On the same thread you accuse me of insulting kids, telling them I was god, using foul language, not teaching and much else besides. So you whine when someone makes negative comments about the school you are happy to work in and support, and then make personal attacks against that commentator.�
Now this is wrong. Anyone reading the thread will see that I made a comment about a teacher who did things like making children bow down to him in class, who used foul language and did not teach, amongst other things. No identification was given, or hinted at, and you were not even a member of the forum at the time I was writing. As for whining � well, that�s not a word I would use when reading the comments I made, since all I felt I was doing was stating that the comments made some years back were not apposite to my experiences at the school. I don�t feel I have been personal or pugnacious towards you at any time � although I have been sorely tempted, I admit freely.

Quote : �Strange really Redsea, I seem to remember having numerous meetings were you always said you had confidence it my abilities. So I take it you were lying to me then.�
No sir, I believed that a UK trained teacher would be doing his job and not just bluffing. Lesson learned. Oh, and I�m still not Redsea.

Quote : �3 new UK trained teachers started in September 2006. . One of those, me, had his contract terminated end of November. You cite gross incompetence, swearing at kids, insulting kids amongst other things. Another teacher, a female, left at about the same time��� IMO she was totally hacked off with the school, in particular at being told how and what to teach my the owner of the school��. This teacher was initially in the owner's 'good books', and was quite publicly praised by the owner on more than one occasion. This teacher left without giving any notice. This could be deemed as unprofessional on her part��� The 3rd teacher, also a female, left shortly after Xmas. She asked if she could have 4 weeks off to return to the UK as her mum was ill. The owner of the school accused her of lying about her mum being ill, again, within earshot of other staff and children���..�

You forgot to mention the other staff who started at the same time who are still here. Of the three staff you DO mention, one was sacked (the one who is raving on all the forums he can find, strangely.) Another left with no warning at all, and I will not give details on a public forum; but your �evidence� is, to quote you: �IMO�. In your opinion counts as �what you think� or �wish to say� � no? I will agree that leaving with no notice is unprofessional�� As for the third teacher, she really did have some problems she had to sort out at short notice � before she left she would not say for sure that she would return because, as she said, she really didn�t know if the things she had to sort out could be dealt with in any sensible time frame, and she is a lovely young lady who does not lie and doesn�t make false promises. The fact that she hasn�t been able to return is immensely sad � but it didn�t stop her working on her reports and form tutor comments back in the UK and emailing them to me. She is a true professional and a super person � please don�t tell any more lies about her.

Quote : �Do I have a grudge, no, do I wish to share my experiences with others, in doing so, perhaps safe them an unfortunate experince, then yes I do.�
No grudge? Hmmmmmmmmm�..

Quote : �Why do I think is it bad that in 4 year groups there are only 14/15 kids, well, I would think that it was pretty obvious really, either the parents are paying one hell of a lot of money for the privilege???? of being at that school, or it simply is not financially sustainable�
Well duh! The cost of schooling is transparent, since any parent applying will, of course get a fees schedule. And a two-year old school which is trying to build from scratch would, naturally, not make a profit with low numbers. Which is why the school relies on the other components of the whole establishment to keep going until the numbers we get in actually do help us to break even � won�t be for a while yet, since the building project won�t be finished for three years or so and we are deliberately, and of necessity, growing slowly and steadily. Numbers are up again this year, by the way.

Quote : �Of course, I could be making all that up, but thankfully, I know i'm not.�
Well I�m glad you know that.

Quote : �Am I a little crazed, well, that is probably debatable, but Lemonsong, as far as i'm concerned anyway, acted in a manner that I felt, and still feel, was despicable. I won't go into the details of what he did on here, as it is quite personal.�
Okay, a personal attack on me aton this site. Do share � I would imagine you are talking about my escorting you off the premises to avoid a scene after you had been sacked by the owner; of course, you did rush over to the kids in the cafeteria and tried to tell them your story, anyway. Maybe I�m wrong � was there something else? I have to admit it�s tough not getting personal and actually replying in kind to your attacks � but I�ll wait for your comments to see what I did so despicably.

Quote : �I love these personal sort of threads, Kuwaitteacher slagging myself and Whitenite off and me, well, slagging Kuwaitteacher off. What fun!�
Nothing to do with me but couldn�t resist. I could have quoted your �love those Yanks� diatribe as well, but � hey, I figure I�ll just let you do the talking for both of us.

----------------

A last comment � why have I even bothered to do this � to reply to these insulting, libellous and vitriolic postings that LTT aka Clovis aka I-don�t-know-who???

Quite simply � I�m sick of his whole vendetta and the fact that he can post what he likes and maybe be believed. There are a whole bunch of decent people working at the school where I work, and they are ALL being potentially damaged by the slurs posted by someone sitting far away with blackness in his heart. I am a serious and (I believe) dedicated teacher who is trying to do a decent job in a new and very small, but growing, school. Embittered and malicious posts ARE read widely and ARE a cause for concern for potential recruits. Surely, the right to reply is not something that is beyond reason?

No school that wishes to grow and be recognised as good, or maybe excellent one day, would ever hide anything and I know that where I work anyone thinking about joining and wishing to communicate with staff who are here, or even who have left, would have their request honoured (with permission of the staff and ex-staff, naturally.)

Enough. I withdraw to mark end of year exams now, and I leave the floor to Mr. XXXX who, no doubt, will continue to demonise me and where I work. I can�t help wondering if he�s going to follow me over the years as I continue in my job, wherever I travel.

Now there�s a jolly thought to take to bed���