All is still quiet on the 'Satanist' front. They have not yet been to the head of department to explain why they should be excused from a range of tasks in RE.

Tomorrow, it's possible that they will declare that they cannot participate in the lesson, as we will be looking at Concientious Objectors, and Satanism is based on revenge.

Today was rather eventless. We did get a wasp in the classroom at one point, so the class was in uproar for a while. It's amazing what havoc such a small creature can cause. It's also quite amazing that screaming and flapping at it is supposed to deter it and make it go away. Why are they so afraid of these creatures? "Because it'll hurt if it stings, Miss". Ignore it, and it'll go away. Shout and flap at it, and it'll get angry and sting. "But we're scared of it, Miss!" At this point, I patiently explained that if it did decide to sting me in particular, I was likely to end up in a very bad way as I'm allergic to wasps. I asked if anyone else had the same condition... No takers...? Right, let's get on with the lesson...

"But surely Jesus looked good in a toga?"

"But Miss, Jesus couldn't have been that short!"

"How do you know he didn't have blond hair?"

"He must have been good looking! He's the Son of God!"

"How do you know he ever even existed?!"

I inwardly, and possibly even outwardly groaned, as I was hit by this barrage of questions and exclamations from my Year 9s. They find it very difficult to believe that Jesus was of similar colouring as the people you see on the news coverage from Israel / Palestine; that he was somewhat shorter than people today - they can accept that 2,000 years ago people in general were shorter than we are, but not Jesus!

They also think Jesus would have looked good in a toga! Quite when they think Jesus wore one, I do not know.

These teenagers still hold the idealistic, handsome, delightful physical view of Jesus that most 6 year olds have. They do still think it's likely that he was blond, and from what I can gather, the girls think that he must have looked like some kind of cross between a surfer and a boyband member... They think that because he's the son of God, Jesus was pretty.

Then, there are the sceptics... How could I really, honestly dare to suggest that Jesus existed at all?! But, yes, they know that Julius Caesar existed; they fail to see why this view may be at all problematic. Perhaps all of the people - yes, all of them - who wrote about Jesus were indeed, lying. But, the ones who wrote about Julius Caesar weren't. He was a Roman Emperor, so he must have existed.

I think, though, maybe the questions, comments and denials of Jesus are all overshadowed by the wannabe Satanists. A piece of work involved looking up a Bible quote: "But Miss, we can't touch the Bible. It's against our religion; we're Satanists. It's not even a cult any more, Miss; there's enough people for it to be declared a religion!". I explained to them that when they brought me a note from their parents, I would excuse them from tasks such as this; however, getting notes is, apparently, impossible "My mum doesn't agree with my religion". So, I gave them the option of going to the head of department, and explaining the situation to her - so far, they have not made it that far. Then, of course, they tried, "You wouldn't make a Muslim do this!", well, yes, I would. Then, the icing on the cake... "Do you know the principle of Satanism, Miss? It's based on 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth', so all this Bible stuff is really screwing me up." And where exactly do you think 'an eye for an eye' comes from?....

Well, Cyprus was good.

Back at school now, but most definitely on the home-straight. I'm in my last half term of school experience now!

I'm going to Cyprus today!!!!!