The first 10 minutes is everything - it’s make or break time in any lesson. And if you can inject a sense of purpose, engage the interest of the pupils and gain lesson momentum, you’re basically sorted.

It’s a bit like the take-off of an aeroplane. You leave the runway and you go through some turbulence as you climb. The cabin gets bumped and buffeted as you go through the clouds and drop into the occasional air pocket. But eventually the seat-belt signs go off and you move into cruise mode.

But lessons that you can’t settle in the first 10 minutes tend to go wrong. The plane never gets into the air properly and has to make a chaotic emergency landing.

Today, I’m taking a personal social health education lesson (PSHE) with my Year 10s. This will be a take-off in stormy weather. PSHE is the first lesson of the day, but already take-off is in trouble. A handful of pupils drift in after I’ve made a start. Latecomers in secondary schools never make a quiet, unassuming entrance. They never shuffle to the first available seat in an embarrassed hush. No, they breeze in and shout across the room to their friends. They are the equivalent of those who hold up a flight by insisting on bringing aboard copious amounts of baggage and blocking the gangway with it.

Lesson punctuality is a problem in many schools. It is the most common obstacle to gaining momentum in those vital first 10 minutes - and this includes all the staple behaviours that make teaching so draining. If this kind of interruption happens too often and goes on for too long, the compliant majority in the class will stop waiting for their teacher and start to entertain themselves.

But there are many strategies you can use. Certainly, you should bear in mind that all-out confrontation with a particular individual or group is likely to send your craft into a nosedive and bring it straight back down to earth.

And remember some basic teaching controls. Don’t shout over the noise of pupils when you want their attention. Counting to three and waiting is a better tactic.

Waiting is a more powerful weapon than shouting over noise. Try to hold your nerve and wait for longer than you think is comfortable.

Praise pupils who listen to you. Write the names of those behaving well on the board. The effect this has on others can be surprising.

When you get the attention of the class, get things moving. Pitch in with something that will grab them and don’t drone on about how long you’ve had to wait - this will undo all your hard work. It’s pointless to get them quiet just to moan at them.

Let your lesson fly. Safe journey.

Paul Blum is head of learning support in a London secondary school and author of ‘Surviving and Succeeding in Difficult Classrooms’

THOSE VITAL FIRST 10 MINUTES

1. Establish simple routines.

2. Enforce them, but if one pupil won’t co-operate, delay any confrontation until you have your lesson under way.

3. Don’t make routines too complex - they’ll be too hard to enforce and confrontations will subdue the momentum of the lesson.

4. Don’t waste time lining up a noisy class outside your classroom. There’s no point in having a power struggle in a busy corridor. Get pupils into your teaching space and generate your momentum there.

5. If there’s time, write the lesson objectives on the board.

6. Be realistic. Some classes are volatile all day - some just go crazy in the afternoon. So set a simple exercise that they have to do for the first 10 minutes. Then talk to them.