My Starters For Five

When I first heard about Starter for Five, I was instantly taken by the idea - short, concise, fun... perfect for the busy, new teacher.

"Starter for Five is a UK based advice blog for new teachers. Each post gives 5 quick pieces of advice on a particular topic for new teachers and trainees submitted by experienced teachers. Use  search, tags and categories to look up the topics you want to know about."

As such, I have tried to provide some insight into some of the stuff that I was never told as an NQT. I posted my first 7 contributions under my old handle, @iteachre, so I thought I would collate them here for your reading. Enjoy.

• The Photocopier 
• Beards
• The Pub
• Staff Footy
• Facebook
• Hot Weather
• Outside Speakers

• Using TFL to commute for the first time
• Key People
• Tea

Some of these have had a ridiculous number of views - much more than my usual blog postings. Thank you.

Submit your own advice <here>

#BlogFriday - A Year of Blog Sharing

Last September, inspired by meeting Rory Gallagher at Northern Rocks 2015, I started a SHoM #BlogFriday, emailing all staff with a blog post to read each Friday morning. This was not part of any official T&L role (but I did run it past the T&L AHT first).

Blog Friday. An easy way to introduce colleagues to the wealth of information, thinking and resources available on the blogosphere, and a good way to connect with people, to start a conversation, to wish them a good day, a great weekend... (Rory wrote <here>)

I hope that staff found it useful. Some provided feedback, and as I said in my final email (for 14/7/16), if one post changed the thinking of one person, it's been worth it. It was interesting when through reading blogs some staff realised things like 'Brain Gym', 'Learning Styles' etc were not a thing anymore - and that actually we would be better off focusing on the more recent work of educational psychology and the 'science of learning'. 

Some of the blogs were ones I had seen that week, others were favourites I had read a while before, some were reactive of staff mood, some were ones I just wanted to share. I tried to use a variety of 'voices' and styles of blogs, just to expose staff to some of what was being thought and written about in wider education circles.

One of the hopes I had was that staff would consider blogging themselves, and my final #BlogFriday was one encouraging staff to blog themselves - starting on Staffrm. Who knows if anyone will take up the challenge? 

I am moving on from my current school at the end of this year. Once, I have settled in my new school and got to know staff, I may suggest starting a St Bon's #BlogFriday. In the mean time, here is the 2015-2016 #BlogFriday roll call...

Also available: http://tiny.cc/blogfriday

SHoM #BlogFriday
Date	Title	Link
11/09/2015	Last Night REsearchEd Saved My Life	https://littlemisslud.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/last-night-researched-saved-my-life/
18/09/2015	#Teacher5aday	https://martynreah.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/teacher5aday/
25/09/2015	Putting Family First	http://johntomsett.com/2014/01/10/this-much-i-know-about-why-putting-your-family-first-matters/
02/10/2015	Science for Learning	http://www.deansforimpact.org/post_Lionel_messi_and_the_science_of_learning.html
09/10/2015	Good to Great Teaching	http://mrjdexter.com/2015/10/03/part-4-from-good-teaching-to-great-teaching/
16/10/2015	10 Silver Arrows	http://headguruteacher.com/2014/10/24/10-silver-arrows-ideas-to-penetrate-the-armour-of-ingrained-practice/
23/10/2015	Achievable challenge: walking the fine line between comfort and panic	https://reflectingenglish.wordpress.com/2015/10/17/tlt15-achieveable-challenge-walking-the-fine-line-between-comfort-and-panic/
06/11/2015	Pupils are uniquely stressed these days	https://englishschooling.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/pupils-are-uniquely-stressed-these-days/
13/11/2015	Modelling Good Speech	http://headguruteacher.com/2015/11/01/modelling-good-speech-lets-talk-properly/
20/11/2015	Great Teaching	https://classteaching.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/what-makes-great-teaching-the-sutton-trust/
27/11/2015	Social Media and Staff	http://staffrm.io/@iteachre/B3ApLyg8eI
04/12/2015	At what cost?	http://readingallthebooks.com/2015/11/28/at-what-cost/
11/12/2015	It's a Wonderful Job	http://behaviourguru.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/its-wonderful-job-christmas-story.html
11/12/2015	The Mystery of Learning	https://reflectingenglish.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/the-unbearable-mystery-of-learning/
18/12/2015	Love Teaching	http://headguruteacher.com/2013/12/20/10-reasons-to-love-teaching/
08/01/2016	Resolutions	http://www.learningspy.co.uk/workload/new-years-resolutions-for-teachers-and-school-leaders/
15/01/2016	Revision Sessions	https://missdcoxblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/using-research-to-design-a-revision-session/
22/01/2016	OFSTED Myths	https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2016/01/20/busting-myths-on-ofsted-inspections/
29/01/2016	What if you never marked another book?	https://michaelt1979.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/what-if-you-never-marked-another-book/
12/02/2016	In trying to do so much we do too little	https://reflectingenglish.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/in-trying-to-do-so-much-we-do-too-little/
26/02/2016	Thinking Hard - Practical Solutions	http://www.huntingenglish.com/2016/02/27/thinking-hard-practical-solutions-for-the-classroom/
11/03/2016	Knowledge Organisers	https://pragmaticreform.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/knowledge-organisers/
18/03/2016	Bikes	http://blog.bodil.co.uk/bikes/
14/04/2016	How can we help the weakest catch up?	https://tabularasaeducation.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/weakestcatchup/
21/04/2016	Is effective teaching more about good relationships than anything else?	https://chronotopeblog.com/2016/04/16/is-effective-teaching-more-about-good-relationships-than-anything-else/
29/04/2016	A Few Quick Tips For The Overwhelmed Educator’	http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/4/21-1
06/05/2016	Homework	http://www.huntingtonlearninghub.com/homework-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth/
13/05/2016	MCQ	http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/4/3/weekly-digest-4
20/05/2016	Student Effort	http://schoolsimprovement.net/student-effort-holy-grail-school-improvement/
27/05/2016	Weak Arguments and Conspriacy Theories	https://headguruteacher.com/2016/05/22/weak-arguments-and-conspiracy-theories/
10/06/2016	Assessments: Simple but not simplistic	https://mrlock.wordpress.com/2016/06/04/assessment-simple-but-not-simplistic-part-one/
17/06/2016	Why Mental health is too important to get wrong	https://www.tes.com/news/blog/bleeding-inside-why-mental-health-too-important-get-wrong
24/06/2016	Is it Love?	http://tdreboss.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/is-it-love.html
01/07/2016	Do Nows	http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/alex-laneys-nows/
08/07/2016	12 Points to Great Teaching	https://leadinglearner.me/2016/07/03/12-pointers-towards-great-teaching-assessment-and-learning/
15/07/2016	7 Reasons to Blog	http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk/2011/07/seven-reasons-teachers-should-blog.html

The TES Awards 2016

Photo by Hannah

The TES Awards 2016 took place on Friday 24th June at the The Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London. It is the first time I have been invited, and I was surprised by the sheer scale of it - over 1000 guests fitted into a huge function suite under the hotel. It was a glitzy affair with a champagne reception, "grab as many glasses as you can" I told my wife - how often is there free booze for teachers? 

It was nice to be seated with Natalie and Paul who I met for the first time, plus Heather who I have met on numerous occasions at blogger curry meet ups. Sadly Zoe couldn't make it and there were two empty seats at our table - they were in touch via Twitter though! (And we ate their food, as the waiting staff insisted on leaving it...)

TES provided plenty of wine yet the six bottles on the table seemed to evaporate in no time - huge thanks to Rachel and Sarah from the TES team (and Lara who passed on our dilemma!), who kept us topped up when we ran dry! This did compensate for a tasty but slightly small dinner... After paying £90 for my 'plus one' ticket, the wine was sadly out of price range for most teachers.

As much as it was a night to celebrate all schools, teachers and their achievements, I was there as a representative of the blogger community. These are teachers who are able to share, reflect and question some of the important ideas of the education world. Blogging, alongside social media more widely, has brought about change, allowed different voices to be heard and promoted engagement and great thinking with some of the toughest challenges education has to pose. 

I know my blogs are not the most well written prose out there, they are often thrown together during a stolen 5 minutes at break time, or drafted at midnight as I lie in bed - I'm a full time teacher with more than enough going on in school... plus a 8 month old son! I am glad that someone somewhere thinks I have something worth sharing and it was nice that some of the judges came to find me to say they found my writing interesting and of value. Thank you. 

A final huge thank Andrew for encouraging the blogger community to nominate blogs such as mine (see <here>). Bloggers should be promoting one another, and encouraging others to blog and respond; Andrew does an impressive job with his various Echo Chambers. I know there were reservations about the shortlisting (see <here>), and then some compromise (see <here>), but I do think it is an important award, but one that could perhaps be developed further by TES, perhaps by better engaging with the blogger community.

I haven't see a list of the bloggers linked anywhere else so here they are:

WINNER: Natalie Scott - Blog 

Zoe Brown - Blog

Heather Fearn - Blog

Jane Mazone - Blog

Toby French - Blog

James Theobold - Blog

Paul Woodward - Blog

You're on my blog, so you don't need a link...

Thanks again for the shortlisting TES. For next year, remember teachers on a Friday will drink more booze than you imagine, and hopefully a plus one can be included too...

Who knows if or when I'll be back again...

A Great Week - Thank You!

The last week has been surreal. Great, humbling, but odd.

It began on Tuesday with the arrival of the proof of my textbook. This has been a labour of love over the last year. Dozens of Word documents that had become very untidy with edits, redrafts and amendments all of a sudden became a textbook. The designers have done an amazing job and it is something that I feel really proud to be have been involved in. Now I need to get reading, with my red pen, to really make it as good as it can possibly be. Read more about it <here>.

On Wednesday, I then got an email to say I was shortlisted in the TES Teacher blogger of the year. I was initially pleased enough that Andrew Old recommended me as potential nominee on his blog (see <here>), but to be shortlisted was a very pleasant surprise. There has been a lot of Twitter conversations about tickets, prices etc. I'm going to make an effort to go, as to be honest, I doubt I'll get invited again any time soon! See more <here>

Saturday was then the second London RE Hub conference. Using the power of social media, we had an event attended by around 120 people. There was a great buzz in the hall of the London Muslim Centre / East London Mosque as we discussed key subject knowledge. I'm genuinely amazed that people would give up their Saturday, and some pay out of their own pocket, to come to an event I've organised! None of it would be possible without such a great team; huge thanks to [L to R] Claire, Deborah, Kate and Julia. We were still smiling at the end of the day:

While I was at the conference, post arrived, which I only opened on Sunday - my invite to Buckingham Palace! The CES nominated me for my work in Catholic education and I was put forward by the DfE too attend. Mobile phones need to be switched off, so no live tweeting the event or selfies with Liz!

I think as teachers, when recognition and praise comes your way, it can feel a little awkward.

I know I am not the greatest of teachers, although I'd hope that most of my lessons are informative and useful for my students. I know there are areas I still need to work on, and improve on. I also know my priorities have shifted somewhat since becoming a dad last October. I also know there are lots of teachers working at capacity who never get a word of thanks or recognition on a daily basis; that's not right.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all those who put faith in me or put me forward for these things; it means more than you could ever imagine - teachers thrive on praise just as much as students do! Thank you.

My Top 5 Posts of 2015

2015 was a full year of professional blogging for me. Some posts seem to get quite wide readership and were shared by some of the 'big names' in education. I try to not get too bogged down with stats... at the end of the day, I write for me. I don't deliberately write things to get views - even the stuff on BAD RE which always seems popular (but oddly didn't make the Top 5!). 

Anyway, these were the Top 5 for the year:

1. Education Inspirations [November 2015] - A blog about who I read
2. RE: Radicalism and Extremism [July 2015] - A blog about Prevent and RE
3. Metacognition for KS4 & KS5 [January 2015] - A 'work in progress' of how I am building in some metacognition to my teaching
4. Why can't we talk about intelligence and genetics? (#rED15) [September 2015] - My ResearchEd post on IQ
5. BlogSyncRE Special: A New Settlement? A RC View [June 2015] - A blog about the future of RE in a RC context

My favourite posts? Maybe these...

• Pontifex: An Etended Metaphor [September 2015] - Reflections on a year of pastoral leadership
• Faith Schools [RC] #GE2015 [May 2015] - Thoughts on the place of faith schools
• Outlaw RE [Think Bomb] [April 2015] - Some things that should be banned in RE...
• Servant Leadership [March 2015] - The best way to lead?

Image courtesy of Free Stock Photos

Education Inspirations [Work In Progress]

I'm not sure what inspired Tom Bennett to write his blog post his education inspirations last weekend (see <here>), but a friend (not a teacher) send me a message last night asking for edu-blog recommendations. My short answer was "the people I had beers and curry with on Saturday", but realised that actually writing a list on my own blog was probably more useful.  

In no particular order, and I am sure I will update with blogs that I have forgotten, here we go:

• Scenes from the Battleground - THE education blog? Quoted by ministers, certainly one of the oldest edu-blogs, and always a well-researched read - Andrew Old
• The Behaviour Guru & TES - Not just behaviour... Tom has gained a reputation for his work with ResearchEd, reviewing "Educating..." TV shows and general entertaining writing about the profession - Tom Bennett
• The Wing to Heaven - Is there anyone better that Daisy to talk to about assessment? I don't think so, Cricket? West Ham? Same. Make sure you also read her book, 7 Myths - Daisy Christodoulou
• The Learning Spy - David is happy to admit in the past he has been wrong, and is happy to share (after extensive reading) what is wrong in education. He saves me a lot of reading. Since starting to teach part time, his output has been significant - David Didau
• Blogs About School -  John's blog has been a repeated source of information and inspiration. One of my real favourites - John Dexter
• LeadingLearner - Stephen's is exec director of a Catholic MAT in Blackpool. He frequently maps out his vision and steps to getting there in his insightful blog. An amazing demonstration of leadership, useful to all schools - Stephen Tierney 
• This Much I Know About... - A beautifully human and well written blog about being a headteacher, teacher, father and human being - John Tomsett
• Zest For Learning - A mixture of teaching and leadership. Tom's blog has given me a number of ideas to try out in the past and continues to reflect upon his journey of headship - Tom Sherrington
• Outside In - A Catholic teacher and Blue Labour supporter. Insightful reflections on many aspects of education - Michael Merrick
• Evidence Into Practice - Nick's blog has been really helpful in understanding key elements of the psychology useful in teaching. He has a great ability to make the complex very accessible - Nick Rose
• To The Real - A really insightful blog which cites Plato as an inspiration: that beautiful mix of philosophy and Maths. Kris always has something interesting to say - Kris Boulton
• Esse Quam Videri - A blog which covers so many different topics. Having met Heather at one of the early blogger curries, I have only recently started reading this. No idea why it took me so long!? - Heather Fearn
• Othmar's Trombone - This blog is now even better that we know James actually exists, A must follow on Twitter too - James Theobold
• The Quirky Teacher - One of the few anonymous bloggers left...
• Reading All the Books - Jo writes quite a lot about English, yet there is something for everyone here with her excellent blog - Jo Facer 
• Stack of Marking - Another must follow on Twitter. Teaches in FE. Only person to recommend their own blog, but fully justified - Tom Starkey
• Surreal Anarchy - It's impossible to not love Martin. Likewise, it is impossible to not love his blog - Martin Robinson
• Laura McInerney - How Laura still has time to write for this while writing for Schools Week, I have no idea. So much good stuff on here - Laura McInerney
• Filling The Pail - A lot of evidenced based sense all the way from Australia - Greg Ashman
• Chronotope - A source of good evidence and reflection linked to Carl's work as Wellington's Director of Research. Follow on Twitter for trolling of Dida and Bennett - Carl Hendrick
• Pragmatic Education - Joe is excellent on knowledge and it's importance. What else do you need to know? - Joe Kirby
• MM Learning - Mary is an OFSTED inspector and RE champion. She's ace - Mary Myatt
• Clio Etcetera - Michael's blog is often history focused by very useful for other humanities - Michael Fordham
• Bodil's Blog - Sometimes Maths, sometimes not. Always excellent - Bodil Isaksen
• ICT Magic - Martin knows nearly everything about ICT. His list of recommendations is second to none - Martin Burrett
• ICT Evangelist - Alongside Martin, Mark also knows nearly everything about ICT too - Mark Anderson
• Tabula Rasa - Katie writes lots of English related things, but also about education more generally - Katie Ashford
• New To The Post - Amjad is a generous member of the edu-blogger community, always sharing - Amjad Ali
• TeacherToolkit - No need to mention really - Ross Morrison McGill
• Governing Matters - One of the few excellent blogs written by a committed governor. If only they were all like this.. - Naureen Afzal
• "Splogs": Hey Miss Smith - My favourite primary blog, reminding me (informing me?) what it's like teaching the little ones - Jane Manzone
• Mr Lock's Weblog - Writing a little less now he is a head, I always enjoy Stuart's in depth posts - Stuart Lock
• Daily Genius - Another head (where do they find the time?) who takes the time to explain his vision and what he is trying to achieve. It's great to share the journey! - Kev Bartle
• ChocoTzar - A headteacher who often blogs about pastoral issues with great humility. I love this blog. - ChocoTzar

Recommendations

I also had some recommendations via Twitter that I now need to discover and to my read list:

• The Traditional Teacher - Anthony Radice
• Mr Histoire - Toby French
• Teach Well - Tarjinder Gill

The RE collection

This deserves it's own special section. I have the privilege of running the The RE and Philosophy Education Chamber. These are some of the blogs I return to again and again:

• To Learn Is To Follow - The sharp mind of Jonny has given a real fresh way of looking at how to teach RE - Jonny Porter
• Miss D Cox - Dawn is one of the most forward thinking and reflective teachers I know. Her blog should have a very wide readership. Not just RE, - Dawn Cox
• Mr Sheptsone - Still technically part of the RE gang, despite teaching Maths - Mark Shepstone 
• The Cursed Figtree - After much nagging and behind the scenes rants, we convinced Neil to blog. He's great - Neil McKain
• Becky Sefton's Ramblings -Becky really should blog more, all she writes is excellent - Rebecca Sefton 
• The Golden Calf - The voice of reason in a world of mad RE. Some excellent take-downs, especially of EdExcel and aspects of GCSE RS - Rob Orme

There are more excellent RE bloggers here

Staffrm

This is a lovely site with a real community feel. People to check out;

• Helena Marsh
• Stephen Lockyer
• Leah Sharp
• David Rodger
• Jennifer Hart
• Abigail Mann
• Jill Berry
• Claire Bracher

Starter For Five

A special mention for this blog project for those new to teaching with lots of 'Top Tips 5': here

Who have I missed?

Image: http://thegunnrange.com/2015/10/08/pixar-releases-the-release-dates-for-future-sequels-including-the-incredibles-2/

ALL the RE Blogs

Image courtesy of Alice Walker

A few months back, after some frustration at some aspects of Twitter and Save RE (on Facebook), I set up #BlogSyncRE. This consisted of a website and a Twitter account which shared RE blogs. Since May, this has seen many first time RE bloggers, sharing some really good and insightful stuff. See more here: www.BlogSyncRE.org.uk and www.twitter.com/BlogSyncRE

There was some concerns... someone told me they didn't think it was a good idea as there would be a whole load of rubbish, another told me of their hatred of any kind of blogsync as everyone just writes the same thing. Thankfully, to date, neither of these have been the case.  

Now Andrew Old has begun setting up subject specific Echo Chamber's and I have been given the task of managing the RE & Philosophy one: https://thereandphilosophyechochamber.wordpress.com/

My task is now this... how do we bring the two together?

I thought about "REflections (on RE)" (too cheesy?) with a Facebook page and Twitter publishing all the blogs from the Echo Chamber and perhaps rebranding the BlogSyncRE site to something to match.

I am conscious that updating the current BlogSyncRE site is slightly laborious and time consuming and whether it worth maintaining with the Echo Chamber?

I welcome thoughts, questions, ideas and comments from the RE community who will obviously be the main users of these! But equally feel free to chip in...

#BlogSyncRE - www.BlogSyncRE.org.uk

After many months of thinking and planning, I was prompted into action by recent events on Save RE. Tone, intention and meaning can be confused, or mistaken on Twitter or during Facebook exchanges. This is one of the reasons that blogging is a really useful exercise. It allows you to consider your ideas, look for evidence, write up carefully and explain yourself with out interruption. However, discussion can then flow about the topic you have picked, questions can be asked and responses written.

I used to enjoy Chris Waugh's education blogsync (see <here>) and it helped me develop my writing style and got my blog out to a wider audience. It helped me establish my blog and a readership. 

The question is, could the RE community have it's own blogsync? Is there enough writers to make it work? The activity on things such as #REChatUK, where topics are discussed in a frenzy, as well as Save RE and it's new sister group RE Teacher's Forum on Facebook suggested that there may be. 

There has also been some suggestions that the education world is too dominated by white/male/straight people. I want the BlogSyncRE to actively challenge that and give an opportunity to every voice in RE. It is not limited to RE teachers, and anyone who wants to write about RE is more than welcome to partake. If you know someone who can make the debate more inclusive, demonstrating the variety of religion and religious education in the UK, please let them know about the project. 

EVERYONE is invited to join in. If you don't have a blog already, set one up... Neil McKain has just joined us this week, read his first blog post <here>. Staffrm has also encouraged many others to join blogging recently with it's own story, really filled with narrative, find it <here>. 

Please publicisie this as widely as possible. It is deliberately not tied to any group in the RE world, this can mean editorial process or 'politics'. Just like the #REconsult blog I (successfully?) ran during the RE GCSE/A-Level consultation period (see <here>), there was 'no holds barred' and no topic too controversial. However, we hope all the RE world will get behind this and share posts widely.

I do not run or control #BlogSyncRE. I am just using my expertise, passion, desire and enthusiasm for some real RE debate to enable this to happen. I am more than happy for anyone to help me with the admin and I am more than happy to receive feedback, suggestions for improvement etc. 

In the meantime, check out and share the website: www.BlogSyncRE.org.uk

Plus vote for our first topic <here>

No Time, Too Busy...

Image courtesy of Nomindsvision

I really do love to blog, especially about recent CPD I've attended, ideas I've had and read and generally my life as teacher. It helps to take stock, to reflect, to see who agrees and who will do battle with me via Twtiter.

However, I am really struggling for time at the moment and I suspect I am not alone. I write this reluctantly knowing I should still be powering on with my Y11 mock marking. I've decided to treat myself as I am half way through... yet my classes return on Monday after two weeks and really my 'half way' point should have been last weekend. Ah there's the guilt.

A few things I've done and not really had time to write about:

• SLT Camp - A really, fun inspiring weekend in the middle of Cambridgeshire. Amazing hosts, great food, excellent company, interesting content... I am not SLT and I think it may be a few years off yet, but I'm learning and getting ready for when the day comes. I've always said that "I'll walk before I run" and if/when I make the transition, I want to do it well.
• NATRE: Improving RE through coaching and mentoring course - A fantastic day in Canary Wharf with some exceptional RE teachers learning the basics of coaching and mentoring. Plus discussing the merits of 'Save RE' Facebook group and eating amazing cake.
• TM Havering 3 - Me and Martin (ICT Magic) pulled this off in an afternoon after Andy (aknill) was sadly taken ill. It was a brilliant evening; thanks so much to all who came and made it happen. Any takers for TM Havering 4? I really can't do a 4th...
• CatholicREsource - This site feels like a strange thorn in my side. I passionately believe in it and the feedback I have had has been truly humbling. However, it seems to be hard to get off the ground without the time and resources. I really believe in teachers helping teachers, yet it's hard to get the word out, and hard to get people to contribute. I guess everyone is just as busy as me... A slow burner maybe.
• The London RE Hub - This project is going to be amazing. Even without publishing any speakers, we have sold nearly 20% of the tickets for the March conference. It's going to be focussed on subject knowledge and improving RE in the London area. It has to be good, and the RE people I am getting to work with are truly brilliant.
• Staffrm - I have finally blogged! This site is a really nice addition to the blog circuit and I think that it will compliment, my sometimes long, sometimes project promoting, sometimes 'not really contributing anything to the blogging community' posts on here. Stephen (MrLockyer) says he can post during a break time?
• #REconsult - The new GCSE and A-Level RE consultation has been crazy and I set up a blog to try and share views. Plus try and keep up on Twitter. RE teachers care a LOT.
• UKEdMag - I've written an article on teaching the Nativity. The December Issue will be published very soon... 

I have also frequently struggled in my role as Head of Year 10. There has been laughter, tears, impossible situations and yet so much joy and reward. I'm also a busy 2nd in RE, and the charity initiatives and events in this term are never ending. I have realised that my time in school is not my own, and my marking and planning is hard to fit in. I get in to school at 7am and leave (when kicked out) at 5.45pm and I am now doing more work than ever at home.

Would I change any of this?

I don't think so. In all the projects I work on outside of school, I am fortunate to be working with amazing people. They keep me going and make me a better teacher. Could I do with a bit more sleep? Sure! A little less stress? Naturally.

You just may have to wait a little longer between blog posts.