Why I won’t be adding to my series revisiting my NQT year

Apologies for the clickbaity title! My very first blog, published on April 1st 2020, was as good a beginning to a blog by a teacher as I could have come up with. September was a fluffy, upbeat, optimistic account of that first month in the classroom, reflecting how I felt about it at the timeContinueContinue reading “Why I won’t be adding to my series revisiting my NQT year”

NQT/ECT Advice #4

How to prepare for a supply teacher I studied at university for three years to become a teacher, (‘become a teacher’ on paper at least, I wouldn’t say I’m there yet!) and not once did this topic come up in taught sessions, lectures or even in conversation – we just never thought about it! ButContinueContinue reading “NQT/ECT Advice #4”

Resolve

Or, keeping calm and carrying on https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4c/b3/66/4cb366c455ecc08786d89e8c7cf234a4.jpg I have been fairly resilient for a long time. Setback after setback has tried to stop me living my dream, but here I am, the end of my NQT year a hair’s breadth from my grasp. I had rather hoped that my crusade of forced resilience might comeContinueContinue reading “Resolve”

NQT/ECT Advice #3

What do I do in my first week? This was requested on Twitter by @miss_jwoodcock – I hope there’s something helpful in among all this! I think this is the blog I would have most wanted to read myself, as an NQT-to-be. There was so much running through my head, and despite all my placementContinueContinue reading “NQT/ECT Advice #3”

NQT/ECT Advice #2

On Rejection… I wrote this in the wake of what initially felt like the end of the world: being unsuccessful in interviewing for a further maternity cover at my school, that would have allowed me to stay for another year. I was crushed because I’ve loved working at that school, with wonderful children and fantasticContinueContinue reading “NQT/ECT Advice #2”

NQT/ECT Advice #1

What can I do over the summer to get ready? This was requested by @Miss_Grimmer on Twitter, and it’s actually been quite nice to reflect on what I did last summer, what I didn’t do and what I maybe should have done! I hope there’s something useful in here for soon-to-be NQT’s thinking about theContinueContinue reading “NQT/ECT Advice #1”

November

While this is an addition to my NQT series, it is equally an entry for the #DailyWritingChallenge, under the heading of ‘perseverance.’ November was a long, hard slog for me: not a month I will forget in a hurry for sure. I moved out of my parents’ house, for that first taste of independence andContinueContinue reading “November”

October

This is the second in my series of NQT Year blogs, looking back and reflecting on each month. Now, October, where I tried to keep afloat, sometimes with success and other times with less than that… “[My headteacher] told me today that I’m smiling again.”Tuesday, 1st October 2019 As the leaves began to change, soContinueContinue reading “October”

September

All good stories have a solid starting point, don’t they? My NQT story began in September 2019, and thanks to my meticulous journaling habit, I can piece together a fairly accurate account of my first month as a teacher. Maybe it will be useful to someone just embarking on their NQT journey (provided, of course,ContinueContinue reading “September”