In her final year of training, Emily started applying for NQT positions. She was excited but this started to dwindle and after a number of interviews, she had to come to the realisation that she wouldn’t have a position in September so she signed up to supply work. She has some powerful advice for others.
When Carol saw a Tweet from The Mathematical Association, she couldn’t miss the opportunity to get her views about the Maths GCSEs heard. Was she getting heard?
‘I considered taking my own life but a single song hitting the radio where I was staying stopped me. It was time to claim my life back.’
A challenge for you and your team. In his second blog for Nexus, Carl wants you to reflect on how things have changed for you and your teaching career.
This is a really simple way of hooking the kids and encouraging them to find out about a new book. Whether it’s your class novel or a text you are focusing on, all you have to do is wrap up the book, write a message on it and leave it in the library for the kids to discover. I guarantee that most of the class will be desperate to find out what the book is. Then, it’s up to you to do the final reveal!
The book in this video is Escape from Pompeii by the wonderful artist and author, Christina Balit. Go check it out.
‘Maisey’ fell in love with teaching at 10 and nothing was going to stop her helping others. Nothing, until the paperwork and bureaucracy took over. She argues, ‘who is it all for?’
Based on research, metacognition adds an average of 7 months additional progress and is one of the cheapest strategies. Now many teachers and senior leaders are looking to implement it at their school. But what actually is it? And most importantly, how can we help students develop it?
As a mum of two who’s a qualified teacher/SENCO, I’m a big believer in creating learning opportunities through play at school and at home. I even set up my own site to share ideas with parents and teachers of children with Special Educational Needs, The SEN Resources Blog, but what activities can you do at home and what skills can you help develop?
‘When I set up Teacher5aday Buddy Box I wasn’t exactly in the best of places – mentally or literally. I was struggling with workload, high expectations and my own refusal to accept I was struggling.’
Victoria Hewett (Mrs Humanities) shares the story of why she set it up and how it helps others.
One minute you’re OK. You’re on top of the marking, still planning interesting lessons, tired but with something in reserve. […] Then, often out of nowhere, something unexpected saps your energy and resilience in one fell swoop. […] Sleep simply doesn’t touch the fatigue you feel and no amount of pep talk, caffeine or determination can lift the blues that have settled. You’re running on empty. This is burnout.
Deficits can hit any school at any time – they can be the result of a demographic change and the related funding shortfalls and changes, unforeseen staffing issues or the school roof blowing off!
Stuart Fern, Finance Director at One Education has some advice.