I did it my way! Bye for now.

I apologise for the lack of posts. I put it down to being in mourning. I am mourning the fact the PGCE course is over, the friends that have been made are now going separate ways and school term begins in just 4 weeks. I am nervous about starting in September with my own class. Do I feel ready? Has the course provided me with the confidence and skills to survive the teaching world? I felt confident at the end of placement 3 but now we are on holidays it feels as if it is all slipping away. I guess the craft of teaching doesn’t go, it is just the familiarity and being in the zone that fades. I cannot wait for the new term really and the challenging but exciting 1st year as an NQT I have ahead of me. One other thing I have to look forward to is my wife is having our first child.. Guess when it is due…. 3rd September. It is going to be one interesting month!

So I am signing off of this website for now as I spend my summer relaxing and also time to think about where to take the site next. Do I start a new one for NQT’s? I feel I should leave this site for those embarking on their PGCE in the future. Tell me what you think I should do and what people might like to read.

Only 2 and a half weeks to go.

Has it really come around that fast? I remember clearly it was this time last year that I had not long had my course place confirmed and now I am graduating as a fully fledged teacher with my own class waiting for me. Phew.

I can tell all you readers that

The job arrived!

It was worth the wait. Last Wednesday I had a long day at an interview but the final result was me striking lucky and landing a great job teaching my own Year 3/4 class from September. The school is in Somerset and I have already been made to feel very welcome and part of the team. I have a chance to meet my new class on July 7th during the school’s transfer day. The wait has been entirely worth it because I firmly believe you just know when it feels like the right school and here I feel supported.

I wish all the other job hunters all the luck! Roll on September when Mr Stepney begins his teaching career.

Placement 3

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I last posted on this blog. I apologise to my readers! I have been updating Twitter regularly, so you can always follow me on there @primarypgce.

So I have started my 3rd and final placement! Year 5 class of 29 and a fantastic class they are. I have been made to feel very welcome and of course, very busy. Lectures finished before half term, so that signalled the end of the Somerset SCITT module learning and it is down to the last 6 weeks of placement before I am awarded my PGCE and NQT status. The time has flown by since September and a lot of learning has taken place. So for all those people who are about to embark on the PGCE next term, I wish you luck because it is great fun but also extremely exhausting. I will post again very soon about job updates, lesson ideas and the final countdown!

P.S. I had forgotten how fun Sports Day in school used to be. Had it this week and I was made to do the obstacle course, in front of all the parents, as an initiation test! What a laugh!

All change on the Gov front

The Department for Education was formed on 12 May 2010 and is responsible for education and children’s services. So, with our new government and the Rt Hon Michael Gove at the helm what can we expect to change? What are your thoughts on new appointments, SATS, funding and making teaching a Masters only career? Let me know!

Job apps and interviews

It is that time of year and for every PGCE trainee it is a nervous time because now we all need to find jobs and earn our NQT status. The job application form can seem long but it is also not the most important part. The letter of application (which accompanies the form), is vital because this is where you need to sell yourself to the Head of the school and tell them all the skills you can bring to the job!

I have just started to get interviews now and it was certainly not at the first attempt. Somerset is an area with few jobs and many, many applicants. I have been offered my second interview today and am still waiting to hear the result of my first one. Once I have a job confirmed I will post up my letter of application and any lessons that I have carried out. Feel free to read the letter and perhaps it may help you with ideas for your own!

Don’t be afraid of RE

I want to reassure you that RE is certainly not as daunting as it can seem! I have had this revelation that RE can in fact be fun for the children, informative and essential in increasing their global awareness of different cultures. For two days our PGCE group visited London and spent an afternoon at the historical London Central Mosque in Regents Park. I would recommend this type of visit for any teacher and a class of KS2 children because it can leave a lasting impression and learning can be directly linked to an emotional experience. In RE it is important not to delve to deep into each subject area but make the short engagements memorable, exciting and perhaps relate them with an experience to remember. For example, when the Last Supper is discussed, why not let the class have their own Passover meal to experience the Jewish event.
If you have some further ideas for good RE lessons then please share them here by adding a comment.

MFL – Essential for being a good citizen!

‘In the knowledge society of the 21st century, language competence and intercultural understanding are not optional extras, they are an essential part of being a citizen.’
Languages for All: Languages for Life – A Strategy for England 2002

Modern Foreign Languages and the new Primary Curriculum 2011.

The new curriculum will be statutory from September 2011 for all age groups with exception of the new languages element, the right for all primary children aged 7 upwards to learn a foreign language, which will be phased in over four years starting in Year 3.

I want to know if your school already covers MFL and to what level? If your school has not yet introduced MFL, how does it hope to go about it? Using NQT’s or training current staff?

Teacher acquitted of attempted murder and GBHI

I felt this was an interesting case for all teachers and how it was perceived by the public and judicial system.
Teacher Peter Harvey cleared of attempting to kill boy. A teacher who struck a pupil with a dumbbell has been acquitted of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Peter Harvey, 50, hit the 14-year-old with a 3kg (6.6lb) weight at All Saints’ Roman Catholic School, Mansfield, in July 2009, a jury heard.
The boy, who said he could not recall the attack, suffered a fractured skull.
Harvey had returned to work after being signed off with depression and stress for several months.
But the court heard he had been mocked by pupils moments before the attack.
He had denied attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but admitted a charge of causing grievous bodily harm without intent.
The jury at Nottingham Crown Court took less than two hours to clear the father-of-two.

Easter already… time flies.

Well it is already half way through the term break and Easter has passed me by. The end of my last placement was so busy with lessons and completing my file ready for tutorials that I didn’t get chance to update this blog unfortunately. I apologise. I do try to add updates via Twitter though so please follow me on Twitter @primaryPGCE .
Well there is only 1 more term left and I am now starting to submit job applications in the Somerset area. It is a very competitive area of the country with 170 applicants for a Year 5 teacher just last week. Wish me luck!
So finally in this post, I am writing an essay about the importance of studying the Global DImension in schools and how it can be embraced in a new creative curriculum. What are your thoughts? Do you have a strong following of the Global Dimension in your school already?

An exhausting experience!

Who ever said that working in schools was going to be easy? Placement 2 has been hard work and it has taken its toll on my health as I managed to catch a virus and be knocked out for 5 days. A whole week is a long time to miss out on but I have still managed to clock up the hours and pass my assessment. I have found Year 1 a challenge but it is one that I was have embraced more and more each week!

I am also busy now completing all the job applications I can for the local area and so far it is a dead end. The thing to remember is: Keep positive, keep going and don’t take no for an answer!

Ist week of Year 1 class.

It has been an exciting first week at my new school with a Year 1 class. This is my first experience with any Key Stage 1 group so I was very apprehensive, however after a few days of settling in, teaching my first lesson on the Wednesday and then taking the full day on Thursday it really allowed me to dig in and start learning new strategies. There are some challenging behaviour management skills to learn and also at what level to pitch my lessons at but this is all part of the learning process and I feel there is no better way than to really get in and try it. On Friday I was the class clown (for Book Week) and spent some time after our literacy lesson juggling on the playground with rings, battons and plate spinning! Oh what fun it is being a teacher!