A week in Bromsgrove

It's been great this week doing something completely different!

On Monday, I drove up to Bromsgrove to help set up IH Bristol's first summer school there. I'm working with my lovely friend who I've worked with a long time until I defected to state-school teaching! We also have a great team of teachers, so it all boded well! We had a couple of days of induction; setting up the teachers' room, discussing IH policies, levels and testing ready for the arrival of the teens (78) and kids (27) on Wednesday. It's all gone pretty smoothly and we've all settled into a good routine - we live just off site in a boarding house, all meals provided and access to the gym. So we're eating extremely well, but at least we have the opportunity to work it off!!

I came home on Friday evening and the plan was to spend the weekend camping (well, glamping in a nice little cabin) and visiting the Cheddar Gorge and caves before supporting my other half in the Cheddar half marathon on Sunday. However the delightful British summertime has scuppered our plans - with flood warnings for Somerset we decided against shivering in a box all weekend and stayed home instead. It's been quite productive though - we did a bit of DIY, put up a table in the kitchen, got feeding bowls and litter trays all set up for our new arrival tomorrow!! We're picking up our cat tomorrow, and very excited to help her settle in and get to know her!

Of course we've been watching lots of tennis - Serena Williams winning her 5th Wimbledon title, and now we're enjoying the Men's doubles, wooo!! Very very excited about Murray's final tomorrow, and hoping the weather is bright.

It's been lovely to be home (and warm and dry) and just relax for a bit before heading back northwards tomorrow evening.

.. and I'm done

So I thought my last blog was overdue.. It's now been 8 months since my last post!! Apologies, blogfans, if you're still out there!!

It's been a pretty busy few months, got into my GTP, had some lows and had to really pull my finger out to get it done. After a struggle with confidence, I managed to sort myself out and I was relieved to be signed off with a good report at the end of May. I finally finished my teaching block on Friday. I had the Year 3 class, and although they are a really challenging group, I was really sad to leave them as I was just starting to feel like we were building a good relationship and trust, especially with the trickier characters. We trainees had our graduation ceremony on Tuesday. Of the 15 who started, 11 of us finished, so a real achievement for us all.

I also got a job for September, but I was so stressed for a while, as I sent out 17 job applications with only 1 interview.. so I am thrilled that I'll be working at my swap school permanently after the summer. I can't wait! I really enjoyed my block there and I'll have the Year 5 class which is exactly what I'd wanted.

Tomorrow I start a 4 week contract back at my old job, it's also going to be really busy but much less pressure than the last 9 months!! I'm looking forward to meeting my new kids and doing a bit more admin instead of lots of teaching.

Away from work, all is well. We're off camping next weekend, and picking up our new adopted cat!! It's very exciting. More details will follow about her I'm sure. We'll be off up to Scotland for a few days at the end of July for a wedding and big family catch up in the Northeast, and we're off to Italy for a couple of weeks in August. Really looking forward to a massive rest before starting to look forward to my NQT year!

Oh, I just also add that I've been getting fit this year too. In January I started Crossfit, which is fab and although I can only make it once a week, I've noticed a difference already in my shape and strength. I'm starting to enjoy exercising and have also rejoined pilates, and gave Spin ago (probably for the first and last time...) I'm going to have to have a few weeks off, but luckily I'll have access to a pool and gym so hopefully I can still get some exercise ready for putting my bikini on in August...!

I'll try to post more regularly..!

Hasta luego!x