Day 100: Half Way There

It's rather bittersweet that I'm writing this at the very end of half term. On the one hand, I'm exactly half way through the year; on the other hand, I've got to be in 6 hours and can't sleep.

So, yes. 100 days. I can't quite believe it myself. It's amazing to think of how far I and my fellow Teachy Firsties have come - and yet I don't like the idea of having to go through it all again. I know it's going to be easier than the first three half terms, but at the same time it's going to be exhausting.

After being away from the school for two whole weeks, I'm pretty nervous about going back tomorrow, so am writing this now because I can't sleep. I suppose I'll go back to the last day of term.

After meeting my colleagues for breakfast (they had inset so were treating themselves to a fry up) I ran to The Outstanding School a little late but excited about what I knew was coming that day. That's right - there were serenades a plenty!



In the three lessons I observed, I saw no less than 6 separate serenades, as well as hearing several more from neighboring classrooms, when the melodies floated in through the Victorian walls, to many a student's amusement. It was a lovely tradition that could never in a million years translate to our kids and our school, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

To be honest, after a week of observations and a nerve-wracking lesson, I was pretty exhausted by the Friday, and so politely sat in the corner of each classroom, diligently taking notes and listening in.

One class which astounded me the most was a year 7 group, where the students had to plan and perform oral stories based around Beowulf. Despite the three serenades interrupting ("OK, I'm going to give you ten seconds to talk about that, then ten seconds to calm down, then we're going to continue...") I saw about 8 students perform, and the first one BLEW MY MIND. The boy spoke for no less than three minutes, in VERSE. I couldn't believe it. He reeled it off like some sort of robot, and I had to keep propping my jaw up. It was incredible.

The rest of the day was nice (much like the rest of the week) and I ended it watching a year 11 drama class who were very lively but fun, and I sat watching a ramshackle rendition of Abigail's Party for a while. I was sad to leave, in a way, because the staff were so lovely, but I missed my school and my colleagues and, more than I expected, my kids. As it happened, I ran to the pub and joined my colleague in a rather long evening, but it was nice seeing them and catching up over a bit of karaoke.

I'm a little sad at how quickly half term flew by, especially as I didn't get all the marking done that I needed to but I did get to catch up with my lovely friends and saw my family too. I suppose I should go to bed now - school day starts in 5 1/2 hours. Ouch.