Back to School Diaries - Cassie Hayward-Tapp

Hiya!??

I’m Cassie Hayward-Tapp. I’m a Year 6 teacher, English lead and co-run the choir at our school. As I head into my eighth year of teaching, I realise that I am finally starting to get the balance right. The first few years of my career saw me spending far too much of my summer in school or on my laptop, however, further down the line, I realised that this wasn’t working for me. Now, I think that I’m on the path to having it figured out.??

The thing that I like about the summer holidays is that it’s totally up to you how you spend your time: there’s no rule book telling you what to do so everyone is different in their approach. I usually start with ‘The Big Cupboard Clear Out’. By the end of the academic year, I’m finding random bits of Science equipment, mounds of paperwork and other resources that I’ve chucked onto the shelves and promised my TA that ‘I will sort that out later’.?So, this is later: I put on some loud music, dance around the room a bit and then spend a good few hours sorting and rearranging the cupboard. Once that is done, I always feel more ready for the academic year ahead: tidy cupboard, tidy mind!??

I’ve also done the odd bit of planning and resourcing - one of the things that I like about the summer holidays is that I can pick and choose when I want to dive into some work and I always find myself enjoying planning more in the summer. I’ve organised the first few weeks of English planning (we’ll be entering the Greek myth world), got my morning starters for the term ready, begun to refresh our whole school reading spine, written our daily affirmations for the year and done the classroom set up bits (peg labels and birthday stars to name but a few). I’ve scrolled through Twitter and Instagram, saving some ideas that I’d like to try (the calendar curtain pole hack for one) and chatted to my Y6 colleagues about some September ideas.??

In all honesty, though, I have found that, for me, one of the best things that I can do is take time to focus on me. I have found myself lying in the sun for hours nose deep in a book; going for lunches and dinners with friends; dancing to Christina Aguilera at Brighton Pride; spending happy hours bullet journaling and being creative; lying on Seaford beach in the sun; and I am now on holiday in Devon with my partner and my family. Looking ahead, I am going to go in and do my displays and a little more planning before we head into two INSET days. I am really looking forward to getting to know my new class! I am lucky enough to only have 22 pupils this year and I know that we are going to have so much fun discovering new books together, learning about the Ancient Greeks and making circuits in September!?

Follow @CassHT on Twitter for more updates from Cassie.