How To Enjoy Your Summer

So the holidays have arrived - yay! But how can you now make sure you enjoy the summer and not spend the next 6 weeks worrying about what September will bring?

What you can do now will be slightly different depending on whether you have just completed your NQT year (well done you!) or if you’re just about to begin your ECT year (new terminology for you guys and well done on qualifying!)

Don’t worry, I’ve got you?- I will cover both.?

If you haven’t managed to secure a position yet, don’t worry - there will be positions that come up at all different points in the year. For ideas on how to secure a position, I have written an e-book with lots of hints and tips on ‘How to get your first primary teaching role’: https://intrigueteaching.kartra.com/page/Ebook

If you are an NQT

You have just finished your first year of teaching - well done! You are probably already in a school where you have spent your first year, and in most cases will stay in the same classroom. If that is the case, your classroom is probably already pretty ready for your return in September apart from a few extra bits you will need to adjust when you return - there are normally a few inset days when you return with some time given in class to give you time to sort this (re-labelling children trays, name tags, re-backing walls etc).

If you are in the same school but are moving classrooms, the school again may give you some extra time to do this but make sure you reuse many things that you have used this year - subject board lettering for example (one of the only things you need to laminate!).

The only other thing I would say to have ready before you down tools for a few weeks is to make sure you have your first week back planning done - this may be something you return to the week before September, but believe me, if you have the basic plan in place, it will give you greater peace of mind and you won't feel so panicky as September approaches.?

If you are about to be an ECT

For you, pretty much everything will be new (unless you secured a job in your placement school, but highly unlikely). So you will be starting a new school - hopefully you have had a chance to visit the school, see where your classroom will be and perhaps meet your new class. Don’t worry if you haven’t had an opportunity to do some or any of these - you will get to know these quickly in September!

Setting up your first class - what can you plan for now? The main things that I would suggest is to have a few things ready to be printed off for when you return - things such as name tags for pegs and trays (Twinkl have some great templates), as well as lettering for subjects for boards (again, I suggest Twinkl or word art on Microsoft Word where you can embed images into the lettering). These may take a bit of time to create but will be displayed all year so make them nice. This is a great job to have done!

There is also tray labels that may need updating (my Reduce your workload bundle has lots of things already created for you - follow the link: https://intrigueteaching.kartra.com/page/Workload9)

I would also recommend that you check to see opening times of the school during the holidays - some schools have certain weeks they are open. You are not expected to go in every day!!! I would go in and think about the layout of the room and what you might need to get sorted, such as backing walls and organising tables. This will ease the time pressure in September when you find you have a lot of unexpected jobs to do!

Having an idea of what your class will look like will ease anxiety about what to expect in September.

For wherever you are in your career

So, my advice would be for things that could be done now (try to have these done this week to make sure that you can really relax for the next few weeks!)

1. Have your first week back planned - it may not even be a full week so keep this in mind. Think about the types of activities that you plan for. The first few days should be to get-to-know-the-children type activities - use investigations, problem solving, discussions, creative type activities so you can really get a feel for the class.
2. Have your medium term plan in place for the first term - know what topic it is that you are covering and take time to research and really learn about what it is you will be teaching.
3. Have basic admin jobs completed - name tags etc
4. Have a basic plan for your classroom. Think about what you may display in the class, what will your reading corner look like? How will you promote extending vocab in class?
5. Take time to research topics that you will be covering in the year - planning will come much easier when you have greater knowledge in the topic!

How to organise your time

This is a really important factor over the holidays, especially when you are new in your career. It’s great to have 6 weeks off, but be aware that time will fly (while you're having fun!). You don’t want to leave everything until September, this is where unnecessary anxiety and stress will kick in - not how you want to start the first term back!

Think about almost timetabling the summer - you need to make sure that you have weeks off but also put aside time to get things ready so that you feel confident when it comes to September.

Example could be (and remember, it doesn't have to be every day, all day - do it at a leisurely pace!):

And to finish….

Just remember, being a bit planned relieves underlying stress.

Don’t leave things and let them build up, get ahead of yourself - in this career, that is probably the best piece of advice I can give anyone. Teaching is a challenging and busy but very rewarding career - however, the ‘to do’ list is never ending! You will always have the next job to do and things will turn up that you hadn’t expected to have to sort at a certain time.

So keep ahead of yourself - I always made sure I was planned a full week ahead of what I was teaching - this allows time to adjust it through the week if needed and no scrabbling about Sunday and worrying what you were teaching that week!! You should be slightly ahead of yourself anyway so you are clear on the sequencing of your teaching.

Any admin jobs that come in - forms to fill in extra, do it as soon as you receive them - don’t let this build up as they will!!

Contact people if you are unsure about something - don’t sit and worry over the summer about something you are unsure about. Either contact your mentor or a fellow staff member, whoever you have contact with. Do remember they are on their holidays too though so don’t necessarily expect a reply straight away!?

If you’re not already a member, join our facebook group The Intriguing brigade for ideas, support and training all aimed at preparing you in your early stages of your career. Follow the link:?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/265684944920000

Take time to relax - you have a busy year, whether you were an NQT or trainee, and you will need time to reset ready for September - you will need to make sure you feel refreshed, relaxed and excited for the next year of your career!

Look out for the next few blogs - they will look at ways to enjoy your summer and take creativity from your experiences to create engaging learning for the children back in the classroom, how trips can be used to support learning and how to prepare for September.

Read them at your own leisure - enjoy the next few weeks - you deserve it!