The Dream Departure...

After all the stress and angst of May and June, my last day was amazing!  Everyone went out of their way to make sure that I had an incredible time.  The teddy on the right is a gift from my registration group.  The Year 10 girls know that I love bears and took an immense amount of trouble to find the right one from the bear shop in Stratford on Avon.  His name is 'Elgar' (after the pastoral college that my form belonged to).

We spent the weekend at the Club Marcos International Rally at the Abbey Hotel Malvern and Shelsey Walsh Hill Climb.  Our Silver car was at the top of the row in the car park at the hill climb - which was an irresistible opportunity to take a photo of lots of "Marcos Noses"!!

Now I'm slowly coming off the adrenaline and feeling pretty optimistic about the next phase of life.  I'm steadily collecting piano pupils for next term.... and I hope that there will be more harp pupils once word gets out.  As a result, I'm already better off than I expected and happy to be more 'financially confident' at this stage.  (I do have got a two year 'transition pot' which would cover no income at all for 24 months.... but it's nice to feel that I'm not having to rely on it.)

I've also started to 'get to grips' with several health issues - not least a slightly 'rusty' basic fitness.  I started my walking regime with 8 miles along the John Corbett Way (a meandering collection of lanes, footpaths, towpaths and bridleways between Bromsgrove and Droitwich) yesterday morning.  It was a perfect day for walking - a little overcast but mostly dry...  This afternoon we did another couple of miles round the village and I don't feel too cranky!

I saw a different doctor at the health centre on Monday and she has referred me for an MRI scan and blood tests.  I've been putting all of this off while I was dealing with the chaos at school.  Now it's nice to think that I have the time to put myself first for a while.  I must confess that I haven't found the transition from work to 'retirement' (sort of..) at all difficult.  I'm sure that there will be days when I will miss the 'busy' atmosphere of being surrounded by 100s of pupils - especially those that I knew really well and cared for particularly - but the absence of that enormous stress is completely liberating.  I have more emotional energy, and I can feel that this is giving me more physical energy too.

The rather difficult journey to this point has been totally worth it!!!
Jx

The Last Day..

Tomorrow is my last day of classroom teaching!

The last few days have been full of incredible things...

Pupils - and the colleagues that I'm close to - have been

lovely, kind and generous with their good wishes.

My leaving concert was everything that I wished for...and more.

My lounge looks like a florists...

I've never had so many cards on one occasion..

And my dining room table is covered with unexpected and carefully chosen presents...

After all the difficulties, this has been a lovely way to close this chapter in my life.

I'll post properly over the weekend.

Jx

A little bit weepy....!

 

This evening Mark took our eldest niece to her Year 13 Prom.

(She's on the right in this photo)
There were times when she's really struggled with things over the last couple of years - so it's great to see her reach this stage in her life.

 

With less than 10 days to go, I'm starting to tick off jobs that are unlikely ever to be repeated in my life..

~ the last Sports Day (no tears there... I've never been a fan!)

~ the last lesson with some of my Year 10s who are doing extended work experience placements (weepy!)

~ the last reports and data collections (sadder than you might think because I know how hard these children have worked)

~ lots of marking jobs (which won't be missed)

~ The last Key Stage 3 Presentation Evening rehearsals start tomorrow (could be weepy too..!)

 

Ex-pupils and parents have been dropping in cards and good wishes for the future - which has been really nice.  I had a particularly lovely chat with an ex-pupil this evening who, at the age of 17, is starting his own business in creative media.  He struggled with dyslexia all the way through school so it's wonderful to see his maturity and confidence.  He really deserves to do well.

 

Next week pupils and ex-pupils are going to put on a 'Leaving Gig' for me.

Now that's definitely going to be weepy!!!!!!

Jx

Time's Dribbling Through My Fingers...

This post follows on from my post in May - You Couldn't Make This One Up. 

So, since May half term holiday, OR and I have been plodding along...

~ I've completed the Level 2 Btec External Verification process for the current Year 11
cohort. (That's been masses of work.)

~ I've been constantly pushing between times for the SMT to finalise the timetable,

responsibilities and some kind of appropriate payment.

(Time consuming - but absolutely nothing to show for it)

~ LS (the NQT who is joining OR in September) has come to the school for a few twilight
meetings.  (She's getting cold feet and I reckon she won't last til Christmas)

~ There's been some informal concerts and community events, so the 'goodbyes' have started.

~ I've also written all the Year 9 and Year 10 reports.

 

The whole hand over process was just waiting for  C. to come back on 22nd June.

She came back for one day....... and then disappeared for the rest of the week!

OR had to continue teaching all her classes, so we've hardly done any hand over work. 

The big question is... "Will she come back tomorrow or - go to the Doctors and get signed off for this week?"

 

I am actually pretty stressed about this.

I'm also pretty close to exhausted, which is why I'm not doing a great deal of blogging at the moment.

 

From my point of view, the main problem is that OR is also pretty 'needy'.

She would love me to sit down with her and 'hold her hand' as she goes through all her planning for next year.  Sadly I don't have time to do this.  I have already given her all the documents that I have written which could be manipulated into useful stuff for 2015/6.  I've put electronic copies of all my worksheets into a folder on the shared drive.  I've also looked at her plans for the changes to the Key Stage 3 curriculum and compiled hard copies of these worksheets into a folder for her use.
 

If C. is in tomorrow then OR is just going to have to get on with things for herself.

She is off timetable completely tomorrow while I have a full teaching day (plus a substantial amount of Year 9 and Year 10 marking).

 

On Friday morning I bumped into the lovely lady who is just retiring from a role as peripatetic piano teacher for the local music service.  She knows that I'm leaving too, so jokingly asked me "Have you started to find stuff that you'd completely forgotten about at the back of filing cabinets?"

I looked at her completely pathetically and said "Chance would be a fine thing!"

 

A curious side-effect of all of this is that I'm also getting 'cold feet' about our change in financial situation.  I know that I'm not being rational, but I think that it's because I'm over-tired.

 

15 more days to go.... EEEEK!

Jx 

25 Days To Go..

Early morning sunshine in my classroom...

 

This room has been my life since 2006......

The walls are filled with photo memories of concerts, trips and projects..

 

My desk will need some sorting out soon.

I can't leave this level of chaos for the next teacher.

I know what's in each pile - but most of it is pretty irrelevant

and can probably find it's way to the re-cycle bin..

 

I love the light in my room at 7.30 in the morning...

 

 

but soon this is going to be my new sun-filled work space.... 

 

 

Recently my colleagues have started to ask me what it feels like to be leaving.

My answer at the moment is "Weird."

I feel more muddled and emotional than I expected.

Some of the time I feel really quite scared...

...even though I know that the next phase of my life is going to exciting and different.

 

To be honest - I'm just not great at change.

But I'm sure that I'll get my brain round it soon!!!

Jx