A Week til the end of term!!! Hanging on in there. Tired, and just waiting til the bell goes on Friday!!!

Tired and wet just about covers it!!!

Hailstorms in May, & when I'm camping aren't funny!!!

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged.

Things've been going pretty well, even if busy! It's Year 9 SATs week this week, and the first RE GCSE exam is a week tomorrow! Bit worried about that, as I'm still not sure the Year 11s know anything!

The bank holiday weekend was good - especially as it meant an extra day off school, and a well-needed rest! Spent some of it at o/h's cousin's wedding, and then went & spent the rest of it running around a field banging a drum. It was fun! Then back to school yesterday. Less than 3 weeks til half term now though.

On the whole, life is good, and better than it's really ever been; and to those people who have obviously decided that I am not one of the people in their life that they want to remember, despite pledges that our friendship would never end - I don't actually really care. If jealousy really means that you cannot include me in your life any more, so be it!

People do change - I know that both I, and my ambitions in life have, and now, I do have something that you would like to have, and that just presents too big a barrier to you. If you can't overcome that, then you're just not welcome in my life any more, and will only serve to bring me down. Even though what I perceive as my "vocation" in life has changed, it doesn't mean that God is any less important to me. It just means that what I think God is calling me to do is different.

The Easter holidays have been & gone, and back at school again now.

It's been an eventful few weeks since I last blogged...

Have spent a considerable amount of time shouting "the referee's a w......" at the TV screen as Tottenham were knocked out of the UEFA cup by the dirty cheating Sevilla...

It's only 4 weeks til the first Year 11 RE exams, and I must admit, I am nervous... Especially where Short Course are concerned, because they just don't care, & I don't see how I can help them if they don't work...

Other than that, things are fine, and for the first time in a while, I can say that I really am truly happy.

Two and a half weeks til Easter! Can't believe this term's gone so fast - it seems to have flown by. It doesn't seem to have been any where near as long, or as tiring as my first term, which has to be a good thing.

Thankfully, I seem to manage my classes better this term and everything. I'm also just starting to write schemes of work, as the KS4 scheme of work was only written up to October... All I need to know now is what GCSE papers the Year 10s will be doing; unfortunately this kind of vital information appears to be hidden from me!

At the minute, things are going pretty well generally, and I'm fairly happy. Things at school are good, and I have some good friends there who look after me - which is always a good thing...

Got the coolest present in the world today - maybe just to remind me of how young I am (I do make lots of mean comments about those people in the staffroom who are a significant number of years older - and probably wiser - than me), but maybe just to see if I'd go red; this appears to be a "game" in the staffroom at the minute! I got space dust - the stuff that pops in your mouth! It's great. And yes, I did go red, especially when people were trying to make me stick my tongue out while I was eating it, so they could hear it pop. So far, the spacedust is winning...

Year 9 parents' evening tomorrow, and then options evening on Monday... I've decided that it'll be easy compared to Year 11 parents' evening - I hate Year 11s!

Going away this weekend - to see my parents and grandparents - everybody's going to my grandparents. My little sister will be 7 on Friday, and I know we'll never be forgiven if we don't see her for her birthday, and it's also Mother's Day, so we decided the best thing to do is to try and keep my sister, my mother, and my grandmother all happy at the same time. The added bonus is that we're going to a Turkish & Greek restaurant for dinner on Sunday - I love Turkish food, and haven't had any for ages, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Other than that, I'm just waiting for the end of term really... Enjoying school at the minute, but time off is always welcome. The 12 weeks holiday a year has to be the main perk of teaching!

We're still struggling to find a church in Reading - have tried all of the Catholic ones, but none of them really feel right... I guess after going to Sacred Heart in Exeter for so long, my expectations are probably a bit high, and I'm going about finding a church in the wrong way... I think I've been looking for something a bit too much like Sacred Heart - the churches here just aren't like that! Not one of them has a music group every Sunday - they use an organ and choir. I guess I could try to learn to sing & join a choir... I miss being in a music group!

Have spent the last two days tiling a floor (yes, really), and now have sore knees (despite knee pads) and have discovered some leg muscles I didn't know existed. I'm not exactly jubilant about my discovery, as I have only found said muscles because they hurt! Today, we just have grouting to do, and then we have the rest of half term to ourselves.

Tiling has made my hands really hard and flaky - very distressing! guess at least now they match my dry face and legs!

It's half term! School's closed today, so just did some sorting out of stuff, but no children! I'm now half way through my NQT year, and the past half term just seems to have flown by, and I'm far less stressed and much more confident than before, so it looks like I might actually have a more enjoyable half term than before because I've actually got some energy left. I think it's partly because I have some lovely people who look after me well at school, and my tutor group are regularly visited by our year head just to remind them that they are being watched - it helps me too, and I know that I have support there when I need it.

Apparently, I have changed quite a lot this half term, and I'm better with the way I speak to the kids, & I'm not afraid to tell them off when they do bad things like stick their heads around the staffroom door - how dare they interrupt my lunch?!!! I've also started to be more "witty" (well, that's how I like to think of it, even if others wouldn't agree), and say things that are 'quite good by girl standards' like hysterical and historical, which I'm still quite proud of... & pointing out that I know who David Essex is because that's the kind of thing my grandparents play in the car - well maybe that was a bit harsh, but it was funny; I thought so any way.

I will miss verbally beating people up over half term - I'm hoping that I don't get too out of practise over the next week, that would be very upsetting.

Well, it's just one more week til half term, which is nice, and then we're off down to Exeter for the week. Should be nice.

Had two days off school this week because I was really ill - on Saturday evening last week, I just started sneezing, and by Sunday evening, I had a full blown flu type thing. So, Monday I slept, and Tuesday I shuffled around the house feeling sorry for myself. It really was not nice! Back to school on Wednesday though. Tried to get sympathy there, but as usual, they just made fun of me!

Was going to do Year 9 assembly yesterday - it would've been good. But no one told me that they were going to watch a Shakespeare thing, and so they didn't have assembly. I think it's just because everyone's scared that I'm going to get a clap again, & they're jealous. Last time I did assembly, I got a clap; I bet I would've done yesterday too. It's not my fault Head of Year assemblies don't get claps too! Never mind. I'll do my assembly next week, and I'll still get a clap then, so everyone'll still be jealous.

Well, this week for the first time ever, snow did not have any real effect on the rail network, and so on Wednesday, I missed my train to school by 2 minutes... I didn't know it'd been snowing til I left the house at 6:50, and the snow somewhat impaired my usually brisk walk to the station!

For the past two days, we have once again found ourselves orphaned in the RE department, as our head of department has been ill. And, this afternoon, due to a cover teacher who couldn't quite manage the Year 10 class, I looked after two classes at once. I was amazed, and rather happy about the fact that my own class sat quietly and got on with their work whilst I prevented mayhem from breaking out next door...

Tomorrow, we're going to London, and on Sunday, will be marching on Whitehall, as tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of Charles I. Sadly, I will be unable to carry a musket, as I hurt my hand last week stopping a fight between two Year 8s. I'm fairly gutted, but such is life.

We will be marching down Whitehall properly dressed as English Civil War soldiers, which is historical, as opposed to being properly dressed in Star Trek uniform, which is simply hysterical - apparently my use of the play on words was quite good - for a girl, any way! And no, I have never dressed in a Star Trek uniform!!!

Another new week; more annoying children. One of my Yr 11s thought it was funny to throw drink all over my classroom today, so he's coming to pick chewing gum off my tables after school tomorrow.

Other than that, not much exciting is going on at the minute. Been writing reports, and hurting my eyes (by writing reports)... Very tired, & feeling a bit grotty because of it. Oh well!

It's been ages since I blogged, but I have been busy. Done 2 weeks back at school now, and this term has started off better than the last one finished, and the kids seem to have accepted / become resigned to the fact that they haven't managed to drive me away!!!

Been observed twice already, but both of my lessons were good, so only have to be observed once more!

Year 9've been a pain, but we've been year-head-less, cos he hurt his back putting on his socks!! So, I think that at least partly explains why the kids've been bouncing off the walls - us tutors just don't have quite the same effect when we tell them off. Also, I don't have space in my classroom to have 'cupboard buddies'. I think we'll all be glad when he's back at school!

Any way, off to see my grandparents now. It's not too far to go and see them from here; we're staying over night, and it's definitely well worth it for the Sunday roast we'll get tomorrow!