The Friday before last was the last day of SE1 aka the first placement school of my PGCE. It was a sad day given that I’d had such a good time not just teaching in the school but also with the staff and fellow PGCE students. Like anything in life it had to come to an end but it does feel like that first breakup with your first ever school boy/girlfriend. Perhaps I’m being a bit melodramatic.
We had a week back in Uni which was a blessing and a curse; it was good to catch up with all the students on my course again and swap (horror) stories and sound out what our prospective new schools were like. The downside to this however is the impending deadline of “Rhetoric to Reality”, a horrible 5k essay based on primary research in schools. Me and essays never got on, hence doing all technical/IT related subjects since GCSE but obviously I hated myself enough to put myself through even more essays. That’s not to say the content it particularly dull, but I’d be resentful to write 5k words on how awesome I am, that’s how much I hate writing essays.
Looking past the near horizon-blocking essay deadline to my new school (which I’ve already spent two days in), is exciting. Having previously been in an all-girls school, I’m really looking forward to teaching some mixed classes. There definitely seems to be a different atmosphere when it comes to ICT in mixed schools compared to all-girls. The department setup is different in a few ways too, so it’ll be good to get more experience.
Which brings me on to jobs. It’s coming up to that time when we’re all scouting around for jobs which is both scary and exciting. I’m currently in the process of applying for my first one which is a definite learning experience; I’ll post something further on jobs I think though.