End of training year

I can’t quite believe I am writing the end of year summary, firstly I am surprised at how fast this year has gone and secondly, I am not quite sure how to sum up a whole year in just one blog!

This year has been challenging to say the least, but I can summarise how I got through it in one word. Relationships.

I started the year not knowing any of the people that make up most of the top 20 of my most recent WhatsApp messages. I have ended the year surrounded by people that I can’t imagine going forwards into my ECT year without.

Firstly, come my maths cohort at university, our tutor chose an amazing group of people and we created a WhatsApp group on the first day. It has been a lifeline, great source of collaboration and a place to facilitate a last-minute panic “where’s the link to hand in the assignment!?”

Two weeks after that I met the staff that I would be spending the majority of the year with (and my new colleagues). The most important of these was my mentor. I was fortunate to find a mentor who had likeminded high expectations of the year and was willing to push me (at my request) to become the best teacher I could be. The rest of the maths department were equally as welcoming and generous with their spirit and time. This department has helped me through a tough year in a school that I wouldn’t have been brave enough to choose on my own and always make time to help each other.

Meeting the rest of the staff through a variety of different situations helped me to broaden my view of the school and I have become more aware about the many different career pathways that working in a school can lead you to. Every single person at my placement school made a difference to my day and I was always able to begin and end with a smile from the receptionist and office staff as I entered in the morning, to the amazing cleaners that arrive at the end of the school day and breathe some fresh life back into the school.

I am indebted to the people that I have met this year and guided me through my journey to QTS and cannot think of any single thing more important.

I am lucky to have my PGCE mentor again next year as my ECT mentor and I’ll also have a phone full of contacts if I ever need a hand.

By Sarah-Jane Smith

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