Back to reality

Well it looks like my summer holidays are over and the Autumn (not Fall, Autumn) school term has begun.  Time to wake up from the dreams of summer and get back to the reality of work!  It may seem strange to some, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to work.  Holidays are fun and I had an amazing trip around Europe, but I can only take so much vacation before wanting to get back into a routine/paycheck and doing something productive.  Its kind of like the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns - after a certain point there is increasingly less enjoyment out of each additional unit of vacation time... see, those Economics classes in university came in handy after all :).  Hmmm, I wonder if anyone has applied this law in this way before....

Speaking of work, Wednesday was my first day back.  It was an inset day (PA Day for the Canadians among us) so no kids so I sat in on the "Welcome Back" and "Behavioral Policy" meetings in the morning then assisted the other teachers in setting up their classrooms.  Our school was chosen to host a second Reception (Kindergarten) class this year which necessitated the building of a new classroom during the summer.  Now when I first heard about this at the end of last year, I was thinking "simple port-a-cabin" - small, flimsy and not very pleasant.  Boy was I wrong... looks like a permanent structure with the same carpeting and tiling as the rest of the school, 3 bathrooms, entrance area for coats and boots, large classroom and adjoining ITC suite.  Inside you don't even realize your not in the main school.  One thing I love about this school I'm at (at least for 3 days a week) is that everyone on staff gets along and helps out... everything for the Year 2 class was moved over in about an hour (including cabinets, tables and chairs).

In regards to my Thursdays and Fridays, nothing has been booked as of yet (well obviously if I'm writing this Friday morning....) but I have had a few leads.  Fingers crossed that one will pan out - supply days are rather scarce in the beginning of a term as teachers are just getting back from vacation so I'm really fortunate to have the days I do.   Just need to keep doing my eyes open and do a good job.  Let's make this year (potentially my last in England) the best possible!