Not A Frumpy Mum

Dear Parents, Pease Support Us!

Dear Parents, Pease Support Us!

Dear Parents/Guardians, On Wednesday morning I know there will be disruption to your normal routine. Your childs school may be closed. Or you may have one child in, whilst the others has the day off. Guaranteed to cause at least one very upset kid, and one very smug one. I’m sure you will be muttering about how inconvenient it is. How teachers are just being a nuisance, whinging on again about their bloody pensions! I’ve seen the comments on my Facebook feed, us teachers are a selfish lot! Before you jump on the teacher bashing bandwagon, please take a step…

View Post

What happened to letting kids be kids?

What happened to letting kids be kids?

Another day, another new idea about how to improve education. Paul Kirby, an ex government adviser, thinks school days should be 8:30am until 6pm and for 45 weeks a year. In his opinion, this will be a real vote winner in the next election. As a teacher and a parent I hate this idea from both angles. As a teacher I know how hard that final lesson of the day is. The kids are knackered and are starting to switch off. I don’t blame them, a full day of learning is tiring. I can’t even begin to imagine how they’d…

View Post

Who Do You Want Teaching Your Kids?

Who Do You Want Teaching Your Kids?

When I first started this blog, it was primarily to be a way to record my boys early years, and whilst I figured my job would creep into it from time to time it’s starting to become a bit of a regular fixture on here. I’ve already blogged today but after seeing this advert tonight I couldn’t not respond! I am a Maths teacher. I studied Maths at GCSE and A-level. Okay, I did an Economics degree, but within that was a high Maths content. I went on to do my secondary Maths PGCE and have been working as a…

View Post

Is Teaching A Family Friendly Career?

Is Teaching A Family Friendly Career?

When I first told my mum I was applying for teacher training, her response was “a great job for a woman”. Okay, slightly sexist but I see her point. 13 weeks holiday a year, and you work half 8 til half 3, don’t you? It’s a no brainer! Don’t get me wrong, the holidays are fantastic and as soon as Mr Gove starts to take those away I will be looking at alternative careers, but how family friendly is this job during term time? I have pretty much come to terms that I will miss assemblies and sports days that…

View Post

Happy now Mr Gove!

Happy now Mr Gove!

11 years ago I started my teaching career (oh my goodness, has it really been that long!). Along with 4 other newly qualified teachers, we were young, enthusiastic and determined to make a difference to the children we taught. Whilst one of the girls has moved away the other 3 remain and we are close friends. We’ve been through a lot together; engagements, marriages, break ups, house moves, babies, miscarriages, good times and the bad. During those years the job we started out with has changed dramatically, but what hasn’t changed is we still want to do the best for…

View Post