Many things in life are cyclical, as Edinburgh finally warms up and the festival gets into full swing the teachers holidays come to a close. Its an exciting time, the summer holidays may be over but a new school year brings new pupils, new energy and a renewed sense of purpose. For me personally this new school year is again exciting. A new school, new classes, new faces and new challenges. This is my third new school in three years and my only hope is it is half as good as the last two. I believe it will, I have been back to school for two days and met some very nice people. The school itself is barely three years old and very shiny, all the staff seem up for the challenge and are looking forward to the year. Tomorrow though for me is both exciting and nervous. The students come back tomorrow and I will meet two of my new classes. This year I have responsibility for five classes and I have shares in three others. Thats almost 200 new students to build relationships with and help, cajole, teach and inspire. Learning their names in a reasonable period of time is a challenge in itself especially trying to learn the names of the 60 students I only see once a week. It will be tough but it will be done.
I know there are some characters at this school but then show me a school without a few colourful students?! I will give each student a clean slate and we will go from there. As I sit here preparing lesson plans I am wondering what they will be like, there is going to be a huge mix of students, some from very disadvantaged backgrounds, some from very well off backgrounds, many whose native tongue is not English and others with additional support needs. I have spent my free time in the last two days preparing as best I can to help each and every student and now I just want to start. Tomorrow will be the start of another great adventure, there will be good times and bad but hopefully with a pinch of luck the positive experiences will far out weigh the negative ones. Once more into the breach...
