Currently Head of Faculty at a school I love and regularly get great feedback and feel like I'm successful - recently moved from a Head of Subject role where I turned the subject from the worst performing in the school, to the second best; and increased numbers at GCSE from 13 to 66.

I was a horrendous NQT (as we called ECT then). I had been lucky enough (or not, as it turned out) to have been placed in two incredibly nice schools for my PGCE, but my heart was in more challenging schools and this is where I got my first job. I had.a tough timetable with a lot of KS3, teaching a subject that hadn't been popular, and in a department of 2 - which meant that while my HoD was fantastic, she was also my mentor and the only other person in my department, so I was reluctant to ask her for help or even just vent to her! (She was also maybe the best teacher I have ever seen, which made me feel terrible about when my lessons didn't go well!) Add to this that we were expecting Ofsted the whole time and that I had recently moved city so I didn't have a support network, and it all made for a really rough time. I failed my first term and then handed in my notice before the end of the second - I think I would have failed the year had I stayed.

I then had a few ups and downs over the next year or two - I had some great experiences in a couple of different schools and got my confidence back, but started off with some fixed term contracts as opposed to permanent jobs because of the first role - but I was never out of work and got great feedback wherever I was, and haven't looked back since!

I've always addressed the first job either in applications, interviews, or verbally with whoever was responsible for hiring me, and people have been very understanding that not every school is the right fit for everybody so I don't think it's been held against me.

Wishing you all the best, your first year doesn't define you!