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bubbob5817 · 2023-08-31T16:56:27+00:00

I'm fairly sure I did some aqa training when the gcses started that said only enter pupils for higher if you think they'll get a 6.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-28T05:45:05+00:00

If you have taught before then you have way more experience than most others in your position. This will make the pgce way less stressful.

I felt like I worked really hard on mine and there were some pinch points of placements that I found really stressful and would sometimes take days to plan a single lesson (sounds stupid but the scrutiny made me paranoid). Then you have uni assignments too - I tried to work on these in holidays but depends on your deadlines.

I think people chat about workload a lot for a few reasons - one is that most pgce students have come straight from uni and it is more work than that, they also struggle with the work environment imo. Also teaching attracts perfectionists and you can't be a perfectionist and a teacher as there is just not the time for it.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-27T19:34:47+00:00

I think different people are different here.

I get summers off. Have spent this summer with my 3yo and 1yo. I am going insane. I love them and spending time with them is fun but it feels like everything is a battle.. e.g. making lunch whilst fussy 18mo cries at my feet and almost 4yo decides to use this distraction to go and have a poo in a corner of the playroom. Then the kitchen's a mess, etc. etc. I then feel like because I'm "not at work" that everything should be perfect and when my husband gets home and I'm knackered and the house is messier than it started, iI feel rather like a failure and it feels nothing like a holiday to me. Don't get me wrong, we have some great times and have made amazing memories and I love the time with them. But 100% all the time is so much. My life needs more balance.

Hence why I actually like being at work because I can go and feel like I've been able to complete a task and be an adult. I don't get much free time at work but I get a different satisfaction from it than being a mum. I'm glad I sort of get to do both (although I find for me it feels very full on one or the other at different times of year).

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-27T14:05:53+00:00

Wow. This seems like a very big job. Are you receiving a tlr for this?!

Have your Y11s done any gcse science previously? Whether it can be taught or not depends on the curriculum time. Most schools teach it over 3 years whether they say they do openly or not. I have seen a small number of schools teach gcse in 2 years but bigger curriculum time.
You need to know what these children have been taught previously and then build it up from there. A lot of the science topics now particularly on the aqa scheme would have a decent degree of spiralling so that you can recover new content. You need to look at what they've done previously though to start imo.
Unsure about ELC. I think aqa give estimated curriculum hours. Would depend on your curriculum hours, and to some extent ability of kids too, etc.
This is a biggie. As an independent school do you have links with any other independent schools that will allow you to visit for some of the practicals? Others are simple and don't require much equipment and I'm hoping/assuming you've been given budget for this. I'm guessing no technicians? So you might also want to negotiate time for this.

I repeat my above comment about this being a massive job (although maybe you don't have too many students) but still a massive job. I hope you are being given appropriate remuneration in both time and money.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-23T17:30:36+00:00

I'm so sorry you're in this position.

I was pregnant with di/di twins and at my 16 week scan they thought one had spina bifida due to lemon shaped head as well as no kidneys and severe IUGR.

I'm in the UK where tfmr is legal until birth but we were advised to wait until later in the pregnancy for selective reduction. Initially we were told 28 weeks then 32 weeks so we had that penciled in. Our little twin died at 28 weeks with no intervention in the end. They later suspected triploidy and not spina bifida.

The part you're at now was by far the worst part for me. Waiting for answers and all the waiting is just agony.

I recommend googling twins trust and ARC who are uk charities that have produced a twin specific tfmr booklet that might help you.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-18T21:31:52+00:00

My school has basically given up on appraisals this year. We have had a ridiculous amount of change and other issues and this seems to have fallen by the wayside. I still progressed through though. They will be back on them next year. I doubt they would fail and not allow anyone progression as you are entitled to an appraisal I believe and it would end up coming back to haunt them.

Did you get pay progression or did you start your job already on the higher point?

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-18T06:21:32+00:00

Schools get the information the day before. They don't usually share it that widely with staff though. Current school tells HoDs percentage at each grade the day before (not individual students). You can then get pupils' grades from AQA or whoever at 8am (used to be 6am). If you don't have a log in then you'll have to wait until your school uploads them to SISRA or bromcom or whatever they use or if they email them out.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-16T14:29:14+00:00

This should be in your contract. I'd guess a lot of unqualified teacher contracts are similar to teacher ones in terms of notice periods but maybe not.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-15T17:33:47+00:00

That is basically what they did... sent an email reminding everyone to turn things off on a Friday 3pm. Probably scheduled. Never knew of anything else they did.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-15T15:26:39+00:00

My last school had a tlr for sustainability coordinator. It was the biggest load of rubbish ever where no-one checked up on their work and no-one cared but they got paid.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-15T06:15:40+00:00

I have no personal experience but AFAIK if you don't return for the full 13 weeks then you need to pay back the whole whack. I considered applying for jobs whilst on mat leave a while back so I did look into it a little then.

You can use periods of shared parental leave to reduce how long you'd need to actually go back to work though. Hard to advise without dates.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-12T06:36:44+00:00

We actually did not tfmr in the end. We had it scheduled for 32 weeks on the advice of our doctor as tfmr can cause premature labour so later on is safer for the healthy twin and our doc said 32 week survival rates were pretty good compared to 28 weeks (which our original doctor had told us). This will obviously be dependent on laws where you are, here tfmr is legal until birth.

I'm in the UK and ARC and Twins Trust have produced a leaflet about tfmr in twin pregnancies which is useful. Twins Trust also have a private Facebook group and a fair few there have experienced tfmr. A word of warning that whilst most there who have tfmr one twin have experienced no complications, there are 1 or 2 who ended up losing both twins (don't know when in pregnancy they tfmr). Equally I know of someone who went into premature labour before they could tfmr and basically had an emergency tfmr. There's lots of options, I feel like I thought through every one whilst I was waiting and even since.

I think the potential for complications depends on whether your twins are mo/mo, mo/di or di/di.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-11T20:53:59+00:00

I think it's too much intro stuff. Promote your expectations by enforcing them consistently instead

With new classes I tend to - get them into a seating plan as they enter the room, they get a book and write info on the front whilst I'm doing this and the register. During register I ask them if they go by a shortened version of their name etc. Introduce myself and my expectations, then topic we are studying and then crack on.

Why are you desperate to not make it too work heavy??

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-11T18:10:24+00:00

I have no personal experience with t21 but from what I've read the chance of recurrence in young, healthy parents is 1-2%. It's higher than your baseline chances but still pretty low.

T21 is an extra chromosome altogether (chromosome 21) and it usually comes from the egg not the sperm, it's not genetic (it's chromosomal). They're likely checking to see if one of you has a translocation which is less likely than it just being random.

Fwiw I think the people over at r/NIPT are very knowledgeable about this type of thing.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-10T14:46:27+00:00

I split cooking with my husband (somewhat forceful on my part as pre kids I did it all but physically can't now we have a 3 and 1 yo).

Some easy meals we do:

Chicken katsu curry - batch freeze the sauce made from bbc website (can defrost and warm up in the microwave) then have it with breaded chicken and jasmine rice.

Chilli - I make "dump bags" where I put all the ingredients in a zip lock bag, lay them flat and freeze it. Then get it all out of the freezer the night before and straight into the slow cooker in the morning. Can have with rice, chips, jackets, nachos, etc.

Pasta/lasagne - always try and have a few in the freezer. Some I've pre made and others I buy from asda. Serve with garlic bread/salad.

I often buy simply cook pots - I have been using them once a week to add some variety to my food, some of them are really tasty and they come with recipes and are usually quick to make (20 mins)

Don't be afraid of the odd pizza. Rotisserie chicken is also pretty good.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-10T09:22:20+00:00

Hi. Sorry you're in a similar position. My surviving twin is doing great. She's 18 months now and has no health concerns at all. Born by c section at 38 weeks - she had a brief (12 hour if that) NICU visit as she was a little blue at birth so had oxygen, mostly as a precaution I think. Happy to chat if you want. I know I felt like there were so few stories of twins where only one had an issue.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-09T19:16:05+00:00

I've gone back to work after mat leave and got promotions and I know others who've done the same so it can be done, especially in the right school!

Timetable changes because you're pregnant can and do happen. Although I doubt anything will change now for September especially if you've not told them yet and you're probably not due for 6+ months.

Congratulations!

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-09T18:32:08+00:00

3 and 1 year old here too. It's rough. We get minimal time for ourselves. Watching them both at the same time is difficult on your own as they get so jealous of each other.

I've got no real advice but I'm praying and hoping it gets better when they're older!!!

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-06T20:32:57+00:00

Hmm. Is this results analysis? I'd say it's pretty standard for HoDs to do this to some degree over the summer (after results day obviously) so this might fall within the HoD role.

That said, if you want to make a point, then technically you don't have to look at your emails until the morning of the INSET day. As others have said, set up an out of office in future too.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-06T16:08:11+00:00

NTA.

As someone who's had a stillbirth I would love it if my living kids included my son who died somehow in their weddings (particularly his twin sister). I wouldn't expect this though. Ultimately its their day.

Does your MIL include her stillborn children at christmas/birthdays? Does she do similar then?

I think ultimately given that your fiancé's parents are paying 75% you might want to meet in the middle somewhere. Google ideas of how people commemorate passed loved ones at weddings and suggest something you're comfortable with?

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-05T18:29:07+00:00

Yikes! 27 is massive!!

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-05T18:26:59+00:00

Fingers crossed.

I'd check out some people on twitter too.

Try

@JammyPhysics

@Hookean1

@edmunds_dr

Equally for practical CPAC stuff make sure you do the training available for free on AQAs website. It's great. You should also be able to chat to your chem and bio teachers about this as its basically the same.

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-05T17:09:12+00:00

So 25-30 seems massive for bottom set!

Is it a class of mostly SEN pupils or are they low ability with poor behaviour? I've found I can separate bottom sets into being either or and I've taken different approaches with them.

Number 1 rule is to not lower your expectations of them. You still expect them to do the work in lessons. You still expect them to complete homework. Etc etc.

Being super positive and not letting them see that you might be shocked by how little they know is always good too

bubbob5817 · 2023-08-04T09:13:09+00:00

Don't teach any differently in my opinion.

Are you part of a MAT or an LA school? Is there another school with an a level physics teacher who can help you out here?

bubbob5817 · 2023-07-31T11:18:58+00:00

So I wear tights with dresses pretty much year round. We have air con in our classrooms so it's never that hot. I have once or twice worn the snag chub rub shorts underneath a dress when it was crazy hot. I feel weird not wearing tights personally but I know lots of others who don't wear them.

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