Operation Huddersfield

Dear all,

Sorry I haven't been online much of late. This week has been the busiest I can remember in a long while. I started my work placement last Monday in the reception class of my old primary school and I absolutely adored it. I know for sure that Early Years teaching is what I want to do. The children were wonderful and it's actually quite interesting what you can learn about a child's home life from what you see of them in a school environment. It seems I instantly knew which children were from older parents, younger parents, planned, unplanned and unwelcome despite the fact that all of them were wearing an identical school uniform. I adore watching the way the childrens' minds work and how they latch on to certain ideals. The only part of the whole experience I haven't liked so far is the way I'm treated by the class teacher. She's nice to me - friendly enough - but I constantly felt belittled. All she'd allow me to do was the dog work she didn't want to. When she wasn't there, when she was late or hadn't bothered to set up, I was fully suitable to fill in for her and teach the children but as soon as it suited her I was back to photocopying and making wall displays. I worked within administration for a few months before going to university so I certainly don't need any experience within the realm of photocopying. I'm not there to be a slave, I'm there to experience working as a teacher and although I know there are limitations because of my qualifications (or lack thereof) it doesn't mean that admin is all I'm suitable for. I had more enthusiasm, consideration, aptitude and forward planning than the teacher herself and she still treated me like a second class citizen. But none of that matters really - all that matters is that I enjoyed myself, the children were great to work with and I'll miss them dearly.

Next week I'll be in the nursery unit for the week. Not sure if I'm more excited or more nervous. I haven't heard a single nice thing about the nursery teacher from anyone who's worked that the school - past AND present. Apparently, she's very patronising and doesn't think anyone quite compares to her. That should be fun, huh?


This weekend, Gary and his sister moved into their new university house in Huddersfield so Saturday morning we got up at half past six, loaded up three cars with their things and drove up to Yorkshire. Strictly speaking, my car wasn't loaded... it just had Gary, myself and his Shar Pei and Chihuahua in it. Hardly crammed but lovely. His new house is quite nice for student digs. A two bed end terrace with the tiniest kitchen known to man:

 

The kitchen... all of it. There is no more to it.

 

But despite the kitchen the house is lovely. You can see his classroom from his bed and the rent is great given the location of the house so, all in all, it's a great situation. I'll leave you with a picture of the lovely fireplace in their living room. With a little work, it could be a great feature :)