Here’s what I did:

• In December/January I applied for, was interviewed for and got a new job as a principal teacher in a new local authority
• Started the job in April
• In April/May I applied for, was interviewed for and got accepted onto the Scottish Qualification for Headship course
• The school received ‘the box’ just a few weeks after I started and I think I got the chance to prove myself very quickly preparing for and getting through the HMIE inspection
• I began and completed Unit 1 for the SQH
• I applied for and organised a reciprocal visit for the Malawi HT and DHT to come over to Scotland
• I went back to Malawi agan to visit Gwengwe Primary and begin a link with a new school
• In December I took on the Acting Depute Head post in my school, which will hopefully last until about the summer.

I was already loving the job/school before taking on theacting depute head role and I’m relishing this experience even more.  It is very different and my role and my role has extended considerably.  Probably the biggest thing so far has been taking on the support for learning but the visiting network support teacher is great at helping me with that.  It is making the SQH much more relevant too.  I’m well into studying for unit 2 for that now, I keep taking my reading to the gym to sit and work in the restaurant there after working out!

The same day I handed in my essay I became acting depute head in my school.  Our depute has gone on secondment to an acting head position and I have taken over her position.  I am very excited, and anxious, about this and looking forward to the challenge and the chance to prove myself.  I am keeping all of my remit from the principal teacher role as well as taking on supporting for learning, ICT co-ordinator and mentoring our probationer.

One of my new jobs will be to establish the link we are making with a new school in Malawi which came about as a result of my trip there in October.

This was going to be quite a different trip for me this time as I was no longer at Castlefield and officially part of the link and I was going with another teacher from the school, whereas I have always been at this school and staying in the village by myself before.  I was slightly apprehensive about going with someone else but it turned out very well.

I had arranged the same driver that I had had before and it was lovely to have him waiting to meet us, full of stories of what had been going on.  We were three hours late unfortunately after a delay in Nairobi which meant it was probably going to be dark and late when we got to the viallge.   We still had to go into Lilongwe as well to sort out money, stamps and water.  Billy had had to queue for quite a while to get petrol, there had been a chronic shortage for a while which was really affecting life in the towns. 

We did not get to the village until about 6.30pm and I felt terrible because the children had waited all afternoon for us but of course most had gone home by the time we got there.  A few stalwarts had waited and a few more came running down as we arrived and they were all shouting “Caro Caro”.  The first thing they said when I got out of the car was “jogging, jogging” so I was trying to tell them it would have to wait until tomorrow!  At the same time though they were crowding around me and a few children were pressing nuts and biscuits into my hands that they had been keeping for me which was so generous when they have so little and they must have thought I would be hungry after all of the travelling!

We were staying with the head teacher this time so that there was room for both us and it was pretty much straight to bed after being fed.  He has a son who stays with his parents in town and two lovely daughters of about 4 and 6.

As usual I was woken by the rooster at 4.30am but for the only time out of this trip I actually managed to get back to sleep until 7am!  I could hear kids waiting outside (it was Saturday) and just went straight out to them, it was lovely to see them all especially the three I had stayed with previously.  There were football and netball matches at another school today and the children would not leave until I did and stayed with me the whole way, fighting over who was going to be right beside me!  They kept wanting to run so despite the fact I had the wrong shoes on, a skirt, a wrap and a shoulder bag I couldn’t resist and we ran all of the downhills and some of the flats!

There were four games altogether and although it was good fun it was a long day and super hot.  It was actually dark by the time we were halfway back and a lot of the older boys that I knew from before had joined us by this time and again we were running quite a lot.  They were singing songs and chanting as we ran and just so happy.  A lot of the older boys have now left school and are married and some have children.  I did manage to meet a few who have gone onto secondary school but it is very hard when there are exams to pass, in English, and you have to pay for them and for secondary school.  A few of the boys were telling me they wanted to go back to school and/or come back to Scotland with me.

Right away, and for the rest of the trip, I thought that there seemed to be a slightly higher standard of living in the village.  Most children seemed to have shoes (although in varying states of use), bags for their books, slightly better clothes and I only saw a couple of distended stomachs which previously  a lot of children had.  Lots more families seemed to have bikes too and there is even one person who has a pick up truck – although no petrol for it!  Action Aid have also worked with the school to provide aid for 2 more teacher’s houses which are nearly constructed.  For 8 classes there are now 9 teachers at Gwengwe of which 7 are fully qualified and 2 are probationers.  This is a massive improvement from 2 and 3 years ago.

On Sunday we went round to see the teacher’s houses that were being built and then to Christopher, the depute head’s house for breakfast.  He was saying that if they were in Scotland his son Tony would be in the nurture group that Castlefield Primary has!  He certainly is wild!

Church was only 2 hours today including my obligatory speech to the congregation, getting used to these now!  I did some visiting with Joseph, the HT in the afternoon.  I went to see my mother which was lovely and Chiambi came to sit beside me and didn’t leave my side again!  Also went visiting Patrick whom I knew well as a pupil but is now married with a little girl.  I think I counted about 50 people all in the one room to see me hold a variety of babies!

The men’s life (or boys) doesn’t really seem to change that much when they get married and have children as Patrick, and others, spent most of their time with me while I was there but I feel for their young wives whose lives are now fully mapped out for them!

Went running with the children today.  I did not have Lameck yet for company so we just went up and down the village but I think there were about 60 children with me.  I went running with them every day even though I had a cold for a few days and just about lost my voice as I just could not let htem down.  I also played chases with them every day and got the balloons and bubbles and balls out as well as colouring pencils, crayons and paper.  Even the older boys were loving doing that and were trying very hard to practice out their english with me.

It was quite a different experience in school this time.  I had to keep reminding myself that I should not be here with the same agenda as I had been before – this was not supposed to be about school improvement but about improving the link.  Therefore it was more about establishingt relationships between the staff and developing the curricular planning for working together.  On the Monday we just went through each class starting at St 1 to see the progression and I knew the teachers would want us to see them teaching.  Most classes were sitting in groups, even St 1 outside under the tree.  St 2 were in the church, St 3 and 4 in their own classes but on the floor and the rest had desks to share.

Elidh and I spent some time tidying up that cupboard again after school!!!  Couldn’t do enough to finish it one day but it was a bit depressing to be having to do it again!  With new teachers there from the last time I was there though I really wanted to do it again so we could show them what was there and encourage them to use it.

On the Tuesday we went up to Fumba Primary with Joseph so that I could establish a link with them for Clydemuir Primary.  I had already asked Joseph to see if they were interested so I knew it was going to happen.  I had been up there a few times before to work with them which was helpful that we were not starting totally from scratch but I do not find their staff as easy and outgoing as Gwengwe.  Hopefully this will come with time.  They were delighted with the things the children had made that I brought, I just hope they use them and we went round to visit every class.  They have one outdoor classroom but it has a temporary structure and is really quite cosy!

I was thinking that we would just try to establish the link ourselves but logistically in such a rural location it is just not going to be possible so we are going to establish it through Link Community Development.

We spent the rest of the week at Gwengwe, although I would have liked to go up to Fumba again.  This was partly because two PEA’s (primary education advisors) turned up one day to inspect the classes which meant we could not go elsewhere but we also could not really do much with any of the classes.  They got a good report though and we got to discuss some issues with them over lunch. 

Over the few days though we did manage to do paired reading in a few batches with the whole school which was great as usual and it was good that the new teachers got to see things like this in action.  We also did a question and answer session with St4 and 5 and then St 6, 7 and 8.  I was absolutely blown away with some of their questions but am struggling to remember them now – wish I had written some of them down!

I was taken up to see Caroline, my namesake one day after school with Mme Gwengwe and this was the biggest shock I got.  Despite the fact she was over 2 she still looked like a baby and very skinny and sick looking.  I was told she was unable to hear and has been been very sick.  The HT thinks she may be HIV positive.  I found that quite upsetting but it gave them such a boost just that I had taken some clothes over for her. 

There were four young new teachers there who obviously enjoy hanging out together after school and so we got invited to their houses in the late afternoon quite a lot which was great for building relationships with them.

On Thursday evening Lameck arrived and it was lovely to see him again.  He was so excited too!  He is back studying engineering again after some time out to work and save money for the next year of his studies.

Friday was our last day in the school and as usual they did a farewell ceremony for us with lots of dancing, singing, speeches (including ones from us again) and poems.  This was as well as the races with medals that I have done every year.  We managed to have some meetings with the staff over the last couple of days about the resources there were and those we had brought as well as doing some curriculum planning which has been made much easier with the great resources Link have been developing.

It was great Lameck being there after school on Thursday and Friday and during Saturday as the children and older boys could talk to me much more with someone they knew to translate.  Nearly every waking minute the whole visit was spent either with the children or visiting teachers and others in the village with children following on and that is just the way I wanted it as I really just wanted to spend lots of time with the kids!

On our last day we walked into Mayani with Lameck and had a wander round and bought a few bits and pieces.  As usual you always meet lots of people you know including this time Patrick who decided to come back with us with his bike piled high with maize.  I felt so bad that he was walking with us pushing this instead of cycling, at least on the flats, that I pushed it the whole 5 miles with him.  That certainly gave me a lot of exercise but was fun too even though it was burning hot!

I had given Patrick a couple of bits of clothes for his baby and Patrick some photos of us together from previous years so he brought me a fruit that I had never seen before and told me I would have to bash it off the ground to open it – unfortunately when I got it home I still couldn’t open it even bashing it from a height off the ground! 

I let the kids, particularly the older ones, play about with my camera for the afternoon and they had a ball striking up poses and doing gymnastics moves!  This kept them occupied as unfortunately Billy was supposed to come at 4 but didn’t get there till 6.45pm as he had had to queue all day for petrol.  We were getting quite panicked as there was absolutely nothing we could have done if he had not turned up and we had no phone signal at all.

Most of the kids waited until Billy arrived so that made it really late for them and yet again I was feeling terrible about this.  Lameck spend ages translating their questions for me which were mostly about aeroplanes and certainly exhausted all of my knowledge about them.  They were also very insistent that I came back again and kept visiting them… and didn’t just go to Fumba Primary now!

As it was dark when Billy arrived I found it slightly less upsetting than usual as I could not see the children as well and I guess as we were so relieved he had been able to get there.  I never usually hug anyone as it is not really the done thing there but I felt I knew them well enough now to hug the HT and his wife and Patrick and Chiambi which then meant all the other kids were crowding round for a hug too!

Lameck was coming with us again to get back to Lilongwe  so it was nice to have extra time with him.  He left the airport before our crisis started though!  About 10 of us got kicked of the flight from Lilongwe to Nairobi to let VIP’s on and so after a few hours of hanging about during the night we got taken off to a hotel for about 3 hours sleep and breakfast!  Back to the airport and on the next flight out which was due to take off about 1pm and I think left about 3pm due to more VIP’s arriving and getting their flights first.  Ages then to hang about in Nairobi, although we did get in the lounge – not the really posh one though and ended up on overnight KLM to Amsterdam instead of Kenya Airways and we got put in the bit nicer bit with extra leg room which was great.  Thought I would still be able to make school on time on Monday morning but 15 mins or so after leaving Amsterdam we got told we were landing again due to a funny smell on the aeroplane!  So we ended up getting back to Glasgow about 11am and I was in work in the afternoon – although not up to much!

I felt really quite upset when we got back to Glasgow at the stark differences between the two countries.  One of the books I bought in Nairobi airport was Aid and other Dirty Business and it was just what I was looking for to find out what happens with Aid and what we can do to ensure best use of Aid and resources for the people who need it but that is for a different post

I am really hoping that I manage to set up a new link with another school as I have had wonderful stuff from the classes in the school to take over, some to help with maths and some to introduce themselves and Scotland.  Everyone is really enthusiastic about it and I would like to be able to capitalise on that.  I am even thinking of using international education as a focus for my project for SQH; there is the British Council International Schools Award, the link and Rights Respecting School Award.  I think these things may give me enough scope.

Some photos below of some of the things from classes that I am taking out:

bookmarks

homemade postcards

I was flicking through blogs, having recently found this one: http://libertonheadsblog.blogspot.com/ (as recommended by Ollie Bray years ago; I was looking at his SQH blog posts) and again a couple of years ago the author Dj MacDonald had linked to a video on You Tube as recommended by Ewan McIntosh about children copying what adults do.  That was interesting and well done but of course then I started looking at other commercials etc and saw an upsetting picture of a child.  I couldn’t even bear to watch the video – one image is more than enough to set me off but it got me thinking!

Just yesterday I had, for some random reason, being wondering if there was anything I would regret I didn’t get the chance to do before I died.  Previously I have always been quite insular in what I have thought, usually did I get to travel to and explore all the places in the world I wanted to, did I climb enough mountains, run enough races etc.  I was thinking yesterday would I regret if I never got a faster marathon faster time, never qualified for Boston, never got a sub-24 hour west highland way race time (bit of a pattern here), didn’t do everything in my career I wanted to and would I regret it if I didn’t have kids.

Then I saw this picture tonight and realised what I believe and hope I would certainly regret when I died if I didn’t do it and that is to at least keep trying to make a difference in the lives of some kids that don’t have the same opportunities and life chances as most of the children I know. 

As we talked in my first SQH day last month about what our values in education are and what our vision is someone commented that I was looking for utopia and I suppose that probably is what I want – something that seems so unobtainable and impossible that it is not even worth trying.  And yet we have to keep hoping and trying that we can make a difference.

I quite firmly believe that doling out charity is not the way to solve this issue long term, although I do want to do some more research to find out which charities are most beneficial to support and of course in the case of the current crisis in the Horn of Africa immediate aid is needed to ensure people’s survival.

One way I hope I am making a tiny difference is with the link school in Malawi, both the one that has been going for 3 years and the one I am hoping to set up when I go out again next week.  That has been about developing learning and teaching and management skills in Malawi and the friendship and partnership between both schools.  However it has also been about raising awareness here and developing my pupils knowledge and understanding of other cultures and sense of equality. 

I have tried, and will especially try to do with this new link, not make it about northern school giving money/resources to the southern school but about sharing a frienship and learning from each other.  What I really think we have to do is educate our pupils in how to bring about change both in their envrionment and at a higher level. 

I cited Cummins (1996) in my essay for this SQH unit who said there was a need to educate for global citizenship; to treat people equally and enforce the redistribution of wealth.

That last bit about enforcing the redistribution of wealth is the hardest part I think, and I don’t have much idea about how to go about this but my lightbulb moment is I’ll regret it if I don’t keep trying!  The inequality in the world and the unfair distribution of wealth is the one thing that makes me really angry….and I know I’m as bad as anyone else, I like my holidays and books and clothes but I’m going to think about that too – how I spend my money and do I need to!

This post ended up longer than I meant it to and is possibly the most personal post I have ever written on here but I thought even if I am the only one who reads it it was important to write it.  Now the hard part – to actually do something about it!

I love my new job; the SMT, all of the different staff, the pupils, the learning and teaching, the open areas, the ICT, my actual post as principal teacher and having made a move to a new, smaller authority.

What was supposed to be a term at the end of last session just to get to know the school, staff and pupils was turned on it’s head a bit by the arrival of the ‘box’ about 4 weeks after I started!  This was to be my third inspection in my 8 years of teaching but although I had a bit of a panic having only just arrived I was actually in an ideal situation.  I had technically not been there long enough to be responsible for much but would get the chance before they arrived to get stuck in and gain some credibility among the staff. 

The head teacher and I had already discussed a re-arrangement of the open area before we got the box for next session but this just meant we speeded things up.  This allowed me to have something to lead and to show that I was going to put in as much, or more, work on it as anyone else.  I also tried to do it collaboratively, consulting all of the infant teachers and involving them, as well as the learning assistants, in the planning process.  (I have to say I have never worked with such fabulous learning assistants and the fact that they feel part of the whole p1-3 area team is due to the great ethos in the school.)  I also consulted with pupils in the area to see what they would like/felt the area would need and the pupils are certainly confident individuals and effective contributers being able to discuss and express their opinions.  Plus little things like providing lunch on a Saturday when the school fayre was on and we were in working on the open area helps too, even just in providing time to chat and build relationships, and this includes learning assistants again.

The actual inspection process, of which we were a pilot for the new approach, went very smoothly.  Mary Ritchie, whom I have worked with before, led the inspection and from the start we were put at our ease and made to feel involved in the process.  On the Monday afternoon one inspector and the lay inspector were in and around classes while myself, the depute, the HT and our QIO met with Mary Ritchie.  This part was far removed from what I have heard of previous presentations etc by the HT.  There was no presentation, just an open discussion around what the school had ranked itself against the quality indicators they were inspecting us on.  After school all of the inspectors met with staff and after introductions and a description of what would happen during the week we split into small groups with an inspector each to ask questions/have our minds put at ease really and this then just set the positive tone for the whole week.  We were asked to put up post it’s on their door of things we wanted them to come and see and the door was pretty much full by the next day!  They spent a lot of time with different children and they certainly did us and themselves proud!

They disengaged by the end of the day on Wednesday, talked to all the children about what they had seen at assembly on the Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day writing their report.  I can’t remember when they talked to the rest of the staff but they met with the SMT and the QIO after school on the Thursday for a very positive report!  The format of the new report can be seen here:

http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/inspection/Clydemuir%20PS%20FINAL.html

The only negative about the inspection, or the bad timing of it anyway, was that on the Friday night at 1am at the end of that week I was attempting the 95 mile West Highland Way race.  The sheer mental and physical exhaustion must have had an effect but finally it was an injury that forced me to pull out.  I’ll be back next year to put it to bed, and at least I know I won’t have an inspection before it!

I am teaching primary 2 again this year and have 24 of them.  I am sharing the class with a fabulous teacher ( I am out Thursday and Friday) whom I love working with.  I wasn’t sure how I would get on sharing a class but as we are both there all week it works out great as we get to talk so much together about the class and really share it.

The class have just started a blog but as this is totally new for the school I think it is going to take a while to get it going properly.  The parents that have been on think it is a great idea for improving communication and involving them in their child’s learning.  You can find it here:

http://p2clydemuir.wordpress.com/

The only thing this term is I feel I have had hardly any time to take on my PT role even though I have 2 days out a week.  I have been out of class loads,  in particular because I was accepted onto the SQH programme and have had a few days out for that so far.  I am really enjoying it but it does take up a fair amount of time both in and out of school.  I particularly like at the moment how directed it is so that I know exactly it is I have to do and there are only 5 of us in my group which means we are getting to know each other well.

As if that was not enough I am going back to Malawi a week on Thursday!  This is with my previous school at my head teacher’s request as it was already set up before I left.  In fact we just had the head teacher and depute head teacher over here at the beginning of term which was quite an experience for them!  I’m not ready at all as life has been so busy but I’ll get it done in the end!

There are only 18 in the class which compared to the 28-30 I had the first three terms is just wonderful.  Even though I have not had them much it feels like you can give much more individual help and yet there are still enough of them that they can work in different groups and learn from each other.

The school does a lot of outdoor learning and one of the things I really like is that each classroom has a door to outside making it much easier to get out there at anytime.  And there is a lovely view to the Kilpatricks just outside my door!

The most difficult thing for me to get used to was the staffroom, this school has substantially more staff than Castlefield and so that was a little hard for me to get used to but I think I’ve cracked it now!  And it having been 7 years since I changed school it has been funny getting used to all the new routines within the classroom and the school.  I’ve certainly had a great vibe so far from the school though!

I’ve started to get anxious this weekend though, just about walking into that new staffroom tomorrow!  I’m really looking forward to starting but kind of wish the first day was over!

I’ve been waiting a long time to make this news public but now that I have all the necessary documentation and the children in my class and their parents have been told, I can finally tell everyone that I have a new job!!!  Hence why there was not too much running in January; I really, really wanted this job so was too busy studying and it paid off!

So after the spring break I will only be travelling 15 mins to work, just over the Erskine Bridge, to a school in West Dumbartonshire where I will be the principal teacher, particularly of the infant department which has 6 classes. This is definitely the job that was meant for me as the ethos in school seems great, there is lots of outdoor learning and other initiatives, it’s 15 mins from home after years of lots of driving and the head teacher whom I liked immediately ran the WHW race a couple of years and has done the Fling etc!  I’m really excited about starting and things really feel like they are going in the right direction for me.

I will be sad to Castlefield as it and the people there have been a big part of my life for quite a while now but I’ll still be keeping in touch with, particularly for our reciprocal visit I am arranging with the headteacher and the deputy head teacher of Gwengwe Primary in Malawi.

I plan to start writing on this blog again now to reflect on my new role and responsibilities.  I concentrated on my primary 2 class blog this year and really loved what that offered the pupils and parents and will definitely do that again but I want to use this one for me again now.

Not only have my class been blogging but my primary 2 pupils are getting very used to using Glow!  At first they were just using it to play glow games but now they can find the log on page at school and home, log on themselves, get to our class group and into our wedding topic group.  I have been using the text editor web part a lot to put in hotspots to direct them and this has worked very well.  With, and now for some of them without, adult help they are able to add to discussions, use weblinks, use the news web part and view and add pictures on our photo gallery.  I am loving using these things with them, as are they and the parents.  One parents comment when they found out I was leaving was:

“How will I cope without having the blog and Glow, I hope someone is going to carry them on!”

I’ve just had two fantastic days RM update training on various software programmes that are going to be of use in school after the refresh, some of which we already have and I have used before like Podium, textease and Comic Life and some others like Stop motion pro and revelation.  One of the things we were focusing on was how these could be used as some kind of eportfolio and I think there are huge possibilities for this with these programmes.  We also mashed different programmes together, putting a lot of what we did in other programmes into textease to then enhance it further.  Here are some examples of what I was working on, they are very much just a quick taster. 

Check out the blog:

http://p2castlefield.wordpress.com/

I have 28 pupils, who were in two different classes last year, one a composite P1/2 so we have been doing lots of socialising and I have begun using co-operative learning which I am going to find very interesting to try with primary 2.  So far we have just done think, pair, share, group brainstorming, created their groups and voice on the table.  Some of these have been more successful than others but the voice on the table has been really good.

They have been using Glow games during the technology days of our soft start, plus the dance mat, ebeam, word for practicing their spelling words and RM Starting Graph as well as BBC bitesize and cbeebies.  I am determined that they will extend their skills in using ICT and that I will develop how I use it with infants.  In relation to this tomorrow we are going to start our class blog.  This will be at:

http://p2castlefield.wordpress.com/

This blog was started three years ago or so by a previous teacher in primary 2 so we are going to carry on using the same address.  I hope the parents will get as involved as they did previously (as well as other people) and I will be sending them a note home tomorrow about it.

We started the year with a mini inter-disciplinary topic on Jim and the Beanstalk which I developed from a topic my sister-in-law did in P2 last year and this included all aspects of language, measurement and data handling using RM starting graph, technology with creating their own glasses using pipe cleaners and wigs with wool, art, and planting their own magic seeds which was followed with a writing lesson on how to write instructions on planting.

I am now going to start a 5 week topic on the Commonwealth Games that I have written, although I will see where it goes with the children helping to plan it too (hopefully!).  It is ideal as having just been in India and Delhi I can tie in both the games and the country…and who knows what else!

At the moment I am writing daily evaluations as I feel being at a new stage after two years out and at such a critical time in Scottish education it is good for me to be recording the good, the bad and the ugly of what is going on in the class…hopefully there is enough good!  I am finding this very useful and am developing how I evaluate and how I take action on it.  I hope it also helps me to keep close track of what the pupils are achieving and what they need to develop further.