The NQT Year Thread

Back from my first residential trip abroad (with nearly 40 pupils aged 13-16) and absolutely loved it. :smile:

It was knackering (set out at 2am on Friday and didn't go to bed until midnight the following night) and pretty stressful at times (medical emergency with a pupil requiring me to deal with police and ambulances in Spanish) but the kids were absolutely brilliant. I'm actually going to miss my group as I don't teach any of them normally.

Will definitely consider getting involved in trip organisaton myself in the future, not just going along for the ride.

Reply 1682

Pineapple pie

2

Original post by myrtille

Back from my first residential trip abroad (with nearly 40 pupils aged 13-16) and absolutely loved it. :smile:

It was knackering (set out at 2am on Friday and didn't go to bed until midnight the following night) and pretty stressful at times (medical emergency with a pupil requiring me to deal with police and ambulances in Spanish) but the kids were absolutely brilliant. I'm actually going to miss my group as I don't teach any of them normally.

Will definitely consider getting involved in trip organisaton myself in the future, not just going along for the ride.

What an inspiring read! I am sure they will bite your hand off when you tell employers this!

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Reply 1683

shorty.loves.angels

16

Original post by myrtille

Back from my first residential trip abroad (with nearly 40 pupils aged 13-16) and absolutely loved it. :smile:

It was knackering (set out at 2am on Friday and didn't go to bed until midnight the following night) and pretty stressful at times (medical emergency with a pupil requiring me to deal with police and ambulances in Spanish) but the kids were absolutely brilliant. I'm actually going to miss my group as I don't teach any of them normally.

Will definitely consider getting involved in trip organisaton myself in the future, not just going along for the ride.

Great experience. Definitely get involved in your own trips, but be prepared for the organisation part to be THE most stressful. Especially if communication in your school is as 'good' as ours :wink:

As a teeny piece of advice, I'd recommend you to start looking for trip opportunities before the start of term. Means you won't miss any of the awesome winter-term ones, and you have plenty of time to prep!!

I'm off to Extreme Physics tomorrow at Rugby School with a group of year 10 girls! Our school hasn't done this before so I have no idea what to expect and nobody to share last minute planning stress with haha.

Reply 1684

qwerty_mad

13

As NQTs with one year contracts, do we have to hand in our resignation if we wish to leave? Or is it simply a case of not accepting a renewal and letting the current contract run down?

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Reply 1685

Back to school tomorrow.... I've had an amazing 2 weeks but am now paying for it with a traditional Sunday afternoon planning panic!

Reply 1686

Steveluis10

10

Good luck! One more week for me. Done absolutely nothing school related so going to make a start tomorrow.

Reply 1687

Literacy sorted for tomorrow (phew!).

Need to work out maths, SPAG and half an hour cover session (reading comp?) then I can relax a little bit.

Reply 1688

Spent yesterday getting everything sorted for today, only to be struck down with food poisoning all night, so couldn't even go in!

I've certainly felt better and am gutted I've missed the first day back.

Reply 1689

Steveluis10

10

Third term starts Monday! Can someone reassure me that this will be the 'easiest' term? The first term seemed the longest and the second term was frankly horrific. Hope everyone is well.

Reply 1690

myrtille

Original post by Steveluis10

Third term starts Monday! Can someone reassure me that this will be the 'easiest' term? The first term seemed the longest and the second term was frankly horrific. Hope everyone is well.

I found the 3rd term the easiest last year.

Lots of lessons missed due to exams/trips etc. meant a bit less planning (plus planning was just a lot easier by that stage).

Parents evenings out of the way (this year I still have 2 to go, but last year we had them all in the 2nd term).

Everyone slacks off on marking as the year goes on.

If you teach Year 11s, you may also get gained time (in which to do other stuff like developing SoW) so that will be easier than constantly chasing them for controlled assessments, etc. I didn't have that last year because I only had Y10, but I'm looking forward to that side of things being gone (25 days 'til my lot finish their GCSE!).

Reply 1691

shorty.loves.angels

16

I tend not to expect any term to be 'easier' but you will almost certainly see a shift in your priorities. I'll probably have less to mark once coursework is out of the way, but more to plan due to needing things in place for next year. Also any gained time will probably be used to intervene with other classes/ cover.

I started off having the worst week in months this week, and ended feeling like it had been extremely productive. Remember with school - stress is temporary, achievement lasts.

Reply 1692

outlaw-torn

Does anybody know anything about tax rebates for NQTs?

I don't think I was supposed to pay tax at the beginning of the year as I hadn't worked previously in the 2014/15 tax year. However I started paying full tax from September 2014 when I started my first job. I asked my HR manager at the time and she said my tax code was right based on information I had given her on my p45 or whatever the form is you have to fill in.

Should I ring hmrc since its the end of the tax year now? Or do I ask hr?

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Reply 1693

myrtille

Original post by outlaw-torn

Does anybody know anything about tax rebates for NQTs?

I don't think I was supposed to pay tax at the beginning of the year as I hadn't worked previously in the 2014/15 tax year. However I started paying full tax from September 2014 when I started my first job. I asked my HR manager at the time and she said my tax code was right based on information I had given her on my p45 or whatever the form is you have to fill in.

Should I ring hmrc since its the end of the tax year now? Or do I ask hr?

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I reckon you should be able to claim some of that back - contact HMRC. It'll be a fair wait, but they'll send you a cheque eventually and it will be worth it. I didn't pay any tax for the first few months of my NQT year, so I assume you shouldn't have either.

I just got my payslip and I am paying SO much tax this month. I've just got a payrise (gone from M2 to M4) and have some backdated pay for January to March, plus some extra pay for running extra Y11 lessons over Easter, and it's put me in a higher tax bracket. Still, can't complain as it's still a lot more than I normally get (and maybe I'll get some of it back when they realise I don't actually earn this much every month).

Reply 1694

Original post by Steveluis10

Third term starts Monday! Can someone reassure me that this will be the 'easiest' term? The first term seemed the longest and the second term was frankly horrific. Hope everyone is well.

Late replying here, but I've been feeling things get easier week on week. Don't get me wrong - I've had horrible dips where I feel like the walls are crashing down around me (sorry to any current PGCEs reading this!!), but ignoring those little drops now and then, I've generally felt I've been on an upward turn.

I think this is because:
1. I know the kids better (great relationships = almost no behaviour problems)
2. I've finally got the numeracy MTP straight in my head (it's cyclical and repeats each term, so we've reached a point where they've done written addition 3 times now, so it's getting easier and easier)
3. I'm getting ever quicker with planning / prep
4. I'm getting the hang on everything that's needed in your average week and can more easily anticipate the things that get in the way.
5. Learning just to go with the flow a bit!
6. Knowing I've got a job next year, so I must be doing SOMETHING right (even if my data for writing is SHOCKING.... maths and reading look much better, so I know I CAN teach.... just evidently not writing, lol)

Seeing everyone else mentioning losing exam classes etc is making me very jealous of all secondary teachers!

Reply 1695

shorty.loves.angels

16

Original post by TraineeLynsey

Late replying here, but I've been feeling things get easier week on week. Don't get me wrong - I've had horrible dips where I feel like the walls are crashing down around me (sorry to any current PGCEs reading this!!), but ignoring those little drops now and then, I've generally felt I've been on an upward turn.

I think this is because:
1. I know the kids better (great relationships = almost no behaviour problems)
2. I've finally got the numeracy MTP straight in my head (it's cyclical and repeats each term, so we've reached a point where they've done written addition 3 times now, so it's getting easier and easier)
3. I'm getting ever quicker with planning / prep
4. I'm getting the hang on everything that's needed in your average week and can more easily anticipate the things that get in the way.
5. Learning just to go with the flow a bit!
6. Knowing I've got a job next year, so I must be doing SOMETHING right (even if my data for writing is SHOCKING.... maths and reading look much better, so I know I CAN teach.... just evidently not writing, lol)

Seeing everyone else mentioning losing exam classes etc is making me very jealous of all secondary teachers!

Great post! Getting to know the kids and the lessons etc is definitely a very positive thing. Try something new with writing - I always got told that I could experiment in my NQT and still call 'failures' 'learning curves'.

Don't be jealous, there's a whole hidden load of crap that we get dumped on us when this happens. Honestly, I'd rather just keep classroom time with the kids I know and love than suddenly be told I'm taking a group of grotty year tens to improve their core science skills! (Even though I was told last week to re-write a SOW in my additional free time).

Reply 1696

outlaw-torn

Feeling so demotivated at the moment. Trying to juggle finding a new job with getting my year 11's to pass.

Been to 2 interviews and been rejected after both of them. I'm starting to get really down about it, to the point where I don't want to get out of bed in the morning. Not good! Got another interview on Wednesday so fingers crossed.

How is everyone else finding this half term?

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Reply 1697

Steveluis10

10

I applied to a job and didn't even get shortlisted so you're already one step ahead of me!

I found the first week back better than expected but I'm still not sure the school is right for me long term. I think once year 11 go then it will get a lot easier (here's hoping!)

Reply 1698

rainbow drops

17

I had a crazy first week back (C/D borderline year 11 class plus controlled assessment marks deadline equals extremely stressed me!) but I'm hoping this week will be sliiiightly better. Probably won't be, though :biggrin:

but as someone said, things should definitely become easier when our year 11s leave. My class are lovely/trying really hard and I'll miss them when they're gone, but throwing everything I have at them to try to get them to the C is utterly exhausting.

Even though I'm leaving my school and (I know this sounds terrible, but...) won't have to come back in September or face any consequences, I'm still petrified about my year 11s' results. My school are expecting another Ofsted in the next academic year and if they get another RI they'll go into SM, and the English results are obviously a massive deciding factor in how Ofsted will go. The vast majority of my class are ON the borderline between C and D. I'd be devastated if my class did badly and then the school went into SM. Not to mention that I'm so, so fond of the pupils in the class and the idea of them opening the envelope on results day and being disappointed breaks my heart.

I have a job interview this week coming and another the week after, so fingers crossed for those! Good luck to all others interviewing at the moment, too :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1699