Its all gone crazy

Part way into the school year, the academy trust announced it was going to give up its schools, the first one to do so in the country, a bit of a surprise but not altogether bad news.

Shortly after the news came the retirement of the lady head, she appointed me and I always liked her, I was fairly nervous about a new head, particularly after the experience with the last male head I worked under.

Then it was announced that my department would move faculties and be under a new line manager, my original one was a nice chap, always enthusiastic and hands on, listening and always a good bet if you needed someone to shout at a miscreant!

The kitchens were being refitted over the summer so that was one piece of good news, in the event they took a couple of weeks into the new term to be finished and they arent as good quality as we all hoped but new kitchens is new kitchens and they do look good and inspire the students a bit more than the old ones.

My lovely colleague found a job at a private school and left at Christmas, leaving me on my own teaching the whole of the KS4 classes and working more days a week than I really wanted to for a couple of terms.

see- its all gone crazy

It is hard work under the new management, there is something every week that needs work doing for it, a constant CPD programme that wears you down by the end of the session, it doesnt look like ending soon either,  No text book for the course so I had to spend 16 hours a day for 4 months writing one. I feel constantly tired and frazzled, if it wasnt for a couple of people I doubt I would even remember what day it was!

The one big thing I cling to in all of this is- I am not afraid, I am not belittled, I am not suffering chest pains on the way to work, I am not hiding away trying to be an unseen ghost. I am in a school where I work hard, very hard, but I dont feel like I am fighting a losing battle against impossible expectations, and not facing a daily struggle. I dont have the confidence to hold my head up yet but maybe one day I will.