My summer project

I'm back with an update on my summer! I've been on a mini-break to the Isle of Wight with my mum so not been about to blog for a few days. Had a lovely time and managed to catch a bit of colour before coming back to drizzly London.

My photo box

So my main project for the summer (besides tidying and organising my room!) is sorting through all of my old photographs. Considering I was one of those children who took a camera absolutely EVERYWHERE and took snaps upon snaps of various landscapes/trees/clouds/bins, you can imagine I have many packs of photos to vet!

Lots of photos inside!

While sorting through my wardrobe (which is now filled with school bits - hurrah!) I came across a familiar old box of mine. A box so full that half of the lid was actually just hanging off (cleverly hidden by my camera angle!) and was full to the brim with packs of old photographs. Many years ago I had managed to collect all of the old films (remember APS films?!) and stored them in another box but all of the CDs and viewfinders were still floating around my box of snaps. It was time to start sorting!

My kit: Scapbooks, photo mounts and coloured sharpies!

I had a plan: pick out the photos I liked, throw away the rest. Oraganise and stick into albums. Brilliant. One tiny problem: I was a rather over-eager photographer back then. I had photographs of random waxworks at Madame Tussauds, blurry pictures of animal enclosures at Whipsnade zoo, wonky photographs of my brother taken from underneath our patio furniture, photographs of very green landscapes that I can not, for the life of me, tell you where they are... So I got to work with my scrapbooks (including a gorgeous scrapbook from a friend while I was still at uni!), my pack of photo mounts and my array of coloured sharpies.

... yes, my sharpies ARE in a pen holder that I made and decorated myself. I like making something out of nothing!

Sorting through old pictures :)

I spent a long afternoon sat cross-legged on the floor in my living room sorting through my old photographs. So far I've thrown out all of the photographs that I din't need/want to keep and sorted the remaining photographs into groups (family/primary era, secondary school, uni and beyond).

I shall update further as I complete my scrapbooks!
Nx :)

Moving out

Moving out of my classroom, I had no idea how much stuff I'd accumulated over two measly years. A lot. That's how much. I started my teaching career at a junior school in my borough two years ago with nothing in my repertoire but a few ideas in my head and a few folders of lecture notes from my PGCE (of which I never laid eyes on again). Over the last two years I'd managed to hoard just about anything I had touched! And now I had to try and move it all out...

Let's rewind a few months. It was approaching the May half term. All of this academic year I had been toying with the idea of moving on and seeing the world a bit. I'm not a home owner, I have no dependants, and I'm not married or engaged (yet!). Of all the years in my adult life - this was looking most likely to be my last chance to just blow away the cobwebs and have a spontaneous year. 

So I handed in my notice. 

That was it. I was free to see the world and gain some experience. Having only taught in one year group since qualifying and having no experience in leadership or coordinating anything, I figured my CV wasn't looking all that exciting. So I formulated my plan. I was going to go supply!

Which bring us to the here and now. 

This is the remnants of my classroom, currently residing in my bedroom. Now, I have a decent sized bedroom. I've never had any complaints in the past. But you try condensing the contents of a classroom into a relatively minute space and you'd be feeling slightly disgruntled too!

I have made an extra effort to barely be at home to deal with the bags, boxes and bomb sights of my bedroom so far this summer holiday. I've actually only been at home for a few nights so far (courtesy of my best friend's wedding and a LOT of sleeping over at my partner's house!) which has left me with only a couple of days to start sorting through everything.  

Now, one thing you should know about me is that I love folders. And colour coding. And stickers. And labelling.... So as you can imagine, I've had lots of fun on my main task of filing away paperwork into folders, as shown in my picture! I've also particularly enjoyed using these little lovelies: my mini Post-It tabs! 

These are keeping me going... 

Mum and dad bought these souvenirs back from a mini break a few weeks ago and I can't wait to fill my tin with lots of useful things for September! I shall also use my new notebook to record any information I need when I start supplying!

To end my first post on my shiny new blog, I shall leave you with a couple of pictures of some of the lovely presents I received on my last day at school: A beautiful bunch of flowers from a lovely parent and a delicious cake from another! Lucky me! 

Nx :)