Meeting my new department

Yesterday I went in to my new school for a department planning day. There are three of us who are full time including me, my Head of Department, and another new teacher (who I reckon is late thirties/forties and an ex head of department) - all of us are English! We spent the day brainstorming ideas for each year group - it was enjoyable but also mentally very tiring, not least as my brain is a little out of practice. We're starting from scratch and building schemes of work as we go, which is challenging but also quite exciting. I'm impresssed by the calibre of the guys with whom I am working; we all have areas different areas of expertise which means there are new areas for me to learn about, as well as teaching ideas and techniques. I am a little daunted by it all at the moment and have plenty to do; I'm sure once I start term things will be fine.


We went for dinner in the evening so I didn't get back till quite late - and then had to get up at 6am to collect Kit (and Jenny, en route) from the airport. 


Yesterday I received an email from Phil, the Head of U6 at Trinity, reminding me that before I had left I had agreed - almost certainly whilst under the influence - to do a videocast from Australia for an assembly. It's Australia Day on Tuesday, so I thought I'd do something on Australian history and culture (and yes, it DOES have both....). Assuming the tech side of things works ok, I will post a link to it from the blog.


You may have heard that Prince William has been in town this week - it's been big news here, with even the most ardent of republicans melting at the actual, real life presence of a British Royal - he seems particularly popular amongst Aussie women. It was particularly significant that he paid a visit to 'The Block' in Redfern (an inner city suburb of Sydney), that had a reputation for years as being a dangerous area of drugs and crime, but which has been transformed through being reclaimed by the indigenous population of the area.


So anyway, I am now faced with something of a dilemma - it's going to be 35 degrees today and 39 tomorrow - work, beach, or both....?