Day 349 - Maths Games

Wednesday March 31st

Last day of school and everyone is in a good mood. it feels good to be back and everyone in the staff room treats me like an old hand, which I like.

Teaching was very relaxed. I made an effort to plan a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire style quiz last night and it worked really well with 8.1.3. With 8.2.4, I was a little concerned about keeping them occupied but ended up spending the whole lesson on Maths Bingo. It was meant to be a starter but they really enjoyed it so stretched it out for 65 minutes.

Parent briefing for the Ardeche trip tonight. I signed up to chaperone a Year 10 trip next term which looks like it could be a blast. The only downsides are the 17 hour coach ride to get there and the small fact that Mrs N is now working and there will be no-one to look after the children over half-term. Whoops.

Day 319 - Ground Hog Day

Monday March 1st

Back at Kings this morning and it feels like Groundhog Day. On the good side, I haven't really had to teach today as BYS and DVS took the lessons and I observed/mucked in. On the bad side, I haven't really had to teach today!

In preparation for tomorrow's 1022 class, I have scanned in my model answers for their exam (see previous blog on how badly they did) so hopefully they will see the error of their ways and vow to work diligently towards the real thing in June.

I found out that I am going on a trip to the Ardeche during summer term half term. I'd forgotten that I had signed up but it seems there are benefits to being a male teacher. There are never enough to go round!!!

Day 280 - Enigma and Colossus

Thursday January 21st

Another day out from school today, this time to Bletchley Park with a group of Year 7s. My first go at supervising a school trip and it went remarkably well - I didn't lose one child and at no point did I get close to administering the Epi pen (except to myself).

Most of the day was on the coach as Bletchley Park is near Milton Keynes, a good 2 hours drive. The shrine to war-time code-breaking has seen better days and is in desperate need of a makeover. In fact, I would not be surprised if it isn't subsumed into another museum one day soon. It is a remarkable story and, while there are veterans to tell it, perhaps worthy of a stage to itself. However, as memories fade, it probably needs to take its place alongside other exhibits at a bigger museum that will capture its essence without the vast expense of a site of its own. An amazing story all the same. They recruited code-breakers from winners of the Telegraph cryptic crossword puzzle. I bet they were at it like rabbits when they weren't hunched over German messages, squinting through their cigarette smoke in dimly lit Nissan huts.