Nurture 2016/17

Three positives for 2016
1. Our GCSE results improved. 
This one of course needs couching with 'They're still not good enough', but for once I felt like the improvements I've seen in my school over the last five years were borne out by external verification.

2. I become part of the Senior Leadership team.
And it was ace. Honestly, being challenged in totally new and different ways has renewed my absolute love of this daft job. I sincerely hope I can do my school and Head teacher proud in this role as we face Ofsted in the next term. 

3. I started to write for TES.
To echo @Positivateach, I have no doubt that many an English teacher secretly harbours a dream of writing professionally. For me, it was always a vague wish to produce surrealist feminist fiction in the vein of Angie C. Never non-fiction. That's perhaps why I'm still so crap at writing the type of data and research driven blog post that the likes of @LadyBarkBark produce so effortlessly. Anyway, to be asked to contribute to a magazine I grew up with has been wonderful. Nerdily, I think I've also learned more about how to write for commission which has fed back into the way I teach GCSE writing to show a viewpoint. Double win.

Three hopes for 2017
1. My new Withings fitness tracker stays on my wrist.
I am the cliched New Year gym bunny who collapses on the sofa and doesn't move from it a fortnight in. I'll never be a marathon runner - or 5k runner for that matter - but it'd be nice to think my commitment to not getting out of breath jogging to repro and back sees out the year.

2. To keep doing things that scare me a little bit.
To clarify, I'm not talking bungie jumping. I mean more speaking at conferences, applying for stuff like the DfE Teacher Reference, or volunteering to lead assemblies. On the inside of my wedding ring is the word 'Adventure' and I intend to live up to that mission statement from now until my dotage.

3. To secure an Assistant Head teacher post
My current SLT role is a temporary secondment and I'm already looking ahead to September when it ends with a heavy heart. With the adage 'leaders grow leaders' at the forefront of my mind, I feel now is the right time personally and for our department for me to be wholly hand over the reins to the superb (new) @HeadofEnglish. With one foot still in Faculty leadership, I'm painfully aware I've not always got it right in terms of stepping away from KS4 in particular since September, but I really can say hand on heart I will be passing the English team on to an immensely strong leader who will take our team on to greater heights. Now for the pesky issue of securing myself a new job... Eek.