No thanks

Yesterday I had my annual PRD meeting (Professional Review and Development) with my soon to be Acting Headteacher.  My HT is taking up a seconded post for a year so everyone on the management team is moving up which leaves a vacancy for a Principal Teacher (PT).   We had a very productive professional discussion where I talked about what I had achieved and what I hope to achieve next year.  All pretty standard stuff.

Just as I thought we'd come to the end of our chat, she asked me what my leadership plans were for the coming year and beyond.  I was rather taken aback as I've long made it clear I'm not interested in a leadership role.  I resisted the HUGE temptation to say "Oh I'm just hanging on until retirement now!" (I really had to work at stopping myself saying it out loud!!!) 😆

I've always said I'm not interested in promotion at this late stage in my career.  I'm happy to be a class teacher and when the balance of enjoyment of my job and stress/crap/health is disrupted I'll walk away.  Out of curiosity I did have a look at the PT job advert online but it was only a small increase in salary for a huge increase in workload.

No thanks but it was nice to be thought I would be interested.

2,000 Bees

Today I had 2,000 bees in my classroom.  I had arranged for a local beekeeper to visit us and he brought a demonstration hive to show us.  The kids were absolutely fascinated!  I was so proud of all the (mostly!) sensible questions they asked.  And yes, bees do poo in case you were wondering!!

I have been interested in bees for a few years after a previous headteacher told me I had to teach a short 3 week topic on either fish or bees (that school had a very prescriptive curriculum!)  I already had an interest in bees but this short topic really instilled a love of them for me.

Luckily twice this academic year we've had cause to talk about bees in in our Food and Farming topic and our current Climates and Habitats topic.  Children just love learning about bees too!

So our lovely beekeeper quickly realised how much I loved bees and suggested I join our local beekeeping group.  They run beginners' courses in the winter and have practical workshops and demos during the summer.  I have already emailed the secretary 🐝🐝🐝

Grateful

"Practising gratitude has been shown to increase happiness, make us more resilient, strengthen relationships and reduce stress."

I ordered this wee book earlier in the week in an attempt to reflect on the areas of my life that are out of balance.  And I will talk more about it in another post.

But today I just want to say how grateful I am to have my loved ones in my life after hearing a fellow blogger Sue at The Cottage at the End of a Lane sadly lost her husband Colin.

I hope Sue and her family find some small comfort in knowing so many of us are sending them our love xxx

On/off

I wish the flipping weather would make it's mind up!!  As soon I switch the heating completely off the temperature drops and the house is cold.  So I switch it back on again.  And repeat several times through April and May! I really can't stand being cold.  OH laughs at me as I sit on the sofa at night wearing loads of layers and a blanket wrapped round me.  To be fair I did grow up in a house where my dad also doesn't like being cold (my Lovely Mum is snorting with laughter reading this!!) although he refuses to even put a jumper on!!

Thanks for all the supportive comments on my last post.  It seems like a lot of people are recognising that their life is unbalanced.  I'm pretty sure it was Oprah (I'm a big Oprah fan!) who said that women can have it all, just not at the same time.  Even though I live on my own it feels sometimes that I don't have time to myself to do what I want instead of what I have to do.  But I'll keep working on it.

I noticed today that I have 100 followers now!  Thank you 💗 I don't publicise or promote my blog anywhere so it means a lot to me that you're all reading my stuff and commenting. I'm not writing as much as I want to but I am still living as frugally as I can while doing my Body Coach Plan (must update my spending details on the sidebar!)  So far I've lost half a stone and 14 inches but most importantly I feel healthier and fitter.  The challenge will be what happens once the 90 days are over.  Can I stick to the principles on a budget?   My bank balance is VERY low so I'll need to make it work somehow.

Unbalanced

I'm still here, life is just so unbalanced atm.  Career and health are the priority. Luckily it's a Bank Holiday weekend so I've got an extra day to catch my breath and sort out a few things.  Hope everyone is doing ok.