Skip to main content

Finally

I received this letter in the post today.

"Dear CW,

Congratulations . I am pleased to inform you that following the meeting of the Assessment Board (Secondary PGCE), you have been awarded:

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Secondary) - Pass

As you have also passed all three QTS Skills tests we will be recommending you to the General Teaching Council for the award of Qualified Teacher Status.

I wish you a long and successful career in teaching and look forward to seeing you at the Awards Ceremony on.....

Yours sincerely,

X

Director of Secondary ITT"

Ladies and Gentlemen, I've done it. I have successfully passed my course and am officially known as an NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher). This means that I am effectively half way through to becoming a full qualified teacher.

I need to complete my NQT year and if all goes well, by this time next year, I will no longer be a student teacher. The difference is that I am now going to be teaching 90% of the time (on a weekly timetable) and will have a dedicated mentor who will be observing me (I will also be observed by others too) once every half term.

Thank you all so much for your amazing support and encouragement over the least ten months. It hasn't been easy (and from what I hear, the NQT year is even harder!) but I made it through the University course and am looking at the other side.

CW now has a PGCE. Those of you who've been reading my blogs since April last year will know how far I've come and how things have changed in my life.

I want to end by thanking the one person without whom I couldn't have come this far. Dana, my wife, you supported me from day one and I want everyone who reads this blog (including you people in Australia, I know you visit!) how utterly appreciative and grateful I am for your constant and selfless backing. This PGCE is yours just as much as mine.

Let's start enjoying our lives again - the year is over and I'm bringing the dough in - this time for good.

The Teacher's Scribbles are now being posted by someone who is now a newly qualified teacher. Let the games begin!

Comments

The Scribbler said…
Thank you Larry and Athena!

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Jewberry Muds

To get the full effect, this message should be read out loud. You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation. This has been nominated for the best email of 2005. The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the FarEast Economic Review: Room Service (RS): "Morrin. Roon sirbees." Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service." RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??" G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs." RS: "Ow July den?" G: "What??" RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?" G: "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please." RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?" G: "Crisp will be fine." RS: "Hokay. An Sahn toes?" G: "What?" RS: "An toes. July Sahn toes?" G: "I don't think so."

Our City

Tomorrow night, we will be celebrating the thirty-ninth anniversary of the return of Jerusalem into Jewish hands. Many people around the world continue to deny the Jewish people the right to claim the city as our eternal capital. On the Temple Mount, the Arabs do what they can to destroy any evidence of our ancient presence, yet, despite their efforts, they cannot erase the basic fact that Jerusalem has, is and will always be - ours. This is not to say that the city is less important to persons of another faith. What I am stating and categorically so, is that Jerusalem is accessible to anyone who wants to worship therein, but never it let be forgotten that, at the end of the day, we, the Jewish Nation are the only people who, since time immemorial have chosen this very special place as a destination for all our prayers - she belongs to us. Every time we pray to G-d, we face towards Jerusalem. Every single Ark in every single Synagogue faces towards the city. It’s presence in our psyche

Oh, To Be Loved

I confiscated a tub of Vaseline from a Year 8 student today. The same kid admitted to throwing a stub of paper at me from the back of the room. After the end of the lesson, I refused to return the Vaseline to him, whereupon he curtly told me to “drop dead”. When he approached me at lunch and asked me again for his precious tub, I told him that he could have it back if he wrote me a letter of apology. His response - “shut up”. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother teaching these children. I know that moaning about it here won’t help in the slightest, but at least it makes me feel a little better by getting it out of my system