Teachers everywhere - "The end of the year is July, not December".

People always say that December is a time for reflection and looking forward to the new year. I am still getting used to this idea after being a teacher for 15 years. I still think of the end of the year as July and the start of the next is September. That just makes sense to me.

July is the time you say good bye to the class/es you have supported for the last 11 months, get a new timetable for the groups you will take over and try to organise your crazy classroom (although this doesn't normally happen until the end of the summer holidays or even the first week of September).

December doesn't feel like the end of anything as a teacher, you are deep, deep into teaching your group. You know their little quirks and have in jokes but still have the majority of the school year to go.

At primary school, you are trying to plan the next project while making Christmas cards with the children, glitter and paint sprinkled liberally all over your carpet spots and if we are honest, you and the children. At comprehensive school, you are desperately trying to keep bums on seats while year 7s bubble with excitement. Older pupils wishing away the weeks of December, waiting for the bell to ring to celebrate Christmas with friends and family. Teachers know it is a time of controlled assessments and mock exams for exam groups.

All teachers across the land, regardless of what they teach, where they teach it or who they teach it to, spend December trying to avoid the runny noses and coughing that attacks them from all angles. There is too much to do in December to fall ill,. You avoid the lurgy, you feel exhausted but invincible, this season's cold may have taken out your whole class over the last six weeks but not you! You have an impenetrable immune system! But...…. it does get us, every year,........ we wake up on Christmas eve full of snot.

So, this time of year doesn't feel like the end but the middle and I'm not sure I will ever not feel like that.

However, I run a business now and in some ways it does feel like I'm finishing one thing and moving to the next at this time of year. So, like all the other businesses with a social media presence, (even teaching ones) I'll do a round up of 2022 and a look forward to 2023 in the next couple of weeks. There is a lot to celebrate and a lot to look forward to! And I have a lot to tell you about how Shine Drama Workshops about some of the exciting things you can expect to see from us next year.

Whenever that is.