Autumn term part one and Eastbourne

 We made it to half term! I don't know how on earth I managed to do 10 weeks in one go back in NZ - 8 weeks here has been a struggle. Overall I think things have gone about as well as they were going to considering the Covid situation. I find the timetable very difficult and quite stressful as every day is different and I am constantly having to check when lessons start and finish. I also find the 25 minutes for lunch not enough time to have a breather and eat lunch and get to the bathroom. So I've been having to work quite hard on my mental strategies to reduce stress as I noticed I was getting sick feelings in my stomach right throughout the day. This has definitely improved in the last week or so but is something I will need to keep working on.

My classes have been going pretty well though my year 8s are quite tricky and my three year 9 classes provide some challenges. I am enjoying the relaxed relationship with my year 11 and year 10 classes which is a massive difference from last year. Both groups certainly see the importance of all the mini assessments we are doing as they know now these may be used for grades if anything happened with exams. My year 7 classes are super lovely and very keen to learn which has been an absolute delight. It has been interesting working out how to adapt my lessons without being able to play some of the games because of restrictions. It has been fun learning some new games to play instead! I am finding half an hour of tutor time at the end of every day a source of stress and we have definite good and bad days. I am grateful to my year team who are working very hard to find solutions as I am not the only one struggling. 

We had a bit of scare when I got my customary winter cold but lost my taste and smell and had a persistent cough so made the decision to get a test. It meant the whole household isolating for three days while we waited for the results but we only missed Monday's work. We had fun building a fort in the living room and watching the Fellowship of the Ring! Obviously the test came back negative but it was good to check and be able to tell my students that my hacking cough was only a cold... We have had large numbers of students off isolating and getting tests done which has been reassuring that parents are taking it seriously. Up until half term we had had no positive cases but I have had two emails in the last couple of days to say we have cases in year 7 and year 13. None of which are in my classes but it will be interesting to see how that develops over the next couple of days.

In other news, my flights home to NZ for Christmas were cancelled and the airline couldn't rebook until February so I have claimed my refund. We are now waiting and hoping I won't be required to leave the country to apply. It is very frustrating not knowing what is happening and the government have just said they won't open applications until December 1st at the earliest. It is all going to be cutting it a bit fine with my current visa running out in early February. 

Jo and I took the opportunity to get away this half term not knowing when we may get locked down again. We managed to find an apartment in Eastbourne through AirBnB which we had to ourselves on the seafront. So nice to see the sea again and to be able to watch the changing sea and sky from the comfort of the warm inside! The weather wasn't amazing but we did have a mostly sunny, though blustery, day to walk along the clifftops. We did a day excursion to Brighton to see the Royal Pavilion but the weather was so bad we just went back to the apartment afterwards! The Royal Pavilion was incredible, very intricate details and the music room especially was amazing. On our way home today we visited Herstmonceux Castle which was very exciting - it had a moat and everything! Sadly not allowed inside but we enjoyed exploring the gardens and woods before rain set in. 

Eastbourne pier

The Seven Sisters

The Royal Pavilion music room

Herstmonceux Castle

Now I need to tackle the mountain of marking waiting for me before heading back to school on Monday - assuming things don't get worse with the Covid situation.