We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo…

(Well, we’ve actually already been to the zoo, but I wanted a catchy title for this post! )

Last week, I accompanied Year 6 from the primary school I did my PSE at to London Zoo.  By the time we left school, got everyone to the local tube station and walked from Camden Town station to the zoo (and did the whole thing for the return journey, of course), we only had about three hours at the zoo. And we had to stop for lunch in that time as well. Plus an hour was spent in the shop as it seemed every school in London visited the zoo that day.

I’m not sure what the point in going to the zoo was, other than to go “Oh wow!” at the animals. From my point of view, the group I was with did not achieve any educational objectives. (I think officially they were meant to be observing how animals adapt to their habitats.) But I suppose what with it being the last week of term, they wouldn’t have learned much at school anyway. At least this way they got a fun day out for free. (Transport for London waives travel costs for schools in London and the zoo has free school entry.)

And I didn’t get to see the penguins!!! Well, not much

Five days here? I reckon I could do that…

Wow! I can’t believe how much fun I had today, or indeed how tired I am. My first task was to paint rat-faces onto the faces of a group of Year 6 boys. I will explain. This morning was Year 6’s class assembly on racism, based on Heartstone. It involved lots of poorly-delivered lines and innocent dance routines to what I would class as inappropriate songs, such as “Toxic” by Britney Spears and “Candyman” by Christina Aguilera. Then I realised that these kids probably didn’t understand the lyrics as they weren’t the most savvy Year 6’s I’ve ever seen. They enjoyed themselves, so I suppose that was the main thing. The school has an incredibly diverse ethnic mix which is what made the assembly a real success and made it accessible to the children. Even the reception class children gained something from it, which is admirable.

After “extended playtime” (as a reward for their hard work), they spent what seemed a lifetime getting changed from their costumes from their assembly and I was introduced to my contact’s class, 6M, by my first name (which did surprise me somewhat). And they took a genuine interest and asked me questions! Have I always wanted to be a teacher? Have I ever had a job before? Which branch or science will I be teaching? That question surprised me as, to be honest with you, I didn’t really think about the different branches of science until they were taught separately to me in Year 7. This lead to a teacher-led discussion about which branch of science certain topics fall into.

After lunch, the two Year 6 groups (60 pupils) and four adults (including myself) went to a local park to do “landscape drawings”. Most of them resembled scribbles that looked like a three-year-old had drawn them but some were pretty good, even including concepts like perspective. And one child drew bits on a church spire that clearly weren’t visible. My boyfriend and I went to the Natural History Museum over the weekend and went to the Human Biology exhibition. There was a section about child development, and how children of a certain age will draw what they know is there, not what they can actually see. (However, the museum display said that children normally grow out of this by the time they are aged 7.) This explains why children draw belly-buttons on people who are wearing clothes!

The staff at this school are really, really friendly and I think I’ll be sad to leave on Friday. (That could all change, I know!) The staffroom is very well-stocked with teabags and mugs and there is an urn, so I’m sorted. Tomorrow I’m spending the day with a “difficult” Year 1 class but I’m really excited – they can’t be as disruptive as some of the boys in Year 6!

On the plus side, the staff were discussing a Year 6 trip to London Zoo next month and invited me along to be one of the supervising adults. (God I’m old…) You know what that means, don’t you? PENGUINS!

So here starts the PGCE…

I’ve been waiting for this moment for five years, and I am somewhat surprised that I am not more excited than I actually am. I’ve just come off the giddy high of finding out I didn’t actually fail my undergraduate degree (in fact, I did rather well!) and tomorrow, as they say, is the beginning of the rest of my life. The first part of the secondary PGCE at my establishment is spending one week doing primary school experience (PSE). They say it should be carried out in September, although, and I quote, it is possible to do it “in July or at another time”. In my opinion, that makes the whole time-frame much of a muchness, but that’s besides the point.

PSE is designed to be an introduction to a classroom and the “learning experience”. I think that objective is absurd as it is impossible to make and informed application for teacher training, let alone be successful in getting a place, without observing “learning experiences”. I guess, for trainees who have been out of education for a while, it could be a nice, gentle introduction. We have been given tasks to do: assess the factors that define your school (area, transport, ethnic mix etc.), review the school (how delightfully vague!); shadow a pupil for half a day; shadow a teacher for half a day; see how your subject is taught at KS1 (age 5-7) and KS2 (age 7-11).

As I always am before doing school placements, I’m ridiculously nervous. Will the pupils like me? What if they’re mean? Will the staff like me? What if I look like a loner in the staff room? As I’m only there for five days, I don’t really care. It normally takes me a few days to settle in anyways and by then I’ll be nearly finished! I’m also worried about whether or not I’ll get all the tasks done as, when I spoke to the Science coordinator on Thursday, she said that none of the school will be doing science until September as they’ll be starting PSHE. And it’s sports day on Friday as well. Oh what larks(!)