Diary of an NQT
DARWIN CENTRE DARWIN CENTRE
Thank you Mr Connett!
PLEASE ALLOW me to introduce myself... Going into teaching was all about this bit for me,
The role of NQT diarist this year has been working with “young people” (a previous job in
entrusted into the hands of moi, a 23-year-old banking offices had taught me never to work with
English NQT, recently announced onto the bill at animals or adults!).
Shenfield High School in Essex. On a serious note, it was heart-warming
Whether or not that decision turns out to see the sea of bright, innocent faces that
to be a prudent one, only time will tell. I flooded the assembly hall on day one and
welcome you to join me in what I fully I really looked forward to beginning a
expect to be one whirlwind of a year. chapter in this school along with my year
As aforementioned last 7 form.
Science in
week by my headteacher, John Despite a few worries and occasional
Fairhurst, who wrote this column periods of distressing map-rotation to
introducing the school and its find our way around, we all made it
NQTs, I am one of nine new through day one tear-free.
teachers beginning this year at All that was left to do was let
Shenfield High. I always did loose my primed year 7s into the
prefer safety in numbers. school at large and go to my English
Having trained on the Mid- classes for the day. I’m sure all NQT
Essex initial teacher training teachers across the country will have
scheme running out of Shenfield these first few lessons etched onto their action
High, I have had the benefit of getting memories for eternity, as will I.
to know the school a little, also helped My (initially) rowdy year 8 boys were
by a placement here during my course. calmed into a trance-like state of name
This, coupled with the two weeks writing on their previously stacked exercise
induction period in July has helped books and they even managed to agree to
me to grow accustomed to a rather the need for some classroom rules before
vibrant English department and at we begin properly next week.
least avoid looking lost when roaming However, my week was completed
the school campus. However, I do by a particularly enthusiastic group of
still feel rather contemporary to be 30, subsequently rising to 34, year 7
described as “part of the furniture”, as boys, navigating a room that seats 25 with
my head said in his introductory column enough panache to write me some of the
last week (my wobbling desk giving the best original year 7 poetry I have ever read.
phrase an ironic varnish). Calls of “thank you Mr Connett” as they left
Easing us out of our holiday-induced could only mean that they enjoyed what I had
mental coma, we all returned last week with done.
wide smiles for INSET day and got back I’m sure all the NQTs starting this week have
into the spirit of things by discussing school policy had an equally “enlightening” beginning to their
and the format for the year ahead; a formality for careers, to which I’d like to doth my cap and say:
most staff, but vital for me as an NQT. “For those about to rock – I salute you!”
With time allocated later to peruse class lists and
stack vast numbers of pristine new books ready for • Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of
the day ahead, I prepared myself for what I’ve since English at Shenfield High, a training school in
dubbed: “Day one: doing it for real”. Brentwood in Essex. He returns next week.
Moral support
The Wheel of Wellbeing
Next month, London’s Natural History
LIKE MANY of you reading this column, I’ve through the exercises, I found it initially hard to Museum unveils its new state-of-the-art
just returned to work from a summer break. be honest, even knowing it would only be me that
As well as a chance for me, my wife and saw the outcome.
Darwin Centre, which is offering students and
children to take some time out and refresh It was an emotional hurdle to accept that it was
ourselves for the start of the new academic term, okay to find out things were not perfect in every
I was also hoping that my holiday abroad would aspect of my life.
teachers the chance to get behind the scenes
provide an opportunity for me to take stock of my While being able to reflect on my contentedness
life in a year of great change for myself and my with many aspects of my life, such as my career
of natural and contemporary science and see how it
family: a new job for me, two sons in their last and family, the exercise confronted me with the
year of school, and another finishing college. realisation that my own physical health was not
really works. David Taylor explains
As perhaps I should have predicted, it was getting enough attention.
difficult to motivate myself to think about the I reflected that the swims I took with
“big issues” when we were all having so my family on holiday might have HE NATURAL History Museum research on the specimens. Amazingly, as many as 90
much fun. been good fun, but they were quite per cent of the world’s species are yet to be named and
Faced with the choice between different from the 20 lengths I used classified, which is key to increasing our understanding
a read and doze in the sunshine, to complete a few years ago at the of the natural world.
a swim round the pool with my beginning of every day. In the new labs, some of the world’s leading
sons, or processing the emotional The Wheel helped me to scientists will expand this work and continue their
prospect of one soon fleeing the really concentrate on how to aim T
welcomes around 145,000 students
visiting with their schools each year.
There is something for everyone, from
exploring the fascinating galleries
through to thought-provoking
activities and workshops. research on global and environmental change.
nest, it was far easier, and perhaps to restore my life to a balance From next month (October), the activities on offer
genuinely more useful, to take the with which I am happier: as the to secondary students at the Natural History Museum
Activities for secondary students
relaxing or enjoyable options. autumn takes hold, I’m starting are expanding dramatically with the opening of the new Cocoon is an interactive journey into the heart of the
Many of you may have had a to think that the curtailed evening Darwin Centre. Darwin Centre collections. This brand new gallery is
similar experience. It’s entirely dog walks that the cold induces The centre will provide an opportunity for students situated at the very top of the eight-storey cocoon, the
justified and necessary that teachers might not be enough to keep me to access contemporary science and discover some of largest sprayed concrete curved structure in Europe,
have the opportunity to forget about the as fit as I’d like. the stories from behind the scenes of this world class which houses the collections.
pressures of the classroom for a few Similarly, my night’s sleep seems research and collections facility. Here, students will discover some of the 20 million
precious weeks during the holidays, to have become shortened recently, Through a new programme of events based in the plants and insects protected by the enormous structure
in order to prepare themselves for the and I’m absolutely determined to Darwin Centre, the museum hopes to inspire the next – from huge tarantulas to metre-high poisonous plants
tribulations of term-time once school get to bed earlier than I have been generation of scientists and bring science alive for both – and for the first time see into the hidden world of
restarts. in order to make more of my students and teachers. scientific research, where real museum scientists work
Nevertheless, with pupils now waking hours. The activities on offer will help schools to enrich on cutting-edge projects that could help to protect the
back and the demands of school life As is true of many people, the their teaching of the “How Science Works” strand future of our planet.
beginning to mount, it’s good to take break we took abroad has been the of the curriculum by providing an insight into the Abigail Tinkler, head of schools at the Natural
a moment to reflect on the balance of highlight of my year. Nevertheless, processes and applications of scientific research in an History Museum, explained: “The Darwin Centre is the
your life and identify areas that might be there is no need for the window innovative, out-of-classroom environment. first public space in any museum designed specifically
causing you trouble. of the summer holidays to represent to provide science learning opportunities through direct
You might find our online “Wheel of the only opportunity in which we have
Science behind the scenes
interaction with collections, scientists and laboratories.
Wellbeing” a good tool to help with such an the chance to impact on our work/life The Darwin Centre will provide a new home for both “The Natural History Museum is unique in that it
assessment. balance. specimens and scientists. Of the 70 million specimens combines working science, collections care and millions
It’s been designed to help you look at the The Wheel of Wellbeing proved to be a in the Natural History Museum, 28 million are insects of visitors a year – in the Darwin Centre all these are
balance in different areas of your life, provide an simple but powerful aide to this task. and six million are plants. brought together to deliver a unique experience.
opportunity for you to reflect on the state of your As ever, changes comes in small steps rather Most of these will now be housed in the new “Particularly important is the authenticity of the
wellbeing, and identify aspects you would like to than giant leaps, but I think the tool we’ve Darwin Centre under tightly controlled environmental whole experience. The science we profile in Cocoon
change. developed can represent a gentle but decisive conditions to keep them safe for future generations. hasn’t been developed specifically for the exhibition, it
It’s an interactive tool you can print out and stride in the direction of helping its users to These specimens make up some of the world’s is real science in action.”
use to complete the online exercises. There are six improve the balance of the working and personal most valuable and historic collections. From the cocoa Encounters with real scientists through Cocoon will
sections on a whole range of topics that should lives. collected by Sir Hans Sloane in Jamaica in the 17th allow students to see into state-of-the art laboratories
only take a few minutes each. We’ll also provide century to malaria-carrying mosquitoes collected in where scientists extract, process, sequence and analyse
useful information and ideas to support you as you • Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher 2008, the collections are crucial for research into the DNA of plants and insects. One day students could
work through the tool. Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or disease, climate change, and threats to the Earth’s be watching scientists working on mosquito material
Perhaps most importantly of all, you can keep call 08000 562 261 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales). biodiversity. in their fight against malaria, and the next it could be
the results completely to yourself. As I went Moral Support returns in a fortnight. The Darwin Centre also contains new hi-tech bluebell DNA as scientists try to discover the origin of
laboratories for the 220 scientists who will carry out the British bluebell.
8 SecEd • September 10 2009
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