In pursuit of Health, Wealth and Happiness

Tete_en_l'Air

Right so I've done the Payday Shuffle and double checked my savings account and it turns out August was a bit of a bumper month for Quidco so where I thought I had about £600, I actually have almost £750 which is about 9% of my target. Brill.

Dinah93

Wow that's a fantastic amount to save, well done.

N.I.M

Tete, just as an aside thing, the OU offer a PGCE. I looked into it back in 2009 but decided I couldn't hack teaching so never followed it up.

Kittikins

You know what, we'll find ways around the changed in the financial situation if it's right for us. Don't get despondent, get creative (or that's what I'm telling myself about the prospect of having over £1k/month shortfall on my bills once I've been made redundant........grrr).

I've done some volunteering with French lessons (not teaching but just helping out) at a local school, not enough to get me on a course, and am a Rainbows leader, on DD's school PTA etc, but am hopefully going to get some proper experience soon. I've got lots of teacher chums, so am going to throw myself at their feet and ask if I can come and shadow them for a week or so each.

It's all very exciting if a little scary I'm feeling very relieved I've got faith as it's really helping me cope with the carp that's going on in every day stuff.......

Tete_en_l'Air

Dinah93 wrote: »

Wow that's a fantastic amount to save, well done.

What? No, that's just what was in my account anyway - it was double that a couple of months ago

N.I.M wrote: »

Tete, just as an aside thing, the OU offer a PGCE. I looked into it back in 2009 but decided I couldn't hack teaching so never followed it up.

Yes this is another thing on my list!

Kittikins wrote: »

I've got lots of teacher chums, so am going to throw myself at their feet and ask if I can come and shadow them for a week or so each.

Same! In a way being made redundant has its advantages in that it at least frees up time to get the experience.

ZTD

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

A bit about me. I’m female, 30, single and live at home with my Dad, working in a job that I don’t HATE but don’t love. Pretty grim so far, yes?

No, actually that doesn't seem all that bad TBH.

What you said later about your relationship, your Dad and your Aunt are a lot worse. The work situation being a big cherry on top.

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

How did I get here? I’ve never really known what I wanted to do as a career and have pootled along so far hoping that I might somehow ‘fall into’ something I love.

That's probably about half of everyone... :whistle:

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

I was already seething at having to take flexi time to accompany my Dad to his chemo sessions earlier in the year, rather than being given any kind of compassionate leave (ME! The girl who has never had a day off sick in five years, who will do anything for anyone, who was the only person out of a team of (then) 12 who bothered to come in during a week of heavy snowfall, while everyone else basically got a free week’s holiday… and so on and so on) and I’m so disappointed and angry at the way we’ve been treated over this, yet felt completely helpless – I mean jobs aren’t exactly easy to come by at the moment are they?

No. But it is possible. But only if you look.

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

But then I started thinking that maybe this was just the kick up the bum I need to get out of my rut and tried to see it as an opportunity to get out and retrain.

Or get out into a different job - just as an alternative point of view.

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

When the CA heard that I have a languages degree, he immediately and predictably suggested going into teaching. I’ve always said I would never be a teacher. My own memories of French classes in secondary school are too fresh in my mind for me to ever want to try to teach a load of 12-year-olds that ‘bof’ just means ‘meh’ and not ‘fart’, but he mentioned that there’s a big drive to get languages into primary schools now and to give it some thought.

Now this "big drive" - what does it consist of? For many Government programmes - a "big drive" means a press conference and not much more. Have you seen any vacancies advertised?

I know this might seem like pouring cold water onto what you want, but you need to plan, prepare and know everything about what you want to do.

The last thing you want is to spend a bunch of cash training for a job which isn't available to you for whatever reason.

Dinah93 wrote: »

I'd say it's a bit daft if you have to live within 20 miles, trains are pretty good at running in all weathers, and it's been a rare day when the A19 or M1 is impassable due to snowfall. Plus a lot of placement schools are all over the place, I know my friend's new job is at one of his placement schools and that's an hour and a quarter from his house. I would think it's a lot harder to get to village schools in bad weather than the centre of York or Newcastle.

No, actually village schools are easier to get to, given equal amounts of snow - though they normally get more. The farmers tend to keep the roads open; the parents tend to be local, and so used to the weather; and it's usually the other people who can't drive (there are loads in towns) that stop you travelling - not the snow per se.

Compound run-on sentences me? Pah...

shrimpy_80

Hi Tete, have subscribed and will be joining you in sober September so will probably be on here lots to boost my willpower! Still haven't got my 30 day shred dvd back but have started swimming before work so am thinking of setting myself a distance goal... Need to do some sums though.

I didn't know that about having to use your flexi either, that's very harsh

nyc_451

Your writing style is very pleasant to read.

Kittikins

I met a deputy head of a junior school the other evening and chatted to her over a glass of vino about MFL in primary schools and my hopes and fears about applying for the course, given that I'm 41, graduated a gazillion years ago, etc etc. She was really pleased I'm considering a career change and when I mentioned that I'd like to offer things like a Latin club for the children, she said that schools would be very keen, as apparently the current gov't are again (they were a few years ago as well) to make MFL important to primary levels.

I'm going to do a Latin training day in November so that I could then approach local schools to offer a Latin club, and I'd also like to learn more Makaton/BSL as I think that they are also really important.

Tete_en_l'Air

ZTD wrote: »

No, actually that doesn't seem all that bad TBH. What you said later about your relationship, your Dad and your Aunt are a lot worse.

Yes this is true - it gave me a lot of perspective which is why I'm no longer bothered about it. It's just a bit of a stigma to still be living at home at my age isn't it?

Or get out into a different job - just as an alternative point of view.

I appreciate what you're saying but if I had an idea of WHAT other job I'd like, I'd have done it a long time ago. I've chosen my goal now, I just need to find the right path.

I know this might seem like pouring cold water onto what you want, but you need to plan, prepare and know everything about what you want to do.
The last thing you want is to spend a bunch of cash training for a job which isn't available to you for whatever reason.

Yes - I'm only at the very beginning of my journey (without wishing to sound like an X-Factor contestant) - obviously if I go for classroom experience and hate it I'll have re-think.

shrimpy_80 wrote: »

Hi Tete, have subscribed and will be joining you in sober September so will probably be on here lots to boost my willpower! Still haven't got my 30 day shred dvd back but have started swimming before work so am thinking of setting myself a distance goal... Need to do some sums though.

I calculated I used to swim about a mile when I went and it took be about and hour and a quarter - so much slower than running! But brilliant. Maybe you could try to swim a marathon / half marathon in 30 days?

I didn't know that about having to use your flexi either, that's very harsh

Yep, my morale is through the floor, not a happy little drone at all.

blue_mango wrote: »

Your writing style is very pleasant to read.

Aw thanks! It would have to be with the amount I waffle on!

Kittikins - have you a qualification in Latin? I did it for GCSE but had never considered teaching it - a good grounding in Latin is brilliant for romance languages though. I too have thought a little about BSL and how it would be useful but had to google Makaton - it's so interesting!