Half term arrives with a long list of things you were going to do “when there is time”. There is rarely enough time, and a week off is also supposed to be a rest. The trick is to choose the few jobs that genuinely make the next seven weeks easier, and to give yourself permission to leave the rest.
Do these three things
- Look at your assessment data once. Spend 30 minutes spotting the five or six pupils who are further behind (or further ahead) than you expected. Write one sentence on each. This is the raw material for parents' evening and for your reports.
- Plan the first week back, only. A single week of planned lessons, with resources found, removes the Sunday-night dread. Do not plan the whole half term.
- Tidy your pupil notes. If you have kept notes about pupils, even scrappy ones, make them readable now while you still remember what they mean. In December you will be glad you did.
Safely leave these
- Re-doing displays that are fine
- Marking every book to the same depth
- Re-organising the stock cupboard
- Planning beyond the first week
Protect the rest
Decide in advance which days are completely work-free and tell the people at home. Rest is not a reward for finishing the list; it is what keeps you teaching well in November.
Notes now, reports later
Autumn reports and parents' evening feel a long way off in October, but the teachers who find them easiest are the ones with a handful of specific observations per child. Twenty minutes of notes now saves hours of remembering later.
Staffroom can handle the writing for you. Add your notes about each child and get a first-draft report comment you can edit and keep in your own voice. Try it free for 14 days, or try the free comment generator with no account.