Then, a fresh wave of nerves came over me as the two inset days ended and I faced the reality of 1500 teenagers roaming about. Come to think of it, the first two weeks of term seemed to fly by in a haze of nerves, excitement but above all in a frenzy of the biggest volume of new information I have ever had to absorb.

Then came my first lesson: A lovely group who were eager to learn and, basically, the perfect dream of a class for a trainee teacher. Suddenly, stood in front of 30 12-year olds, I completely forgot everything that an English trainee teacher should know. Nouns? Nope. A verb? Drawing a blank. Metaphors? Can’t remember for the life of me! Fast-forward an hour and I had successfully made it through the lesson, albeit rather awkwardly and incredibly nervously. Fast-forward to the end of term, however, and I had a student from that class seek me out at the end of the last lesson of term to thank me for everything I had done in those 6 weeks. I don’t think that student will ever know how much that little comment meant to me, but I think every trainee teacher (or every teacher in general for that matter!), will agree that it’s comments like those that are why we are all pursuing this challenging, testing career path.

Two months and one half term later, I find it hard to even imagine why I was so nervous on that day in September. Since then I have beamed with pride at being able to sing praises on Parent’s Evening,  I’ve come close to tears after lessons that I wasn’t happy with, I’ve found friends in my colleagues and most importantly, I have been stunned and amazed by the inspiring and unique ideas of the young people in front of me on a daily basis.

It’s safe to say I am excited for what the rest of the year holds.