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Something I would highly recommend, is taking a portfolio with examples of your work along to your interview! I know at the moment you may not be physically ‘going’ to an interview, but now more than ever this could give you the edge and show exactly who you are and what you can do!!😀Here are some tips on what to include:

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1. Put your personal statement first! This is what you would have written for your job application, so putting this first will remind them of why they chose you to come for an interview from what was so brilliant about this statement!

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2. Next, put your reports that have been written about you by your mentor/tutor. This will show exactly how wonderful you are, what skills you have and what you are like as a teacher from a professional perspective!

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3. After this, should be some examples of planning. This needs to include a range of planning from single lesson plans to medium term planning. Alongside these, insert examples of your evaluations of these lessons to show you are able to reflect on your own planning and teaching! Highlight at the top what subject they are for and what kind of plan they are so it’s clear!

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4. Next, you can put in examples of lesson observation feedback that you have received from a range of observers (e.g. mentor, tutor, Head Teacher, Key Stage Lead etc)! These should also be observations of a range of subjects to show feedback on different areas of the curriculum! Obviously, it’s best to put your most positive feedback here 😄 Highlight at the top what subject it was and who observed it so it’s clear!

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5. Lastly, add in anything else you are proud of. Perhaps you have created an inspiring display or reading area! You could show something you did in a previous job such as being a TA, nursery teacher, club leader/coach! Show off who YOU are here 😊

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I hope this helps if you are preparing for interviews! I would suggest sending this just before the interview for them to look at when they wish, or hand it over at the start if you are physically going to an interview! Let them have a browse and refer to your examples in your interview where possible!

GOOD LUCK!! 🤩💗


NQT Interview Portfolio

Monday, 22 June 2020





▫️Author: Abi Elphinstone

▫️Reading age: Year 3+

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▫️Summary:

What if the world’s weather was created and controlled in another world linked to ours? When Casper finds himself in this other world, he just wants to get back home, until he finds out he has the important and crucial job of standing against the villain controlling the disastrous weather back home! He has a companion, Utterly Thankless, who isn’t the friendliest, to help on this adventure, along with her pet dragon Arlo. But can they save the unmapped kingdoms and our world from the clutches of Morg and her midnights?...

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▫️Likes:

- Mishaps and adventure.

- Casper’s character grows and flourishes.

- As does Utterly in her own ways.

- It’s set in a magical other world connected to ours.

- Mythical creatures.

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▫️Dislikes:

- Lots of different names for characters and different 'beings' makes it confusing and hard to keep up at times.

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▫️Words to describe the book:

- Mythical.

- Adventurous.

- Mishaps.

- Disasters.

- Growth.

▫️Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5


Rumble Star - BOOK REVIEW



🗯NQT Interview Tips🗯

From myself and @miss_alexander_nqt

We are both doing our PGCE’s at the University of Cambridge and have both secured NQT jobs for September! We wanted to collaborate on this post to put our very different interview experiences together to share our advice😊

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- Look at the website beforehand so you know their values, behaviour policy and curriculum approach. You need to have a good knowledge of the school to be able to discuss these things and show exactly why you want to work there over anywhere else!

- Dress smart but comfortably! Even if you’re doing your interview online, still dress smartly.

- Take your time to answer the questions so you can think carefully about it before you answer.

- Be confident in your answers and show you know what you are talking about.

- Add in examples of your teaching and work with children to back up your points.

- Have questions prepared to ask the interviewers. Give them something to think about too! Particularly as an NQT, ask what they can provide for you in terms of a programme and support.

- Be yourself! We chose this Bitmoji because you need to be YOU and you need to have confidence in yourself and your abilities - then this will shine through!

- If you have to teach an activity keep it simple, present the lesson plan to those observing and explain how you’d differentiate.

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Possible questions that could come up that we were asked:

- Why teaching?
- Why this school?
- What can you bring to the school?
- What is inclusion?
- What is safeguarding?
- What would you do if a child disclosed something to you?
- What kind of curriculum would you want to teach?
- How would you make that curriculum possible?
- What are your weaknesses and how could we support them in your NQT Year?
- What educational theories have influenced you?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- Describe a lesson that did not go well/ a good lesson?
- How do you motivate pupils?
- How do you develop good relationships with colleagues and children?
- How would you meet the needs of all children?

I really hope this post is helpful if you are preparing for interviews! Please leave a comment and let me know. I wish you the best of luck and please message me if you need anything!


NQT Interview Tips








1. Before you do anything, find out as much as you can about the school! Look on their website, social media and find out what their values are, what the curriculum is like and get a feel for what they’re all about! Obviously it helps if you have seen the school and been on a tour where you can ask Q’s. However I know this probably isn’t possible right now... so instead do all the research you can and email them if you want to know anything more! 😊

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2. You need a memorable and punchy starting paragraph. This is the first bit they will read so make them want to read the rest!

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3. Keep the focus of your application on the school. Make it personalised to the school, not generic. You need to show why you are made for THEIR school specifically! What do you like so much about their school?

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4. What can you bring to the school? Do you have a degree in a subject that could help enhance their curriculum? Could you bring an exciting club to the school? What’s unique about YOU that no one else could bring?

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5. If you’ve been on placement there, talk about what you learned there and what your mentor said about your teaching, planning and relationship with the class!

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6. What are you like as a character? What are your skills? What are your expectations and behaviour management like? Include examples with all of these points!

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7. Refer to assessment strategies and differentiation to show these are things you are aware of and understand are necessary.

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8. Discuss how your degree enhances you as a teacher!

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9. Discuss past experiences of working with children i.e. being a TA, sports coach, nursery teacher etc and what you have learned from these roles that you can bring to being a teacher.

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10. End with confidence and a powerful finishing statement about having the skills and dedication for the job!

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I hope these tips help you if you are applying for jobs right now! I know it’s a tough time to be applying but you WILL find something, so keep your head up!💖

I want this to be a shared post so add anything else you think is important!!
GOOD LUCK! 🌟





NQT Application Tips

Friday, 12 June 2020




▫️Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave

▫️Reading age: Year 5+

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▫️Summary: Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella dreams of the faraway lands her Father once mapped. When her closest friend disappears, she volunteers in disguise, to guide the search. Isabella follows her heart, her map and an ancient myth and discovers she needs to save the island itself. Full of magic, myth and beautiful maps and border illustrations on each page. It follows a story of a true heroine who is strong, loyal and brave!

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▫️Likes:

- Mysterious and magical.

- Unexpected and unpredictable.

- Self discovery.

- Shows a true heroine.

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▫️Dislikes:

- Occasionally confusing due to understading the wording and language of the book.


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▫️Words to describe the book:

- Heroine.

- Mysterious.

- Loyalty.

- Unexpected.

- Magical.

- Friendship.

- Mythical.


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▫️Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5



The Girl of Ink & Stars - BOOK REVIEW




Sooo I tried to whittle it down to a few books to recommend as my favourites of the year, however as you can see, that didn’t really happen! It was a struggle because so many have been AMAZING! So this was the best I could do, but this means you’ve got 12 books to add to your own to be read list 😁 All of these books I have written book reviews for on my website here, so please go and have a look at them if you’re interested in any of these! They are all under 'Book Reviews' 📚🤩

I have absolutely loved delving into children’s literature this year! As you can see, from my top 12, only one book is an adult book! Trying to fit in time to read is harder now I’m doing my PGCE but I know it’s important to take time to relax and reading is one of the best ways to do that for me ☺️ so it needs to be done! Plus I’ve got a big to be read pile to get through this year...






Top Books of 2019




Goodbye 2019 👋🏼 Here are my ‘teaching’ highlights of 2019...


I started off the year with my PGCE interview at Cambridge and got a place 🤩 a definite highlight! ⭐️

I spent Jan-July working as a Learning Coach at the University of Cambridge Primary school which I loved💗

At school I ran Gymnastics Club for KS2 and Travel Club for Year 1 - my favourite time of the week🌍🤸🏼‍♀️

In July I left UCPS and got so many thoughtful gifts and cards😢

The summer consisted of me purchasing a lot of stationery including my planners and getting ready for September and also holidays with lots of reading📒📚

In September I started my PGCE and was very excited to receive my university card for starting at Homerton😁

I made lots of new friends and had such a nice evening at the Matriculation dinner💃🏻

My first few weeks were spent at uni - one lesson that stood out for me was Geography as it’s my favourite subject and we learned lots of fun ways to teach it creatively!🌸

I started my first placement in November and taught my first lesson (Geography) about Wales and lost my voice😳

My placement partner and I had a lot of fun creating a reading for pleasure tree in our classroom to inspire the children to have a love for reading🌿

On one of our final days of placement we had the cutest Teddy Bear’s picnic🧸

I was so sad to leave this placement as the children, my mentor and TA were all lovely! I received a maraca from my mentor which I love💛

The end of the Autumn term and end of 2019, I started my second placement in Year 5! It was lovely to be part of the school at Christmas to see their play and be part of the festivities🎄


It’s been a full on year but I’ve enjoyed it A LOT! It’s been the year where I’ve really started to love and get a feel for teaching, so I can’t wait for 2020 where I will begin to teach even more and will be an actual teacher by the end of it - insane! 🥳









Teaching Highlights 2019




As a follow up from my application tips post, here are some tips that helped me when preparing for my PGCE interview😀👍🏼


⭐️As for any interview, dress smartly and present yourself well as this shows you know how to dress for the teaching profession.

⭐️This may sound hard, but just RELAX! My PGCE interview was no where near as scary as I thought it would be; it was very laid back and casual which allowed me to be calm and collective. Remember they’re there to learn about you and are genuinely interested in what you have to say!

⭐️Be as prepared as possible! I was working as a TA so I asked teachers at my school to help me think of questions that could come up. I then thought of answers for these and wrote the Q & A’s out on flash cards to test myself!

⭐️Here are some Q’s I was suggested to prepare in advance and also some that I was actually asked in my interview😊 Use these to prepare, then you won’t have to think on the spot if you’re asked something similar to these!


✨Why do you want to teach? (Try and avoid making this answer cliché and cringey!)

✨What good teaching practices have you observed?

✨Can you discuss any current educational news? (A key one to be up to date on!)

✨How would you engage children in learning?

✨Describe a good working relationship you’ve had?

✨What have you learned about yourself from being a TA/coach/*whatever experience you have had with children*?

✨How would you bring diversity into the classroom?

✨If you had a bad lesson, what would you do afterwards?

✨How would you get your pupils to behave?

✨What would your ideal classroom be like?

✨Why have you chosen this course?

✨What are your strengths & weaknesses? (Make your weakness a positive, something you are working on!)

✨What do you think it takes to be a good teacher?

✨What is the most important role of a teacher in the classroom? (Safeguarding!)


I hope this is helpful if you have an interview coming up, please let me know if it is! GOOD LUCK! Message me if you’d like any more help💖











Teacher Training Interview Tips



▫️▫️AUTHOR: Sophie Anderson
READING AGE: Year4+
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▫️SUMMARY:

Found abandoned in a bear cave as a baby, Yanka has always felt out of place in her small village. One day she wakes to find that her legs have become bear legs! She sets off into the forest to discover who she really is, on a mystical journey alongside new friends. This book is beautifully interwoven with traditional stories and folk tales of dragons, princesses, bears and more! This creates a gorgeous fairy tale like story full of emotion, friendship and discovery! A truly beautifully written must read book.

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▫️LIKES:

- Incredibly gripping.
- Full of adventure and discovery.
- Nothing quite like it.
- Amazing plot with so many hidden messages.
- You learn lots of new things along the way!
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MAIN THEMES AND WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE STORY:

 - Courage.
- Team work.
- Gripping.
- Intelligence.
- Adventure.
- Amazing.
- Discovery.
- Survival.

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  ▫️Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5


The Girl Who Speaks Bear - BOOK REVIEW



▫️▫️AUTHOR: Matt Haig
READING AGE: Year 3+
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▫️SUMMARY:

This is another Christmas themed book by Matt Haig which has some links to A Boy Called Christmas! One year later, a little girl named Amelia writes to Father Christmas wishing for her Mother to get better. However the magic that Amelia believes in is beginning to fade. Father Christmas has a lot to deal with: upset trolls, angry elves and the chance that Christmas might have to be cancelled! Meanwhile poor Amelia is trapped in Mr Creeper's workhouse. How will magic and Christmas be saved?!

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▫️LIKES:

- Elements of history with it being set in a workhouse.
- A strong, young girl.
- A wonderfully Christmassy read!
- Messages of having faith and not giving up.
- Lovely illustrations by Chris Mould.
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MAIN THEMES AND WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE STORY:
- Gripping.
- Christmassy.
- Historical.
- Heart-felt.
- Adventurous.
- Exciting.
- Magical.

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 ▫️Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5


The Girl Who Saved Christmas - BOOK REVIEW

Thursday, 11 June 2020

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