Tom’s Blog

It is time to say goodbye to this blog. After 248 posts, 1,253 comments from readers and 1,068 replies on the forum it is time for me to move on. I have been writing this blog since 2007 and I have to say it has been great fun. I had very productive time (one post a day) to rather lazy time where I only managed a pitiful post a month. I had no idea what writing a blog was all about when I started and I quickly discovered that unless you find some topics to write about it can be very hard to come up with something. It’s why I tried to always keep an eye out for what was happening on Campus sometime looking rather suspicious while trying to take picture with my mobile.

So what’s next for me? I  graduated in July, BA (Hons) Modern Foreign Languages Key Stage 2/3 Education with QTS obtaining a first. Unfortunately no job yet but I am very confident this will change soon. It is a very very competitive environment in Merseyside to obtain your first job. So I have joined some supply agency to so some cover work in the meantime.

Along the way I have met some fantastic  people , fellow blogger Viki, Jack, Daniel and many many other student advocates.  The people from the student liaison have been great to work with. (Special thanks to Jo, Ruth and Liam who have known the longest).

I wish all the current and new Edge Hill student to have as much of a good time as I did over the last three years. Good luck to all the other bloggers, keep up the Hi Website alive!

It’s time to press publish and log off for the final time I shall miss you little blog.

I was lucky to be one of the chosen few to go to the Conway Centre in Wales to take part in  a free week-end to learn about Education Outside the Classroom. The week-end was free and organised by Edge Hill it was very good fun. I went along with some friends and we had a brilliant time learning in a very fun and practical way. Check Viki’s post for more info. The first day was really much about learning to work as a team and we got to do all sort of challenges. Some of them require really little resources and would be great to use with a class. The second day involved climbing up a tree and walk on a log 50 feet high… Scary but good fun. And not easy if you have big feet and no sense of balance (Recognising yourself Alex??)  In the afternoon we had to build a raft which was followed by a race. Our raft was brilliant and our team won (Aren’t we the best Viki!).

The Conway centre is located in a beautiful setting and I would highly recommend it to go for a residential. I have attached some pictures of the week-end.

1- Don’t panic everything will make sense in the end! You can not expect to know everything at the start.

2- Don’t buy too many books before the start of your course you will be able to use the LSP fund to buy them from Blackwells.

4- Organisation is the key to success!

5- Start your assignment early so you have plenty of time to ask question to your tutor and get specific guidance.

6- The staff are very helpful at edge hill. They are always happy to help and there is always someone who can.

7- Enjoy your first year it’s the time to have fun!

8- Keep everything, and I mean absolutely everything! In your final year you might need to show some evidence from your first year.

9- Keep on top of your work and if you feel like you are struggling ask for help!

10- You are going to have a fantastic 3 years and it goes very, very quickly so catch every opportunity!

It’s the end of the year and we are all busy making sure all of the last minute work has been done and submitted. But it is also this time every year that prospective students will be looking at different Uni or if they have already decided on Edge Hill and had their place confirmed they will be looking at what to bring and do before September.

If you fit any of this criteria then wait no longer to register with the Hi website. It’s the best place to go if you want to find out about anything with regards of Edge Hill or your course.

There are 12 bloggers who are happy to help and answer any queries.

http://hi.edgehill.ac.uk/forum/

It has now been three year since I have started my course with Edge Hill. And just to use the good old cliché I feel like it was only yesterday! Time has gone very, very quickly and I feel like I have achieved an awful lot in this time.

The K2/3 course with is a teacher training programme is very demanding as you learn to teach two very different key stages. Looking back I feel that year 2 was the most challenging. We had an awful lot of assignments to write as well as getting to grip with teaching secondary pupils.

The final year add a fair amount of challenge and as some point I had 4 assignments to write within 2 weeks as well as planning for my Synoptic placement.

My advice is Plan, Plan, Plan and don’t leave things to the last minute. A year planner is essential and don’t be afraid to start work early!