There is nothing quite like that feeling of finally closing the door on your classroom on that last July day and having the [hopefully] six school-free weeks of the SUMMER BREAK ahead of you!

It seems like a lifetime, but – family and parental commitments aside –those fictional six weeks are actually a lot shorter in reality.

For me – it takes me a week to destress/detox and generally shed the mantel of 'teachership' in order to fully begin to relax.

And then at the other end of the timescale – depending on how ‘prepared’ you want to feel – it is not unusual for education staff to begin their preparation up to a week before the start of the school year – if not before?!?

No matter how much you know and how much you read that resting and recharging is the best preparation for the forthcoming Autumn Term, at least some of the Summer break is taken up with school related activity.

I read a Facebook post this week that conceptualised the holiday into early, mid and late August.  According to this timeframe the EARLY stage of 1st to 10th August has already passed.  I know some people in the profession who use this early stage to do their preparations so that they can literally put all things educational aside until the new term starts.  I have always liked the idea of this, but found I lacked the required energy levels and motivation to manage my time in this way! Indeed, this year the crazy heat combined with Covid running roughshod throughout my family have made me much less productive than intended throughout these first two weeks.

But, hey, I still have two more August-phases to go!

According to our Facebook poster - our Mid- August began on the 11th  and will run up to the 20th!

I hope that most of you ‘hold out’ to be school free until at least the commencement of the late phase on the 21st which obviously runs to the 31st and – if you wish it - will give you a good week’s run up to returning to school and time for taking on any educational activities which you feel are necessary.

And TeachAbout will be 'about' to help you with that!

The key value of TeachAbout is staff wellbeing and although I have been creating content and responding to queries and posts as a matter of principle, I have not posted any content or videos which will not be available for viewing in the ‘late August’ phase or into September.

If you head across to the TeachAbout Community Network you will find Summer Specials which will be available at Early Bird Rates throughout this late August phase!

If you are about to embark on your teacher training, or about to begin your first post as an early career teacher (ECT), then look out for the bespoke 12 month PROGRAM I have designed JUST FOR YOU!

The TeachAbout Community Network is the place for trainee and early career teachers to gain maximum knowledge without overwhelm!

TeachAbout's mission is to promote High Quality Teaching and Inclusion.

If this is your focus too - whether you are a class/subject teacher, leader, subject specialist, governor, teaching assistants or especially SENCos look out for my new monthly MEMBERSHIP:

SEND & SENCo - 'In the know' Network

Which provides monthly training and updates relating to current legislation and practice.

Looking forward I have a wealth of free content and premium services which will be uploaded to support you going into September and beyond.

COMING SOON ...

There will be many future projects including courses, challenges and premium communities hosted in the TeachAbout Community Network with the opportunity for you to comment, chat and question and by doing so guide the future content in the Home Hub!

The easiest way to find out what's on offer is to follow this link to a simple sign up!

It is easy to message me through the Community Network chat, but I am easy to contact on here - or via = phone and/or facebook if you want to discu ss my services or are interested in working with me.

Happy Summer!

Lorraine Smith