Week Two Wobbles
We’re only in the second week of term and already the cracks are starting to show. Staff and students alike are trying their best not to slip back into old habits… but it’s happening. The shiny new stationery is already missing a lid, planners are mysteriously “lost,” and the energy we all bounced in with on Day One has been quietly replaced by tired sighs and the constant reach for the staffroom kettle.
It’s around this time of year that teachers start questioning their life choices. Some are scrolling through job adverts during their PPA time, wondering if a move to another school would solve all their problems. Others are Googling “how to retrain as a yoga instructor in Bali” or “can I survive on an Etsy shop selling handmade coasters?” I’ve even heard of colleagues casually checking house prices in the Outer Hebrides.
And then, of course, there’s the mountain of GCSE analysis documents we’re all expected to produce. Whole tomes of data, charts, and reflections that wouldn’t look out of place in the British Library archives. Yes, I know we’re reflective practitioners, but writing War and Peace on a cohort that’s already left (and if I’m being completely honest, whose names I’ve already half-forgotten) feels a touch excessive. Meanwhile, the students I’m actually teaching this year are sat waiting for me to get on with the job in front of me.
The truth is, September hits like a brick wall every year. Week One feels manageable—almost exciting, if you squint hard enough. By Week Two, reality bites. Behaviour standards are already wobbling, the marking pile is multiplying like rabbits, and you’ve been “volunteered” for a committee you didn’t even know existed. Meanwhile, Year 11 are reminding you daily that mocks are soon (a word which, in their world, means “tomorrow”).
And let’s be honest, it’s not just the students who slip into old patterns. I swore blind that this year I’d stay on top of marking, eat something other than biscuits for lunch, and leave school before 6pm at least once a week. Two weeks in, I’ve already failed on all three counts. Biscuits: 1. Teacher resolve: 0.
But here’s the thing: it’s normal. The early enthusiasm always fades a little, and that’s OK. We’re human. The trick is to keep plodding on, keep laughing at the madness, and remember that October half term is closer than it feels.
So, if you’re sat there wondering if you’ve made a terrible mistake by coming back, just know you’re not alone. Every teacher has their “what if I just ran away and opened a beach bar?” moment. And hey—maybe one day we’ll all meet there. Until then, pass me the biscuits.
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