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A year in the life of a PGCE student - Back at Queen's
In February we had four more weeks of University-based classes during which it was great to compare notes with other students and build on what we had learned during our first placement before going back out to schools for the second one. It felt like a nice break being back on student timetable again. Our tutors organised conversation classes on Wednesdays with native speakers in order to develop our oral language use.  They also organised for experienced teachers to come in and speak to us about teaching A-level which was really beneficial as they gave us a lot of useful advice and answered our questions well. Although we didn’t have lessons to prepare when we were back at Queen’s, we were kept busy as our 2nd assignment on ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ was due in on the fourth week.

I also spent a lot of time preparing my CV and applying for advertised teaching jobs in Northern Ireland and for some in England as a backup. When the time came to begin my second placement I didn’t feel as nervous as I now knew what to expect. The only thing that worried me slightly was that the academic level, pace and pressure to perform would be challenging in the Grammar School placement.