I would like to extend a warm welcome back to all teachers – and especially to those just starting your first year of teaching, welcome to such a rewarding profession!
I expect you will be feeling a range of emotions including excitement and nervousness. This blog post about a teacher’s first year teaching in a primary school may give you some comfort that what you are experiencing is normal. You may want to talk to other teachers at your school who are early in their careers and ask them what their early experience was like.
I’m sure they will echo top tips about establishing routines quickly and learning pupils’ names and they will know what the expectations and policies are at your school so will be a great source of reassurance!
As a primary teacher you will of course teach all subjects. Teaching science and the other STEM subjects may be something you can’t wait to do, or you may be dreading it! Talk to colleagues at your school about how they teach science and get tips from them. If science is something that excites you as you settle in, you will find many ways to enrich the curriculum, for example by running lunchtime science clubs, organising visits or using STEM Ambassadors.
STEM Learning has an early career pathway for primary teachers, designed to support you through your first years of teaching with suggested CPD options – online, residential and local - some of which may be bursary funded. On completion of a course, you will receive a STEM certificate and on completion of the pathway, you become a STEM Learning accredited early career teacher. Have a look here – one online CPD course that might be a good starting point is “Teaching primary science: Getting started”. You’ll find links to even more CPD via this handy factsheet.
One of the major components of the primary science curriculum is Working Scientifically. The Ogden Trust has produced some useful fact sheets on this which can be found here and summarise the components very effectively. On the subject of resources STEM Learning and the Primary Science Teaching Trust are both “go to” places for primary science resources as well.
Another brilliant resource for teaching primary science is Explorify – this free resource has some great lesson ideas and ready-to-go activities, such as the Zoom in, Zoom out feature which will certainly bring the “wow” factor and a sense of awe and wonder into the lessons! You do need to create an account but it will be free with your school email address.
Finally do take time to get to know the people you are working with – including support staff and cleaners. Do make the effort to mix with other year groups too. And of course, do take care of yourself and your wellbeing. Try not to work every evening or all weekend – you will be a better teacher if you have had some rest and opportunity to pursue other interests. Finally, don’t forget to use the Primary Early Careers Club. Teachers love to share, so you will undoubtedly be offered lots of great suggestions.