I left Boston by Amtrak which I had researched and decided upon would be my primary mode of transportation down the East Coast of America.Whilst it may be stating the obvious America is huge country and traveling times and distances would be a factor as to where I would visit during my three week WHPS.

https://www.amtrak.com/home/

Boston to Newark (the main train hub for New Jersey) is around 250 miles in distance it takes roughly around 4 hours on the Amtrak and costs just under $100, with comfortable seats, air conditioning, free wifi and not forgetting the toilets for me it was no brainer.

Continue reading “Visiting New Jersey, home of Tony Soprano on the 2nd stage of my Walter Hines Page Scholarship to America.” →

I have always liked to set myself objectives within my teaching career to ensure I constantly stretch and challenge myself in an effort to improve my teaching pedagogy.

At the beginning of my teaching career I became aware of the Walter Hines Page scholarship (WHPS) which is available to teachers to enable them to visit America for the purpose of undertaking research on a specific aspect of the American education system which is of interest to them and is relevant to their job.

It is something that I have always wanted to apply for but external circumstances such as having a young family, building a career etc. has meant it has been not until recently that I was in a position to explore this opportunity further.

Organised by the English Speaking Union (ESU), the (WHPS) aims to promote the exchange of ideas, understanding and knowledge between Britain and the United States of America.

Continue reading “Visiting Boston’s “Sacred Cod” on the 1st stage of my Walter Hines Page Scholarship to America.” →

Late June 2017 & England is gripped by a heat wave as I travel down to London to attend and work with the English Speaking Union at their International Oracy Symposium.

Who are the English speaking Union:

http://www.esu.org/

The main purpose of my attendance is to share my report with the ESU from my recent American adventures (which will be uploaded in the very near future) and to network with American teachers, fellow ESU members and other educational stakeholders.

The day was structured as follows:

In the morning I travelled across to Dartmouth House and met with ESU colleagues to present and deliver my full report relating to my Walter Hines Page Scholarship

(Zoe Adams, Patrick Ryan & Melanie Aplin)

Continue reading “ESU – International Oracy Symposium” →

Its been a busy few months with many separate pressures and demands fighting for priority, the summer term for teachers can be extremely stressful leading up to exam season, with the seemingly never ending exam timetable ruling the ebb & flow of school life As such as with most people something has to give and sadly for a short period it has been this blog – however never fear, I am once again back on my blogging horse!

All my Year 11 students have now been coaxed, supported, cajoled and generally shoe horned into the exam halls, never easy when a heat-wave hits the country!

‘Larry The Cat’ the Nations greatest political commentator summed it up best by tweeting his updated status during this heat wave see below!

(I urge you if you have the chance to check his twitter page out, it succinctly summarizes the political position of the day.)

twitter.com/Number10cat

Continue reading “The Disabled Teachers Conference & becoming the ‘Veep’” →

During the February half term I travelled to Hungary on the next stage of my social cohesion project to link schools in the West Midlands with schools in Budapest, Hungary.

You may recall during the latter part of 2016, my fund raising for this visit was successful, and I set out my aims and objectives of this social cohesion project in my earlier blog post – hyperlink:

https://lifeatdivisionnasuwt.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/social-enterprise-visit-hungary-16/

As such on Monday 20th February I flew with Jet2 from East Midlands to Budapest.

Continue reading “Connecting School’s – Budapest February 2017 visit.” →