paul and corinna and lucas' blog

Corinna has been invited to interview for extending her contract at school, which seemed a little odd to us considering she's been there for three years! Anyway, she's taken it as an opportunity to re-evaluate things and wrote this letter in response, which I'm republishing because I think it really captures her time there well and I'm really proud of her. (Not for sour grapes!) I also think she's standing up a bit for the kids and the other teachers who don't have that option.

Thank you for the offer of an interview to possibly extend my contract. After some thought, I have decided to decline the interview, but I did not think it fair to say that without explaining my thinking.

Working at Barkerend Primary has really grown me as a person. From starting out as a fresh PGCE graduate, there were lots of things I had to learn quickly – I made a few small mistakes but both the school and I are better off for them. I can think of many individuals that I have played a major part in turning their lives around – instilling confidence and a positive attitude, getting them excited about learning, releasing potential that was otherwise being locked up (the kind of teacher I needed at school). For that opportunity I'm extremely grateful. I have also made some really good friends, and enjoyed things like starting and running the choir, directing school productions, and this last year, single-handedly remodelling the year 3 curriculum while teaching it and effectively leading the year group at the same time. I was pleased to see my pupils meet or exceed their educational targets almost all the time, but for me, their long term wellbeing was always more important.

They have not always been positive times of course. I often felt like I was treated as just another 'number', rather than an individual with my own individual strengths and experience. I was often very unsupported, which made my life difficult. I feel the school is heading even more towards a culture where short term targets are the primary focus, not children. Also, I don't really understand why an interview is needed – I would have thought the last three years would be enough. And I am not sure how to take your implication that me becoming a parent would hinder my ability to teach under your new plans for the school.

For these reasons, I have decided to decline the interview, but thanks again for the offer.

AND she didn't mention anything about usually being first in and last out... But I will!  :)