My time so far as an NQT at Berwickshire High School has been a very rewarding experience. I feel that it is very important to acknowledge the culture at Berwickshire High School and the sense of community, as it positively impacts how supported and welcomed you feel as an NQT. BHS embraces its student teachers and NQTs; from a warm welcome upon starting, to the support you receive from various mentors and peers. All colleagues, including senior management, genuinely take an interest in your development and are keen to offer insight into teaching practice. Observations are carried out without fuss and learning conversations provide feedback after. The learning conversations take place without judgement; it feels a lot more like a discussion than any kind of criticism, so a lot of the stress is taken out of the process.  I have been very lucky to be part of a very supportive team; my PT and colleagues are always available and open to give a guiding hand. In fact, it feels as if the whole school get behind the students and NQTs and it is a group ambition that every member of the team wants each other to succeed. I really don’t think enough emphasis can be put on how important that is to development, especially during the high-pressure moments of the NQT year.

I feel my teaching practice has developed immensely since arriving at BHS due to the pedagogy offerings and the focus on learning and teaching within the school. The lesson evaluation toolkit guides me through my lesson planning, making sure that every lesson has the components required and that the building blocks of a lesson are there. Of course, we can add our own flare to the lessons but the structure and the uniformity between lessons is important. Students come to class knowing that the structure of each lesson will be the same and in turn they know what to expect and what is expected of them. There are pedagogy workshops available at lunch times led by our PT Pedagogy and reading groups that take place after school. These give you an opportunity to discuss teaching and practice with other teachers and it’s refreshing that even the most established teachers attend and contribute. These sessions definitely give you the confidence to implement new strategies and to reflect deeper into your teaching practice.

Samantha Darling, January 2023