It's here! Half term is finally here. It's been a long, tiring slog but after 1.15pm today we are out of here for 2 weeks. Well, I'm coming in for a couple of days to get some jobs done, but there won't be any kids or teachers so it still counts as a holiday.
The last thursday before autumn half term is always 'Steepo' day. Steepo is a 2.5 mile inter-house cross-country run which all the students have to participate in. Quite a few of the teaching staff run as well and this year one of the IT technicians decided we ought to put together a support staff team so yesterday afternoon I joined 3 IT guys, the H&S manager, 2 ladies from accounts, the HR manager, the catering manager, the head of maintenance, the lady who runs the uniform shop, one of the electricians, one of the cleaners,our bio tech and a couple of others for a bit of a run.
It was actually really good fun. A lot of the non-running teachers were marshalling the course and shouting out encouragement as we passed and it was great to be involved in something all the kids were doing.
I just got the results list, and apparently I came 13th out of 18 support staff, which I think is a pretty respectable result. Who knows, maybe next year I'll be fitter and quicker. :)
It was a good way to end what has been a busy but very productive 7 weeks and I'm looking forward to a rest.
Friday 18 October 2013
Thursday 10 October 2013
Trips
The annual trip to CERN went off this morning. I'm not able to go this year, but as usual I have been heavily involved in the planning and organisation.
As I was dealing with last minute paperwork yesterday I got to wondering whether I am too much of a pushover. Surely the teachers should be doing this stuff themselves? I know that my HoD panics and flaps and is not the most organised person in the world, so I do all this stuff for him because at least that way I know it will be done properly.
For the CERN trip I have:
* Organised getting the passport details from all the students (making photocopies, recording info in a spreadsheet)
* Booked the flights
* Liased with the school transport manager to book the coach to the airport
* Printed out the boarding passes
* Arranged the groups for the guided tour
* Organised which students are sharing which rooms at the hotel (HoD booked the hotel)
* Downloaded and printed out maps of the hotel, highlighting where the nearest bus stops are
* Printed out timetables for all the buses that the group will need to take between Geneva airport, CERN and the hotel
* Organised all the above paperwork in a file for HoD to take with him
Genuine question to any fellow technicians reading this - Am I an idiot? Should I have said no a long time ago to doing all of this?
Once they get back from CERN we start all over again, as it's only 7 weeks until the trip to Rome and the Vatican Observatory. Arrgh!
As I was dealing with last minute paperwork yesterday I got to wondering whether I am too much of a pushover. Surely the teachers should be doing this stuff themselves? I know that my HoD panics and flaps and is not the most organised person in the world, so I do all this stuff for him because at least that way I know it will be done properly.
For the CERN trip I have:
* Organised getting the passport details from all the students (making photocopies, recording info in a spreadsheet)
* Booked the flights
* Liased with the school transport manager to book the coach to the airport
* Printed out the boarding passes
* Arranged the groups for the guided tour
* Organised which students are sharing which rooms at the hotel (HoD booked the hotel)
* Downloaded and printed out maps of the hotel, highlighting where the nearest bus stops are
* Printed out timetables for all the buses that the group will need to take between Geneva airport, CERN and the hotel
* Organised all the above paperwork in a file for HoD to take with him
Genuine question to any fellow technicians reading this - Am I an idiot? Should I have said no a long time ago to doing all of this?
Once they get back from CERN we start all over again, as it's only 7 weeks until the trip to Rome and the Vatican Observatory. Arrgh!
Wednesday 9 October 2013
12 years later...
Today is my 12th anniversary of starting work as a lab technician.
At the time I was a single mother with a 6 year old daughter and desperate to get back into work, but worried about affording childcare. A job in a school felt like the ideal solution, at least temporarily. My mum had been a biology technician for years so I knew at least partly what I was getting myself into and I was delighted to be offered the post of physics technician at my local secondary school for 20 hours a week.
After 3 years there I decided I wanted to go full time and found a job at a nearby independent school, then 3 more years later ended up in my current position. I never expected to be a technician for anywhere near this long, but it turns out that it's a job I quite enjoy (usually) and at which I am reasonably good. I've found a school I love which pays just about enough to live on. If only I didn't have such a long commute to get here every day it would be perfect.
Across 3 schools I have experienced a great deal of variation in how technicians are treated, but here I feel like I am (mostly!) respected and (often) treated as a professional colleague by the teachers and management. My job is varied and interesing, I am constantly learning new things. For all my grumbling I would have to say that for the most part I am happy with my lot.
In another 12 years I'll be 50. Will I still be a technician? I really hope so.
At the time I was a single mother with a 6 year old daughter and desperate to get back into work, but worried about affording childcare. A job in a school felt like the ideal solution, at least temporarily. My mum had been a biology technician for years so I knew at least partly what I was getting myself into and I was delighted to be offered the post of physics technician at my local secondary school for 20 hours a week.
After 3 years there I decided I wanted to go full time and found a job at a nearby independent school, then 3 more years later ended up in my current position. I never expected to be a technician for anywhere near this long, but it turns out that it's a job I quite enjoy (usually) and at which I am reasonably good. I've found a school I love which pays just about enough to live on. If only I didn't have such a long commute to get here every day it would be perfect.
Across 3 schools I have experienced a great deal of variation in how technicians are treated, but here I feel like I am (mostly!) respected and (often) treated as a professional colleague by the teachers and management. My job is varied and interesing, I am constantly learning new things. For all my grumbling I would have to say that for the most part I am happy with my lot.
In another 12 years I'll be 50. Will I still be a technician? I really hope so.
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