I’ve had quite a long hiatus from posting… I finished up my teaching year in Taiwan in June 2015 & spent 4 months travelling. I was lucky enough to experience Japan, South Korea, China, United States of America, Cuba and Mexico. It was amazing and exactly the break I needed from what had been a difficult year of teaching.

Sunset over the Great Wall of China

Fushimi Inari shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Chichen Itza pyramid, Mexico

Street art in Seoul, Sth Korea

Statue of Liberty, New York

Fushimi Inari shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Ribbons on the border between North & South Korea

Colours of Merida, Mexico

I’m now back at my school in Australia – I was fortunate to have been given 18 months leave to travel and teach overseas – and I’m so happy to be back. This year I am teaching years 7 and 9 English and I am also a Year 8 Student Management Leader and our school’s Additional Educational Needs coordinator. It’s a pretty huge workload which is why I am only now, at the the end of the first semester, finding myself even able to think about writing about it all. I’m enjoying the opportunities to really sink myself into different aspects of education, and I feel like I’m able to play a role in promoting and encouraging best practice.

I’m also really fortunate to be participating in an educational leadership program with NESLI (National Excellence in School Leadership Initiative). If you’re passionate about education, improving your own practice and building leadership capacity, I highly recommend it. This course has given me so much to think about and consider, which I am only now really beginning to unpack in my own mind, but hopefully I can set out much of what I’ve learnt here.