A half-term with no holiday to look forward to and most activities cancelled doesn’t really feel like a half-term. But all teachers will be trying their best to make the most of the break.
The different kinds of teachers on holiday
So what is your approach to a well-earned break? See if you can recognise yourself, or your colleagues, in the descriptions below:
Bicycle Billie
Lockdown has been pretty alright for Billie, actually. With unlimited time to browse bike forums and tinker with technical refinements, Billie is either out riding or posting Facebook status updates full of Strava data and PBs.
Billie’s half-term goals include producing a detailed spreadsheet to better analyse mileage and speed, and dedicating every opportunity to capturing crowns on Strava as they put in the miles to hit the target for the February challenge.
Crafty Cameron
Covid has also been good to Cameron, who has shifted up a gear from hobbyist knitter of baby cardigans to unparalleled doyenne of all manner of macrame, decoupage and crochet.
No longer will “projects” lurk in the knitting bag: this is the year Cameron will rival Kirstie Allsop and Stephen West. All of Cameron’s grown-up children are bracing themselves for more Christmas doilies and witty embroidered cushion covers for years to come.
DIY Dan
Unable to help chums from the local shed group, and refusing to join online discussions, Dan has retreated to the workshop (aka The Castle) to relentlessly tinker, improve and upgrade.
Grout, tiles, paving are all standard stuff for Dan; the only drawback will be when there are no odd jobs left to do. There will be nothing for it but to erect a flagpole and start getting into miniature railways.
Enthusiastic Emma and Excitable Elliott
Unable to take their customary 10 mini-breaks per year, these two have already organised virtual visits to other countries replete with food, music and even costumes.
Their ruthless efficiency is neatly disguised under a sea of emojis, gifs and memes; this may look like fun but it is part of a deftly organised social media strategy.
Serious Simon and Pedagogical Petra
Simon is also organising his half-term holiday with military precision, focusing very much on term rather than holiday. First up is a complete rewrite of some schemes of work, creating quizzes, rubrics and video clips for the next term’s PowerPoints.
He can never work out why all teachers aren’t doing this every holiday: it means so much more time in school for data analysis once the students are back.
His nemesis, Pedagogical Petra, has planned a whirlwind tour of online conferences and webinars, and can’t wait to come back to tell Simon why his meticulously planned schemes are already out of date.
Nicky Nature
Nicky doesn’t think of school in the holidays. She is a free spirit, spending her break with a selection of dishevelled children and dogs, building dams, exploring forests, and eating desultory outdoor picnics on the rain.
Nicky’s house will be decorated by the end of the week with craft projects made of sticks, rainbows made of drying leaves, and many other muddy things. Yes, all of her holiday marking is still in her school bag, which will be completed hurriedly and discreetly at the back of a staff training day next week.
Yoga Yas
The younger version of Nicky Nature, Yoga Yas will return to school revitalised and rejuvenated after a week of hygge and self-care, with daily stretches and meditation having realigned her chakras.
Yas often ponders why colleagues with small children don’t do the same: they need more sleep, more water and more daily gratitude. Surely they could find an hour or two a day for something so important?
Frazzled Frankie
Frankie is exactly the kind of person Yas is thinking of: Frankie has only the vaguest idea that this is a half-term.
The days feel like one, long, Play-Doh-filled blur, and are spent switching between teaching a small person to read and designing lesson plans that can work around episodes of Paw Patrol.
Frankie dreams of returning to classes of rioting Year 10s, crammed corridors and double gate duty, all of which will be a relaxing idyll compared with homeschooling and remote teaching.
Helen Mars is an English teacher in Yorkshire
