Christmas Wants

Now the title of this post might seem a little selfish and that I just want, want, want but I don't. Secondly, I know its only end of October but living away at uni means I've had to start thinking about it now as I can't just air it to me mum whenever :'( miss you guys!

So some of the things I've mentioned:

1. Maroon All Star Converse

I've been wanting some proper sturdy pumps so chose converse in pump-style. Both me and my sister want Converse for Christmas this year but she wants the Hi-Top ones in a blue colour and I want these. I am aware these are quite a common colour of Converse but I don't care because at the moment, I wear a lot of top this colour or which have this colour in.

2. Straighteners

 I really wanted to GHD straighteners but the hairdresser that comes to our house says she wouldn't use them as they basically fry your hair so is getting me some similar which are much nicer on your hair. As you all probs know, I have pretty curly hair and the majority of it is tight ringlets and can take hours to straighten with rubbish straighteners, plus I don't straighten my hair that often so I would like to keep my current healthy hair.

3. Bigger Winter Coat

 If you've been following my blog you'll know I'm studying at Edge Hill University which is pretty far North West compared to my hometown Doncaster. Well, let me tell you something, the weather in the North East is shocking! I used to think Doncaster had grim weather but since being up here and realising it is permanently colder than anywhere in Yorkshire, I am grateful for my childhood in Doncaster. I am definitely wanting a coat with more padding in for the winter ahead of me haha.

4. Discovery Microscope

This has been recommended by my Science tutor at university and will be a great addition to my resource bank for my years of being a teacher. It is a webcam-like piece of equipment that can by connected to any laptop or computer via USB and will show anything I happen to be magnifying on the computer screen for the children to see blown up. It will be useful for many Science lessons I will be teaching in my teaching career.

5. Books

I know these books will seem a little childish to many people but they are required both for my course and reading to put into my readers journal for the English part of my course. I read both these books as a youngster and both are good quality books which will be helpful within my chosen career path. Love these books!

6. Big Bang Season 5

I already own the first 4 seasons on DVD so season 5 will complete the current collection. I love Big Bang Theory and never grow old of watching them that is why I've brought the first 4 seasons to university with me :)

7. Tom Daley Calendar

There is literally no more to say than ooft. Tom Daley is one fitty! Just look at that bod! Not only that, he represents our country in various competitions and of course, the Olympics! I did watch him closely in the Olympics, who wouldn't in that uniform ;) haha!

8. CKIN2U

 This perfume is inspired by my very stylish flatmate, Kitty. She has a lot of Calvin Klein perfumes but shes recently bought this one to add to her collection and it smells divine! I got bought 'CKONE Shock' for my 18th birthday by my auntie and I love it, its one of my most desired perfumes but its running out now even though I only wear it out on nights out and special occasions. So this will be a good addition to my perfume collection :)

9. Thomas Sabo Bracelet & Charm

I've had my eye on a Thomas Sabo bracelet for a while and seen as though I already have a charm bracelet that I got as a present for my 16th, I thought it'd be nice to get a simple rope one with a singular charm. In addition, due to my musicianship and specialty in music for primary education, I saw a music related charm to be the best suited for me.

I've asked for other things also but none I can really talk about properly because there personal to me or just course books and things that I desperately need but can't afford.

What you getting for Christmas?

J

First Month at Uni

I know I'm getting a little crap at posting regularly but the past month at university has just been jam-packed with different stuff! In the past month I've partied, studied, created presentations, made friends for life and been on my first exemplar visit in a school as an official trainee teacher.

So lets start with everything that not related to the uni course :)

Partying
Everyone always said when living away at uni, partying is a big part of your life.. well it really is. I love the fact I can go out into town during the week and clubs will be just as lively as they are at the weekend. Personally, I'm not a big drinker or partier but sometimes you do have to let your hair down and have a good time, but also, I don't do it that often. In addition, now being a trainee teacher, I have a certain image I must uphold of professionalism and decorum. In that sense, I have been told that when I go into a school to have a placement or become a qualified teacher, both the children and teacher will google me. So I have been googling myself to see what sites or photo's appear and nothing too bad comes up; therefore, nearing the end of my degree I will have to look into closing down this blog :'( but its all for the good of my future.

 

 

Sport
If you follow me on twitter you will have noticed that I am now a member of the Edge Hill cheerleading team which is a great source of exercise. This is another thing I am having to fit into my schedule which currently isn't as full as it will be after Christmas. I am partaking in cheerleading on a Thursday evening 6pm-7pm which is Edge Hill's display team; this is the competitive team.. Although I did attend a rehearsal for that and it was VERY intense and as I hadn't done gymnastics in a while I thought it would be better to stick to the display team this year which will attend football and basketball games.. Things like that. I've never really been a big sports person but since coming to uni I've wanted to try things I wouldn't regularly try because uni is a new experience in general and the more I can get involved with the better!

Weekly Tasks
There are honestly quite a few tasks you have to partake in weekly such as shopping and being social with flatmates and people on your course. Shopping is a necessity to think about and I'd recommend setting a day when you do go shopping; personally, I don't go into Ormskirk to go to Morrisons, Iceland and B&M every week as there is a decent shop on campus that I can get weekly essentials such as bread and milk, however I do set the time aside to go to the campus shop. I never thought about these until I got here and how often my mum has to go to the shops to stock up on food that in the fridge or cupboard. The social aspect of uni is something you have to keep up with to as you need to get your own new group of friends; myself, have made friends with people in my cluster flat and people on other floors in my halls as these are those I will be around for the next year.
Oooh.. Something I nearly forget.. Calling family and friends! This is a bigggg requirement when your at uni because you need to not lose contact with your friends back home so I've been calling my best friend who's also at uni a lot and skyping my family regularly.. You need to make time for this!

So my uni course; Primary Education with QTS

Timetable
Currently, my timetable is brilliant! Mondays are quite tiring though but I can cope because the rest of the week is pretty relaxed. If your wanting to know more about my Mondays; well my first lecture is at 8am (I am so glad I live on campus) and my last seminar finishes at 6pm.. A looooong day! Although it only equals 7 hours worth of lectures which is only one hour more than a regular school day. Thankfully, after Monday I have Tuesdays off which is handy because Kitty, my flatmate, also has Tuesdays off so we normally just laze around or head into Ormskirk for the day.. Wednesday and Thursdays are similar as they both start at 2pm which gives me a fantastic lay in. In addition, I also have Fridays off which is extremely helpful for me because if I'm wanting to go home for the weekend it means I have all day to do it as I face a 4 hour train journey back to Doncaster.

 

Observing snails in Science - yes my course is soooo much fun!

Directed Reading and Tasks
Primary Education is a quite an intense course and requires a lot of work out of lecture and seminar time.. even this little into the course. To help you understand how much reading I have to do I normal have a chapter in one or two books or journals to do before the next session.. and I currently have six different lessons. However, an ongoing task which will be throughout the semesters (love that word) is to keep a reflective journal in each of my lessons to develop as a teacher myself. This is a tiresome and frankly.. annoying task but it has to be done and I am determined to do it well.. My English journal requires me to put in inspiration for a children's book I am required to complete at the end of the year. That means I have to be creative and I want that to be good! I will hopefully post photos of it either on facebook or twitter or hopefully on here nearer to the finishing and handing in time of it.

First Exemplar Visit
Being in a school again was great! That feeling of helping out the children in simple everyday tasks was brilliant and really reminded me why I am doing this course and where it will lead me in 3 years time. As a means of confidentiality I will not disclose the name of the school I went to for my visit but I will comment on it anonymously. The school my tutor group visited was in the outskirts of Liverpool and was a junior school which was a new thing for my as I've always worked within Primary schools where all years were in one building. This was an outstanding school and was truly demonstrated while I was there why it has been rated that by Ofsted. I spent my morning in year five and the afternoon with year three; both of which were a pleasure to be with but at the same time I did feel like I was treated like a teaching assistant and not a newly trainee teacher. However, I know can't wait for my next exemplar visit (in November) and my preliminary placement (2 weeks in November) all before the big six week placement in January. I always learn best from experience within schools so I am glad that my course is fully packed with as much experience as possible; unlike some other universities I'd seen.

Feel free to message me with any queries about Edge Hill University or Primary Education in general

Thanks for sticking around readers!

J

Edge Hill Freshers!

I know its been quite some time since I last posted up and if your family/friends you'll be wanting to know how my first 2 weeks at uni has been going. Well, in a nutshell, its been awesome! This is such a new experience for me; living away from home and fending for myself, well in my opinion, I've been doing a pretty damn good job!

Firstly, lets discuss freshers week; a week full of partying and meeting new people.. Basically, just like my Kos holiday, just without the sunshine.

Monday 24th September

UV Paint Glow Party

From the name of this night you can probably guess what this was; its was a biggg glow party (thankfully, I had a little UV paint leftover from holiday too). It was held in the campus' own club 'The Venue' which was fully packed and for small people (like myself) it was pretty hard to move so if you have a major problem with claustrophobia, I would recommend not attending one of these. This was different from the one on holiday as instead of just painting your face with paint, they actually had paint canons! Yes, I know, pretty big deal, and they were! If you were aiming to keep yourself relatively clean, these did not. Paint just covered you from head to toe!



BEFORE





DURING




AFTER




Absolutely covered.. Thankfully, we returned back to halls relatively early to take numerous showers!



Tuesday 25th September

Jameela Jamil

The title is explanatory in itself really; Jameela Jamil, the T4 presenter and Radio 1 DJ came to DJ at 'The Venue'. Like many of your reading this, you'll all be like, who is she? Shes not very big.. and stuff like that but she was a good DJ. However, compared to the previous night 'The Venue' was pretty empty but on the other hand, it was nice to be able to move and have room to boogie!

Wednesday 26th September

Freshers Fair

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures at the freshers fair because I had to fit it in around my introductory lectures into my course but I can tell you what it was like. I heard what freshers fairs are like before going to this so I was eagerly anticipating all the free goodies and seeing all the societies and clubs Edge Hill had to offer me. It did not disappoint.

During the day I managed to sign up to the NUT (National Union of Teachers), which was something I had to do as a trainee teacher; I registered with the doctor in Ormskirk (although, I don't know where the doctors surgery actually is haha); I got a lot of free stuff like food, stress balls and pens haha. Onto the clubs and societies then.. Well I was quite surprised at the amount of societies there were and what they ranged from, some of them were really bizarre. To start with, there were the stereotypical societies like cooking, animé and political parties.. But there were also strange ones like Philosotea (they philosophise while drinking tea), Women's Rights and the Dr Who society (I do enjoy Dr Who and watch it when its on, but I'm not sad enough to actually join the society.. as Mum would ask haha). However, I did join the Edge Hill Cheerleaders :) - I am sooo excited about this, I've always enjoyed gymnastics and did dabble in a bit in my younger days but cheer leading is something definitely created to keep you fit and learning the skills required like jumps, gymnastics and stunts is just all part of the package. I've already been to 2 training sessions with the Edge Hill cheerleaders and although they absolutely killed my muscles as I'm not used to the intense exercise, I will be going back and hopefully attending their socials they have every Wednesday! Also, my flatmate, Kitty, got me signed up for the climbing/hiking society.. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a bit of hiking, but climbing was a little too far.

I'm excited for all the opportunities I'm getting here at Edge Hill as back home in Doncaster I would have never felt comfortable doing all the exercise I am doing because of my worries about weight and things. Hopefully now I will return to my original size I was 2/3 years ago, that was the perfect size for me.

Thursday 27th September

Ormskirk Town Takeover: Emergency Services Fancy Dress

Oh yes, we had one of those good old-fashioned dressing up events. I love dressing up as most of my family and friends will know from previous birthday parties and things. This was going to be a great event for me.. I'd already purchased an outfit for it in anticipation before arriving at Edge Hill so I was prepared. It was a good night that we all thoroughly enjoyed and we will definitely be heading into Ormskirk for another night out.. The only problem with the town here though is everything shuts for 2am, which is my eyes is a little early for clubs as they shut later back in Doncaster.

I hope everyone else has settled into university and making new friends and of course, had a brilliant time on their freshers week!

Lastly..

This is a picture Kitty tweeted when we'd made homemade Shepard's Pie :) - excuse the dress, wet hair and limited makeup haha!

Have a gander at me new photo wall I've finished in the past week; all my photo's on one wall, just behind my bed :)

I'll try and post as often as possible

J