HT

You thought being a history teacher would mostly involve teaching Year 7 about 1066, helping Year 11 survive their GCSEs, and occasionally arguing with teenagers about why history is actually important. Then you started working at a secondary school in Reading, Berkshire. From chaotic Year 7 lessons and increasingly sarcastic Year 8s, to Year 9 options, Year 10 GCSEs, and Year 11 exam panic, every day brings something different. Add staffroom gossip, detentions, parents’ evenings, school trips, endless marking and the occasional lesson that goes spectacularly off-script, and you’ve quickly realised that teaching history is the easy part. Welcome to secondary school. Five year groups. One history teacher. An unreasonable amount of paperwork. And somehow, you have to make it through the school year.