Friday started much as the previous four days had done. Bleary eyed but glad to get out of an uncomfortable bed. I know that hostels are supposed to be more luxurious - and I use the term in a relative sense - than going camping but my bed was seriously hard and the pillow could have been used in ancient times for a good stoning. In fact I probably slept better on the recent year seven camp in a tent because I had the sense to take an air-mattress with me.

I was off cimbing again, but with a different group. It was nice to have a change because whilst I really liked the group I'd spent most of the week with it was good to talk to some of the other kids. Nevertheless I felt a little down as we walked down to the rockface. It was the last day and it seemed such a shame that we would be leaving soon. Added to this the lack of sleep an the fact that I somehow forgot to have breakfast had put me in a bit of a sulk. But when your day's work involves going climbing with a bunch of energetic and enthusiastic young souls it's hard to stay down (no pun intended).

The group I was with the previous day had promised today's group that they were in for a good laugh watching me struggle away on the climb but they were left rather disappointed. I'm glad to say that I was much more successful than the previous day and managed to make it up to the top of the rockface.

In the afternoon we went abseiling at another place on the island. It was a massive forty feet high, which when you're looking down seems a very long way. I was volunteered to go first and seeing as I'd hate to look like a coward in front of the kids I stepped forward, or at least stood still whilst they each took a step back. It was actually quite easy, abseiling is less strenuous than climbing for the obvious reasons relating to gravity.

Naturally such activities are one at a time so I had a lot of time just talking to the kids. This was great especially when i provided them with the kind of entertainment I'm so good at by stepping into small ditch that was covered by some bracken and falling over. I think they were laughing for a good three minutes at that one. They even did impressions of me, which i must admit were rather funny. This included impersonating my stern look, seeing as I'm a relatively new teacher I'm still in the process of perfecting this. They also copied my hand-movements; I think these contribute to my recently found campness. And my favourite bit was the use of my stock phrases such as 'guys you're taking this too far' or when I'd been trying to get them to settle down the previous night 'Right guys, everyone's tired so we need you to quiet down and get some sleep'. I'm not a naturally shouty teacher anyway but I think yelling at the kids at eleven at night to go to sleep could prove counter-productive.

When we got back I cleaned up a bit and had a shower. This was about five o' clock and the next six hours went by in a haze. Firstly Filthy Feet Girl offered to straighten my hair. I'm always up for trying new things and was quite curious to see what it would look like. I've got to admit she did a very good job of it. She moussed the back up as well and I looked quite trendy for possibly the first time in my life. I got rather carried away with it all and even let her put some foundation on me and a touch of eye shadow. It was like being on Ten Years Younger, or more accurately Ten Times Camper.

The trouble whilst she was doing this was knowing where to look. Imagine if you will being sat on chair. Now think where your eye line is in relation to a young lady stood in front of you. It's hard to know where to look in such situations. I couldn't look up because that would result in being poked in the eye with hair straighteners. If I looked down slightly I'd be looking at her hips which is only marginally better. And seeing as she was wearing really quite short shorts if I looked down further I'd be staring at her legs. I couldn't win so was very relieved when she finished. I'm not scared of big butch boys who could probably kill me with their little fingers but pretty teenage girls really terrify me sometimes.

When she'd done she grabbed my arm and whisked me downstairs to show off her handywork in much the same a cat does when it's caught a mouse. The response was mixed but largely positive. Amazingly it seemed to impress a wide range of social groups with the laddie lads give me some respect, the pretty girls saying I looked stylish and the Emos saying I looked really cool. The only negative comments came from the type of boys who think all you need to do to be funny is be rude about something. Sarcastically they said 'like the hair sir!' I pointed out that most people had been complimentary about it and their response was 'you look gay'. Right.

Miss English was also a little sceptical about it, she said it looked quite good but she personally wouldn't go for a guy with hair like that because she'd think he was too much into his looks. I suggested that what she really meant was that I looked like a puff.

Having gotten so thoroughly in touch with my feminine side I thought it best to reacquaint myself with my masculine side. We were doing a barbecue for the last night and I got stuck in flipping burgers and turning sausages, though shamefully I was worried that the smoke would dry my hair out. As part of the barbecue we had some haggis, which popped my sheep's intestine cherry. I thought it was quite nice but the kids avoided it like it had been taken from some disgusting part of an animal.

We allowed ourselves to drink a beer whilst having the barbecue and one of the boys discovered an interesting new game. He'd pick up my beer bottle and I was duty bound to take it off him, but as I did so I instinctively took a swig. He then suggested that they could get me drunk by buying me lots of beers and picking them up. He was half right but they could save themselves some effort and just leave me to pick the beers up on my own. I'm sure I'd get there in the end.

I got involved in a game of top trumps with some of the pupils. It was Doctor Who Top Trumps so it was completely irresistable to me. The girl who had called me a poohead several times the day before tried to join in, presumably to avoid having to do any washing up. I should probably have sent her packing but I'm a big softie and she'd made me laugh a lot so I gave her some cards to get involved. Besides she was only copying my plan.

After this we got onto the awards for the week. Each pupil got an award so it wasn't like you had to really earn one. They were largely cliched: cheeky monkey award, nice guy award, tough cookie award and so on. Filthy Feet and her friend got a Dancing Queens award and the group leader suggested they show off their moves. They said they'd only do it if I joined in. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Of course the whole room started cheering at the prospect so there was no way out and I had to get up and do it. So if anyone asks what I did on Friday night I'd have to tell them that I was wearing make-up and dancing to Whigfield with some teenage girls. It got a huge round of applause though and I think has probably cemented my status as a bit of a legend, even if I managed to become yet camper still and added an extra bit to the dance routine by accidentally jumping into a wall. The whole thing was videoed on her camera by the group leader and based on recent evidence by some of the pupils too.

The teachers also received awards written by the pupils with Miss Enco receiving an award for the most throrough risk-assesser and Miss English getting one for always having a smile on her face and being one of the kids. I was quite proud of mine, 'for attempting to fly down a mountain and being our super hero'. I was so worried I'd be labeled 'queer of the year'.

After this we headed out to the nearby castle, which is more of a ruin than anything else. It was nerve-wracking looking on as these hyper-active children bounced around. I was terrified the mood would be spoiled by the sound of someone's skull cracking open. But as I looked at the sunset I was filled with such an amazing feeling of happiness and inner-peace. I can't quite put in to words exactly how I felt inside but it was one of those moments you could just drink up. Here I was in a beautiful place surrounded by all these wonderful children who as far as I can work out thought I was wonderful too. I'd just had a week of firsts: first time in Scotland, first time on a horse, first time abseiling, first time I'd had haggis, first time I'd seen a seal in the sea. And there were the little firsts too: first time I'd had my hair straightened, first time I'd had make-up on, and that moment first time I'd had something sent to me using bluetooth as one of the pupils managed to ping a picture from the castle to my phone. It was truly one of the most awesome experiences of my life and I felt all the emotion rising up inside of me. The world could have ended there and then and I'd barely have batted an eye-lined eye lid. I really must have one of the best jobs in the world if this was part of my work.

Back at the hostel though things were heating up. The kids had been brilliant all week long but I think the thought of leaving was getting to them. First there was a petty squabble to do with a drink being knocked over and someone being called a fat whore. One boy had sprung to the girl's defense saying that she wasn't fat and completely ignoring the 'whore' bit. It became even more Big Brother-esque with the antics of one of the boys. Earlier in the week he'd gotten off with two of the girls from his own year but this night he got together with one of the year elevens who were there as helpers. This created an almightly rumpus with the girls in his own year being rather offended. We had to tell the year eleven to reject him to avoid any more unpleasantness. I myself was torn between giving him respect for having a crack with an older woman and thinking him a loser for blowing it with the girls his own age. They're both really nice and pretty so I think he was being a little greedy going after a year eleven.

Eventually things settled down but on my way to bed I came across a girl in the corridor saying she'd just had a nightmare about a snake. I found it hard to imagine she'd even been to sleep yet but humoured her anyway and told her to send any more snakes up to me.

I made my way in to bed feeling extremely tired but very peaceful. All that remained the next day was the journey home.