The end of term has finally arrived. After a long hard year a rest certainly wouldn't go amiss but I feel a little sad if I'm honest. I like going to school, I like being around the kids, I like my colleagues, I like teaching. Full Stop.

We had just one lesson this morning before the End of Year Assembly. I had a class of just five pupils, though seeing as we were shifting chairs to Sports Hall for the assembly and the tables out into the corridor so the floors could be cleaned and waxed this numbers actually varied from anywhere between zero and fifteen. This included some pupils I'd taught last year and it was nice to see them even if it took a few moments to recognise them with different hair styles. It's amazing how much they've changed in such a short space of time. Some of the girls in my class asked to take my picture. I obliged though am a little nervous about seeing a picture of my head on someone else's naked body on BEBO.

The Assembly itself went without a hitch. There were lots of certificates and the contenders for the school's X-Factor competition performed. Most notably the winner did a rendition of Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, which went down a treat. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pupils getting up for their awards, especially the ones that I know. I felt like standing up and shouting 'get in you beauty!' but decided it might be seen as inappropriate. It also made me realise just how many wonderful kids we have at our school and how fortunate I am to teach there.

Suddenly we were racing towards the end of term at breakneck speed. We dismissed the pupils at lunchtime and said our good-byes for the next six and a half weeks. All that remained was the staff buffet and the leaving speeches. We cantered through the first few. A PE teacher was off on sabbatical to do some rugby training and his Head of Department took the piss in a way that only a PE teacher could. His speech featured lots of old pictures to make the leaving teacher cringe and even a mock report. All rather amusing.

One of my friends from the English department was leaving too. This is a great loss as I'll miss her but things change all the time and you're so busy in school that you don't have much time to stop and chat to people anyway. Some people in her department read out a poem they'd written about her, she said a quick thank you to everyone at the school and that was it over with.

The next two speeches were for two departing science teachers and went on considerably longer. The longer of the two was over an hour between a few people. In all fairness he'd been teaching at the school for nearly forty years so deserved a good send off. It would have been a little harsh if all he'd got was a quick poem, but it was quite tiring having to laugh and clap in all the right places when there were a lot of jokes that I didn't really get.

Even so we finished just before three o' clock, which isn't bad going. I'm not one for hanging around and saying good bye to everyone. I find it a little awkward so gave a present to my English friend and dashed off - I did give her time to say thankyou at least.

So there it is, another year completed. I've got to say I've enjoyed myself much more than in my NQT year. Things have been easier and I've had the feeling that everything has happened much slower, though can't quite believe that the year's over so soon. I know that I'm becoming better and better at this job and am relishing improving further still next year. I'm really up for the challenge.

It's just six and half weeks until we go back. I can't wait.