The first week back is probably the best week on the year for behaviour, but the worst for lesson planning, frankly it all seems a bit of a chore and you haven't really got into your routine. These two facts make it all the more appealing to actually get back in the classroom and teach some kids.

Our morning is a bit of a false start. Only the year sevens come in at the start of the day with the rest of the school arriving in time for period two spent with their form tutors. The first pupils I saw then were my form. This was nice in a way but seeing as they're year nines they're very comfortable in their environment without being old enough that you can have a sensible conversation with them. It was amazing how much they'd changed over just six weeks, or I suppose to be more accurate how much they'd changed between last September and this July without me noticing because of seeing them more or less every day. Most of the boys were wearing hair gel like it was going out of fashion - for all I know maybe it is - and the girls had discovered make up. All except for the girls who'd previously discovered make up who seemed to have discovered fake tan and looked like they belonged advertising Tango. The most dramatic appearance change was a girl who arrived in my classroom with blue hair. I think we had every colour of the rainbow accounted for.

If I'm completely honest my form annoyed me a bit this morning, there's only so many times you can ask a class to be quiet without getting frustrated. My new year tens were far more receptive, which came as something of a relief as I'd been a bit nervous about them. Just so long as we can maintain the positive start. I'm always wary about getting too excited about a new class after the first lesson because you need to give it a while before you can relax even a little with them, but they seem like basically amiable kids so there's plenty to build on. At the start of the lesson I got them to decide on three expectations of behaviour and effort in class. Immediately one girl without a trace of irony or attempt at humour shouted out 'put your hand up if you want to say something'. I smiled at her and waited for her to realise her mistake. After this daft comment the lesson settled down well and I enjoyed teaching again. By the end of the lesson I had a great big grin on my face. When you consider that the last time I was teaching was July at the end of the previous school year when I was exhausted and the pupils extremely hyper it's quite a contrast.

My year sevens in the afternoon were fairly nervous looking, though actually quite confident compared to some I've taught previously. I'm not going to risk being too soft with them because that inevtiably leads to a very difficult time later in the year. I actually thought I was going to end up with a class of around forty because a worryingly high number of pupils got my classroom confused with another. Possibly because they seemed unable to tell the difference between the number two and the number five. I was stood under a sign saying 'A5' and they kept asking me if it was 'A2'. It's sort of sweet really but it's best to avoid laughing in their faces at such errors. At least it means we have plenty to teach them this year.

So plenty of positives from the first day, here's hoping the remaining one hundred and eighty nine school days this year are the same.