Those hot and sticky afternoons

When Miss would pack up books and trays

Of pencils, pens and sticks of glue

And out we’d trek onto the field.

The sun would trickle through the leaves

Dappled on the crisp white pages

Of a notebook and the poems that she taught,

Scratching chalks along the blackboard’s edge

Until she sighed, looking out to greenest seas

And clapped her hands to signal ends

Of classroom hours and the luxury

Of breathing in the April air,

Hotter than it should be now.

The kids all squeal with pure delight,

Running to the shade of trees

Like a flock of animals, released

Into the wild, free for just one afternoon.

I used to love those lessons at school when the teacher deemed it too hot to be inside and we’d all gather our stuff and race to the shade of the trees to enjoy our lesson on the field.

I thought that these lessons no longer happened but my son said that his English teacher regularly took them outside when they were reading through a text together. It made me so excited to do this when I become a teacher.

My favourite job ever was cleaning hot tubs at a luxury site that had cabins for holidays. I spent all day outside under the trees and I feel like teaching could now be exactly the same. I’m just wondering how many lessons I can spend out on the field before the Senior Leadership Team start asking me questions?

Much Love

Rachel xx