It's a new year with new responsibilities for Matthew Godfrey - but he has plenty of reasons to feel positive This article appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 25 September 2002 As a teenager, I always experienced mixed feelings at the start of a new school year: excitement at seeing friends again, but trepidation about returning to the confines of school, and a keen resolve to start afresh as each new, clean, exercise book was opened, coupled with a niggling fear of looming tests and exams. Things are not so different now that I am a teacher. At the start of this, my third year in the profession, I was feeling well prepared - I had spent part of the holiday re-organising the department - refreshed (there was still time over the summer for a fair amount of sun-seeking), and a little apprehensive, not least because a new set of English teachers awaited me in the staff room, all hoping for a seamless and supportive induction into their new posts at a school with more than ...
Honest and frank reflections from the classroom from English teacher Matthew Godfrey - qualified 2000; currently Deputy Head at Caterham School (Surrey), freelance journalist