It’s progress, but I’m still no nearer to being able to commit. I don’t know where or when this placement might be. I am struggling to find accommodation available for three months, and not knowing dates or location does not help. Amidst this uncertainty, I have not applied for a student loan. It seems pointless to apply when I am doubtful I can make this work. I’m quite angry and upset, quite particularly at myself as had I passed first time there would have been no problem.

So in times where it is vitally important not to conceal our middle names to nextdoor’s dog in case he uses the information to steal your bank details, your burglar alarm code and your husband, we all need to think about how we present ourselves on the Internet. I’ve come up with a few rules.

1. If you’re naked, put some clothes on. Easy peasy. On the Internet, it’s just as simple. If you put anything you’re sensitive about on the Internet (more fool you), then maybe you should think about hiding it. On Facebook, take a look at your privacy settings. It’s not as hard as the press make out. It’s all on the Privacy Settings tab.
2. Have a look in the mirror. If you see something strange on yourself, then you know what other people can see. Try to find your online profiles in another web browser where you don’t have any stored cookies. If you see things that you wished weren’t there, other people can see too. Then get rid, hide it, or get used to it.
3. If you leave your door open, people can get in. Don’t stay logged in to Facebook on public or shared computers. If you’re worried that others could access your profile from your computer, then log out there, too.

Hope that helps.

Let me make this clear — my change in diet is purely for selfish reasons. I still enjoy the taste of meat; the slaughter of animals to make meat does not irk me so much and the price difference between meat and non-meat is not so great (it might even cost more). It does benefit me, however.

The motivation is digestion. I can gain protein, iron, selenium and other vital nutrients in other ways that more friendly to my digestive system, which is a mere gibbering wreck at the moment. But it does other good: for nature, the environment and all that. All the better, but I’m not going to be militant about it. If someone serves me bacon and eggs for breakfast, I won’t be rude…!

So far I’ve had tofu chow mein, which was interesting. I had to use far more soy sauce than I would have done, but tofu does have the property that it absorbs flavour, I’m told. I’m going to try making mushroom soup tomorrow.

At the moment I am exactly equidistant between the rock and a hard place. I am unable to decide on my next steps and this is not entirely due to my indecision. To those that know me, they will know that I haven’t qualified as a teacher and that I need to undertake a further final placement. I have some options open to me.

I could do exactly that. That is certainly not the easiest option. Without getting into “administration hiccups”, which are frustrating, I need to find accommodation for three months and get the money to pay for it. With regard to the accommodation, services attached to the university have been rather unhelpful — even delaying the return payment of our deposits for last year’s accommodation. Few private landlords are willing to offer such short term lets. In the absence of being able to give assurances on my future location this has added to the delay of finding me a potential school to do my placement in.

There is the option to abandon the idea of teaching completely, which I am not keen to do but seems the more realistic option. I am uncertain of the viability of this option. Judging where I am now compared to the desolate, disheartening place I was at this time last year, I feel I am in a worse position, somehow. Any potential employer worth their salt will ask me about the previous year and the reasons for not completing the course. Therefore, any role I take is likely to be menial. I have to be prepared for that, but I hope that anyone can see why this is less desirable to me than my first option.

I met and became friends with some absolutely unforgettable and brilliant people during my time there and, dare I say it, friends for life! But though I know I shouldn’t, I feel a little regretful that I went there.

The first point is that there should be more education in schools about parenting and how to become good parents. In fact, he cites a recent visit to a Birkenhead school where a group of 15 year olds suggested this would be the first thing they would wish to learn in school. That might seem extreme, but a lot of soon-to-be adults realise that they aren’t well equipped to be parents, and given some children become parents before adulthood perhaps that request becomes more pertinent.

The second suggestion Field makes is that parenting could become a GCSE subject:

“What I’m looking at now is whether we could teach it [parenting] through the other subjects, but also that the modules could actually be built into a separate GCSE,” he said.

“And in a sense the bonus would be both for the pupils and the schools that they’d be picking up an extra GCSE.”

MP thinks parenting GCSE could tackle ‘toerag parents’, BBC News

I would say, “wrong”. The problem with a GCSE is that it would have to be earned for it to be considered compatible and as worthy as other GCSEs. Therefore, there would have to be people that would fail GCSE Parenting. And what of them? Will they be prevented from becoming parents? Or will they be made to undertake the course again? Would those that pass the course be deemed “good parents” — will those with A* grades be encouraged to become foster parents?

Parenting education is genuinely a good idea, and many children progress through school and leave without really having gained an understanding of life skills. However, this is one of the vast list of topics that should be considered in a PSHE education (take a look at the PSHE Association website). My criticism is that schools pay little heed to PSHE education… cynics might speculate as to the reason.

Ordinarily I would find that quite dull, but it was alright really. Newcastle won (that’s the rugby team, of course) and I took part in a raffle where I won the only prize – a bottle of gin!

Emlyn had a good day as well, winning a fiver on a scratchcard. We all went out to the Old Brown Jug to celebrate John’s birthday, which is where I sit now. It’s all been very enjoyable but I am extremely tired now; and those magic governmental pixies are stealing one hour of my bedtime!

Rover 45 Spirit S TD 2.0l

I do so wish I had a car. I would certainly save a lot of hassle. It would definitely lead to me being less tired!

I taught today. It’s not the first time: it’s just the first time I’ve mentioned it here. It didn’t go terribly badly, there was still a lot of criticisms but I’m still learning. So despite being catastrophically tired, it’s all still good.

I finished my week-long primary placement on Friday. I’ll miss those kids! They were cheeky at times but they were friendly and we had a laugh. I most likely cemented myself in lore by falling unexpectedly and acrobatically trying to play football with them. Lesson learned.

And now I’m on my way back to Keele having watched Newcastle draw again. Thinking about a nice cup of tea…