Well done on making it through the first week back after May half term everyone! I don’t know about you, but we can definitely tell that we’re in the second half of the summer term. How, you ask? Read on to find out…

1) Getting up in the morning doesn’t seem *quite* so difficult thanks to the light mornings

We’re not saying that having your early morning alarm go off is any fun, but it certainly helps when you’re waking up in daylight rather than the pitch black. Plus, having light evenings definitely helps it feel like you’ve actually got some of your day left when you finish work - there’s nothing worse than going to work in the dark and going home in the dark! Plus, the knowledge that there are only 6 weeks left until the summer holidays is a great motivation booster!

2) The teacher fatigue is real

Having said this about the light mornings and only 6 weeks remaining, we can’t downplay just how tiring this final stretch of the academic year really is - after all, it hasn’t exactly been a normal one! Plus, not only are the teachers tired, the students are too, especially if they’ve been facing exam pressure. Basically, everyone may be starting to feel a bit grumpy, and could really do with a summer break.

3) Daydreaming about the summer holidays makes up a good percentage of the day

Whether you’ve got the holiday of a lifetime booked, or you’re just looking forward to well and truly chilling out, the closer we get to the summer holidays, the more time we seem to spend dreaming about them. Annoyingly, this seems to make the time up until the summer holidays go as slow as humanly possible. But hey, 6 weeks of school before 6 weeks of summer!

4) The return of Love Island

Love it or loathe it, if you’re working in a secondary school, it’s more than likely that you’re going to hear a lot of Love Island chat. Either way, it certainly means that summer’s here!

5) Having to find work outfits that you won’t ROAST in

Putting together an appropriate, professional work outfit that’s not going to leave you absolutely roasting all day is not always the easiest of tasks. Why must so much of our work wardrobes consist of black clothing?!

6) Every classroom smells of factor 50

Speaking of the hot weather, there will be sun cream. Everywhere.

7) You have absolutely no stationery left. Like at all

You probably started the year with loads of lovely new stationery: a beautiful pencil case, a full maths set, one of those pens with 4 different ink colours and so on. And now? You’re lucky if you can find a blunt pencil. At least it gives you a genuine excuse to go stationery shopping in time for September…

8) Your lunches start to consist of potato salad from last night’s BBQ

Move over leftover spag bol and cottage pie, it’s summertime!

9) Students plea for lessons to be outdoors

I mean, we get it. When the sun’s out, a lot of us want to spend every waking moment outdoors feeling the sun on our faces and topping up our tans, but logistically, outdoor lessons aren’t always a walk in the park (you won’t realise how much you use that interactive whiteboard until it’s gone!)

10) You’re genuinely counting down the days until the summer holidays

Or perhaps you’re too busy to know the exact number of days, but you’ll certainly hear the phrase “only x weeks to go” a good few times up until the schools finish for the summer.

We hope that you enjoy these last few weeks of the school year, and if there’s anything that we can help you with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You’re so close to the summer holidays now - you can do this!