After completing my first placement in the States I decided that it would benefit me to have an International Experience, and so chose to come to London for the second part of the placement. I am placed in Year 2, which is the equivalent of Grade 2 or 3. My school is based in Central London, which is very different to back home where I was in a rural community. I tend to get into school for around 7.45am, although this is not expected of me. My supervising teacher comes in around that time, and it gives me the chance to catch up with her and look over lesson plans and what the schedule is for the day. The children come in at 9.00am. Normally I take the register whilst my supervising teacher deals with any parent queries or problems that have arisen. One thing I find particularly interesting is that there are so many different languages spoken in the school. I have learnt that this is normal for London. In the school I am in at the moment there are over 60 languages spoken.

After the register we sometimes have assembly. This happens 3 times a week and is taken by a different member of staff depending on the day. The children are encouraged to participate and every few weeks a different class does an assembly on a specific topic that they have chosen together. Sometimes the Head Teacher reads them a story, which focuses on a specific theme, such as bullying, or the life or someone who is well known, like Marie Curie.

When we come back from assembly we have literacy or numeracy hour. In my first week I observed the class teacher, but now I am a lot more involved and work with smaller groups of pupils on different tasks depending on their ability. At the beginning of each session we sit down on the carpet with the children and discuss what we are going to do during the lesson. The aim of the lesson is then written up on the whiteboard, so that the children know what we are doing. Next week I am going to do some lesson planning of my own, with assistance from the class teacher and then take the class myself.

After break we continue with literacy or numeracy until lunchtime. In addition, a few times a week we include science. At the moment we are working on the body and the children are discussing the different food groups and how they help our body work. I can leave school during lunchtime but mostly I stay in the classroom with the teacher. Sometimes the children come in as well and finish off little bits that they have not managed to get done in the morning.

After lunch we work on other subjects such as history or religion. At the moment the school is planning a “One World” festival where they are celebrating different cultures. Each class is choosing a country and producing a display and then there is going to be a day where we have people come in to talk to the school and demonstrate different cultures. On this day the children will not wear uniform and are encouraged to wear clothes from different countries. Our class is doing France and we have been reading books in French and learning French songs. On the day of the festival the students will sing a French song to everyone. They also have people coming in to do Indian dancing amongst other things.

My day ends around 5.00pm. The children go home at 3.30pm but I stay and do lesson plans, discuss my progress with my class teacher and to look over the lessons for the next day. At our school we have a computer in every classroom as well as an IT suite, but this varies depending on the school. In the evenings I go back to my accommodation. I live there with a number of other student teachers, which is great as we can discuss how our day has been. We are all in very different schools. Some people are in a suburb of London and it seems that schools are very different there. I have been over there once to see how it compares to my school.

This experience has been great for me. I have really learnt a lot about myself and my ability to adapt. I would say to any student teacher wanting to come to London to definitely go for it. I have had a great time, but you do need to make sure you are prepared. I read books before I came over, and used websites like the BBC. When I first came over it was a real culture shock but you adapt very easily and I believe that my experience over here will stand me in good stead in my future career.