Summer Holidays???

Well its been quite a summer since my last blog. Almost straight after placement I helped run a children's camp for 9 to 16 years, including setting up support for the children with additional needs on camp. It was an extremely full on week, where I unknowingly caught COVID half way through, so came home with a positive test on the final morning and ended up spending 3 days in bed! I don't think I've ever been so ill.

Then the last few weeks, technically our 'summer break' have been full of university things as usual. I've tried to meet up with a few friends, including one who will be starting the MSc in January herself. But I've also had to keep my dissertation ticking over and have some very interesting results on student anxiety in relation to placement - I still find it ironic doing a dissertation on anxiety and placement, especially as my final placement starts in two weeks and I'm feeling a little anxious ! :-) But I'm so excited to finish off this dissertation after my placement and have some information that I really hope will inform university, placement educator and student experience going forward.

And milestones keep getting ticked off - my final assignment was handed in yesterday. It was a tough one (haven't they all been?), a service development proposal, and repeatedly when I submit assignments I wonder if what I've done is good enough. That's partly because I often don't think my work is good enough, but also because this course has included a standard of writing and new experiences for me so I've nothing to compare it against. But its in and hopefully will pass first time. Our final official f2f sessions as a cohort were a couple of weeks ago. It just feels like it all never stops. And a first this week was my first SLT job interview - exciting and scary. :-)

The whole course, particularly this second year, feels like this mad mix of new things, things I've never done before, and 'last' things - the last assignment, the last time we meet as a cohort, the last placement! Its not easy but I'm nearly there.

And now I have a lovely two weeks coming up to round off the summer before the final push - a good friend is getting married tomorrow, and my husband and I are escaping to Northumberland for a week next Friday. My summer will include a break, no matter how ready I am for placement. :-)