Heyyy ...today is the first day of the school term and for the first time in nearly 30 years I DON'T have to go in ...no more parents evenings , no more target setting no more report writing , no more finding that unnamed bit of lost uniform at the end of the day , no more training sessions where we all sit around re-inventing the wheel , no more hearing " this is what Ofsted will be look for " , no more stroppy kids , no more cold wet playground duties , ...I'm FREEEEEEE !!!!!

Yvonne

Freedom at last!!!   Welcome!!

> I'm FREEEEEEE !!!!!
>

Brill :-D Enjoy every minute of your freedom :)

Congratulations - now you can shop without children whizzing around the place (well there will still be a few weenies)  I took redundancy some years ago but now I am officially retired.  I still walk out in the morning with my dog saying I am free.  All those hours put into lesson planning, termly planning, schemes of work - I would do a cold wet playground duty any day - rather than all the reams of work that went with it.  I never went anywhere at the weekend without a file on my lap in the car.  Never mind preparation of work, getting in early enough to mix all the paints, and all the other things needed for a reception/ year one class.  I had no help in the classroom.   Now I think - how did I ever have time to work.  Enjoy your freedom.

i retired from nursing 10 yrs back and these have been the best years of my life  no kids no work. just me and the dogs bliss enjoy it

Oh I envy you! Well not me as I don't work anyway (well I am a carer for my MIL but she lives with us) but I know John would so love to be home and I would love him to be. ENJOY!!

Congratulations Yvonne and enjoy a school-free (and especially Ofsted-free) retirement! As a parent I celebrated my freedom from school runs, keeping uniforms in order, chasing after homework, etc., and that's nothing compared to your life as a teacher! Well done, hope you have lots of time to spend on yourself now.

Hooray for you, now you must enjoy the time you have :)

I am envious, retirement for me currently is at 67 +5 months.
I will opt out soooner though, I hope, just dont know when.

Karen

What bliss. I only do 2 days a week and not teaching (You deserve a medal...) but oh how I would love to have my whole week to plan as I like and not around shifts..currently looking at 8 more years on the treadmill before I can call my time my own.
I hope you really enjoy it and have all that lovely time with your doggies. No doubt in a couple of months you will wonder how you ever had time to go to work.
Lucky you.
I really think we should live our lives the other way round and start off old and crankey then gradually get younger till we have the knowledge to enjoy our youth properly, then when our minds go gaga we can be babies again and end up quietly slipping into a warm dark environment.

How I envy you. I have another 25 years....

jealous, jealous, jealous!!!!!

Have fun :) :) There's so much to do out there :) I sort of retired nearly three years ago (at 53), but there have been many days when I wish I was back at work :) :) :)

Congratulations, Yvonne :).  I bet you feel you could not have got out at a better time! :)

I could take a modest pension from the end of this month, come to think of it it will still be modest if I stick at it for another 10 years :) and the knowledge that I could now leave I find gives me comfort ploughing on through the cuts and super human efforts that the front liners are having to put in to keep up any semblance of quality in public service. 

Jealous !!  Had to sit through yet another boring inset today, congratulations hope you enjoy

Oooooooh I am so envious. Went in on Thursday for a training session - what a surprise the literacy scheme that was dropped eight or so years ago had just reappeared in a re-vamped disguise marketed as the new super duper answer to everything. Today was the first day with the children back in school and I know I can't do this for another 12 years :-(. I should have had just 5 years to go but the changes to the retirement age has now more than doubled the time I thought I would have left at school and I am so disappointed to know I still have a good few years to go yet.

Having said at the end of last term that I am not doing so much at home anymore the very first thing I did when I got in ( apart from playing with the dogs for a while) was write up a lesson plan. Each year I think I won't have to do that so often as I have kept them all but each year the curriculum changes or I change year group and it's time to start all over again from scratch.

Enjoy your freedom :-)

Congratulations! I'm sure you have worked extremely hard to earn your retirement and you should enjoy every minute of it

I can't wait until I'm in your position.  I got back in today to INSET on teaching & learning, OFSTED targets, a 45 minute debate on the best phrasing for learning objectives.  A reporting schedule a book scrutiny.  I like to think I'm quite good at my job I've had 100% for all my A level kids the past 2 years and I managed to improve my departments GCSE results by 37% this year but the more training and paperwork I see the more I'm sure I haven't got a clue what I'm doing and am a fraud.  Constantly worried that people will realise my paperwork is always playing catch-up!

enjoy your morning walk with the dogs I'm back to doing mine before 6am.

Congratulations and envy from here too. As a deputy head I worked with once said I just stand still they will all catch up with me I have lost count how many times they have invented the same initiative again for teachers. So no more for you Yvonne !

> no more hearing " this is what Ofsted will be look for "

Woot!
Oh what a lovely feeling I'll bet :-D Enjoy! Congratulations Yvonne, but I bet you'll be missed!

Each year I think I won't have to do that so often as I have kept them all but each year the curriculum changes or I change year group and it's time to start all over again from scratch.

LOL this made me smile - has anyone ever known a " two year rolling programme " last for longer than the original two years ?  !! -- in my study now I have kept just three files - one for each term crammed with all my best lesson plan ideas and I'll use those for any supply work that my old school want  me to do ( yep they've already asked if I'll go in at the end of September for 3 days ) ....'bon courage' to everyone still toiling away at the chalk ( or interactive whiteboard ) face ....believe me retirement is worth waiting for !!

Yvonne

Careful they will get you back lol