The joy of 'x'

Whilst driving home this evening I was reflecting on the day's business and found myself thinking about what had sparked my interest in maths when I was a youngster. From a tender age my favourite subject was Maths. I loved solving problems and learning about using maths to solve increasingly complex problems. This love of Maths started at home when my parents would reward me for memorising and reciting my times tables and then continued in primary school when I was fortunate enough to have an excellent teacher. Mr Campbell, who was also the headteacher, was a hard task master but his passion for maths enthused me and helped prepare me for secondary school and beyond.

Earlier today, whilst interviewing excellent candidates for 2 Maths vacancies, I tried to imagine which of the candidates would set the heather on fire for our pupils at Jghs. In addition to having a passion for maths and an ability to communicate with young people I also look for someone who genuinely likes children and is prepared to get involved in the wider life of the school. As we had interviewed so many candidates that fitted the bill, Mr Pennel, Head of Maths, and I, agreed to reconvene on Friday to make the final decision.

After the morning's interview schedule, I had the pleasure this afternoon of meeting with the headteachers of our local primary schools. I had heard so many positive things about Mrs Grierson, Mrs Noble, Mrs Brown etc and their respective schools that I felt I already knew them. Our meeting gave us the opportunity to share a few thoughts on how we will work together in the future in order to ensure that there is continuity and consistency between our schools as pupils move from P7 to s1. In the coming weeks, I look forward with enthusiasm to working closely with our primary colleagues and meeting with the primary school Parent Councils and all the boys and girls from P1 to P7.