Tag Archives: supply teacher support

Top tips for leaving a dog at home while you work

Having to leave your dog at home alone at short notice is a fact of life when you’re a supply teacher. Give a dog-loving neighbour a key, and have their number stored on your mobile so you can give them a quick ring while you’re sat on the bus on the way to school… That’s my first tip of many:

 

Tips for leaving your dog at home while you work

  • Ensure, as always, that your dog has access to fresh water
  • Climate control – can you vent a couple of rooms?
  • If it’s not an early morning call that you get, walk your pooch before you leave
  • If you’re expecting to get early morning calls, make the main walk of the day in the evening, and go for a quick walk in the morning before your supply teacher agency opens for business.
  • Walk your furbaby as soon as you get back
  • Another walk before bed time
  • Ask around for a local dog walker to take them out at lunchtime
  • Ask a friend to pop in once a day to give your dog some love
  • Ask an unlikely source – a local publican! I used to drive my pup to a pub in the next town to enjoy some lovely walks with the manager who started work as I finished – perfect! My pup did get a little tubby though, despite the long walks, as she would rest in the beer garden and flash those lovely big brown eyes at all the customers, getting pork scratchings and crisps in return!
  • Don’t feel guilty. The next time you have to spend a day in the house, just watch your dog – they will sleep for a good proportion of the time.
  • Leaving the door to your bedroom open will send your dog into seventh heaven. They’ll be there to love you unequivocally upon your return, but boy, while you’re gone, they’ll be having the best curl up on your duvet they’ve ever had!

Have you left your pet while you went to work? Please share your top tips for leaving pampered pooches

alone for the day below!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on Top Tips for Technology. Check out our resources area here too.

Visiting Schools Prospecting For Work

Visiting schools prospecting for supply teaching work

by Sharon Wood

Supply teachers often can find work without going through an agency. I did! If this is something you have thought about doing, read the following information, and also why not visit the forum to read about the experiences of other supply teachers?

Making visits to schools can be invaluable for many reasons.

  1. You find them in your own time. Some school buildings really do hide themselves away. Some schools have strange rituals about how you are admitted to the building. If you receive a call later that week at 8:45am asking you to come in and work as a supply teacher for the day, you’ll be glad you know where it is!
  2. You can decide whether or not you really would like to take on supply work there. During a first visit, you may notice all sorts of gremlins in the way the school is run, and decide after all that you can live without that money!
  3. You can make a great first impression. Seize the opportunity with both hands to show them how good a supply teacher you really are. It doesn’t matter who you meet, however briefly, word will get back to whoever books supply teachers for the school. Be smart, be nice, be open, be interested, be confident, be knowledgeable and be enthusiastic.
  4. You might get a booking for supply work right there and then: it happens! NuttySupplier visited 6 schools in one day and got 4 days of bookings whilst stood in the entrance hall of the second school she visited!

Visiting schools can be daunting, but ultimately in your best interest.

 

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on welcoming supply teachers. Check out our resources area here too.