Top 5 things teachers should do before heading back to school

At LifeWise, our product was developed with the support of some amazing teachers and after chatting with them, we wanted to pull together some ideas and recommendations for ways to relax and make the most of the final few weeks of the holiday period.

You might want to run a marathon or decorate the bathroom and we respect that, but for now we are going to focus on slightly more relaxing ideas.

1. Become a Yoga Master

• Reduce high blood pressure
• Helps strength, flexibility and balance
• Contributes to lowering stress
• Helps with aches and pains, particularly lower back pain

It’s the perfect low impact exercise that will stretch those muscles and clear the mind. Head back into the new school year as a zen master.

2. Laze Around On The Sofa

Movies To Lose Yourself In

• If you like action, why not use Disney+ and watch the latest installment from Marvel – Black Widow. A good story with lots of action sequences to help you drift away from reality
• If you fancy a full set of movies that are very light hearted and easy to watch, why not catch all three films in the Pitch Perfect franchise
• If you fancy a good cry, we defy anyone to watch the first 10 minutes of ‘Up!’ and not be in floods of tears. What follows is a Pixar masterpiece
• If you are up for something a little more challenging, then one film from 2021 we’d suggest is Judas and the Black Messiah, with an oscar winning performance from Daniel Kaluuya
• The best family movie of 2021, in fact one of the best in years, The Mitchells vs The Machines is a great way to spend 2 hours

Box Sets To Binge Watch

• Let’s start with a new series on Amazon Prime. ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ is a much anticipated programme with an incredible cast and the first 3 episodes already available to get you going
• Motherland is a comedy masterpiece that is popular with any teacher with their own children at home. Watch all three seasons and we promise you’ll have tears of laughter for weeks
• If a documentary is more you thing, the BBC has a three part series called ‘Gold Rush’ on how Britain transformed their olympic fortunes thanks to lottery money or if you fancy a different take on history, try ‘How to become a tyrant’
• Lucifer is a very popular Netflix series that is coming to an end this autumn, so now is the time to go through the older seasons of this light hearted drama about the devil living in LA
• Finally, if you happen to be one of the few people left on the planet that’s not watched Game Of Thrones, then maybe this last 2 weeks of holiday are the perfect time to binge watch all 8 seasons!

We did suggest opening a bottle of wine, so it’s only right that we recommend one that’s popular here at LifeWise – 19 Crimes is a smooth red with big fruit flavours and a bargain at £8, it will go perfectly with any of the choices above.

Whilst you are sitting around, you might also follow the trend set by Tom Daley over the summer and take up some knitting – fun distraction, great exercise for your hands and you might have a jumper ready for the autumn term.

3. Lego Is Not A Toy (Honest!)

Some of you might want to let your imagination run wild and build your own creations but if you are looking for a good set to keep you occupied, we have some personal choices to suggest.

• If you are a Harry Potter fan, we might suggest Hedwig as a bargain option or if you are feeling flush, then Diagon Alley is a great choice
• If you fancy something a little different and original, the new Adidas trainer set is a big winner or the amazing new camper van is very popular
• The ideas range includes sets designed and voted on by fans, so you find some real gems in this, from typewriters and pianos through to the set of Friends!
• Finally, for the Star Wars fans, why not go for it and get the Millenium Falcon – this will keep you going for quite some time

4. Plan some trips and get away

It might be a bit late to start traveling overseas but why not take this wonderful opportunity to visit the amazing country we live in – the UK has so many great places to go.

Set yourself up for a series of day trips. Look at where you can reach within a few hours drive and pick out some great destinations.

Remember that the UK is a big place. Go all the way up to Scotland, drive across to Wales and even jump on a ferry to Ireland. It’s an amazing island and right now it’s a bit quieter because there are less tourists than normal!

Use the trips to catch up with friends and family that you’ve not been able to see outside of a zoom screen for 18 months. Reconnect with old mates or cousins you’ve not seen in years.

5. Read a good book

Fiction

• One of the best psychological thrillers in years, ‘The Push’ comes with a great reputation and will keep you hooked throughout
• ‘My Year Abroad’ is equal parts dark, humorous and sneakily insightful, one of the most original books of the year
• If you fancy a novel that takes a completely new look at the effects on social media, in a fictional setting, then we have to recommend ‘No One Is Talking About This’

Non-fiction

• The Michelle Obama autobiography is a fascinating read about one of the most humble and famous women on the planet
• If you prefer your biographies more in the sporting arena, then following on from the summer of olympics, have a read about one of the heroes from London 2012. Victoria Pendleton’s book ‘Between The Lines’ is a strikingly honest book about the pressures of competing
• Georgia Pritchett has been writing scripts on Veep, The Thick of It and Smack the Pony for years and her new memoirs are standing out in the literary world as well. The cover has become the most Instagrammed book cover of 2021

Bonus Time

6. Have a lie in

You have to get up like clockwork during term time. You get in and prepare for another busy school day without fail, day after day. Now is the time to take advantage of your time off and have a well earned lie in. Turn the alarm off, shut the curtains, make your other half look after the kids for the morning and drift.
And if you struggle to stay asleep, just lounge in bed, read one of those books we recommended and have a nice cuppa on us.

Hopefully we’ve given you a few new ideas or just inspired you to do something you’ve been thinking about for some time. You work so hard and do an amazing job for the rest of the year, it’s vital you take this time to get yourself ready for the new school year and come back ready to do what you do best!

To help ensure that your return is as smooth as possible, take a look at our amazing PSHE lessons. With over 300 classroom-ready lessons, we can save you precious hours, time that you use on ensuring a smooth start to the year.