This is a post I like to do at the end of each year. It’s a look back at different things that I’ve taken part in over the last 12 months and it’s a way to reflect for me and my small business. I started Irish Primary Teacher in 2014 while I was teaching in the U.K. My time in the U.K. was really tough and I really thought about leaving teaching, I didn’t think I was good enough to be a teacher. I had a horrible experience in one school which really knocked my confidence and left me feeling like the worst teacher in the world. Within 3/4 months, I had a new job and my confidence was beginning to grow again, this was one of the reasons I wanted to started Irish Primary Teacher – to reflect on what was working well and to support teachers who had similar experiences to mine. Now, 6 years later Irish Primary Teacher has grown and I’ve grown as a teacher too. It’s definitely a job you never stop learning in but I feel confident in my teaching abilities and that I make a positive contribution to my students lives!

I created a digital version of my planner a few years ago. I used it myself for two years and was delighted when ABC School Supplies asked if I’d consider publishing it. After a lot of back and forth, changing the smallest details, we finally finished the planner and it went on sale this year.

The 2000 copies of the English version sold out very quickly and the 1000 copies of the Irish version sold out in October so I was completely blown away by this! Thank you so much to everyone who bought one and I hope you find it useful. We’ll be releasing the 2021/2022 planner in the next few months with some small changes based on your feedback!

The NQT Year in Ireland also started as a digital download in 2019 and was published this year too! It was absolutely incredible to work with the team at ABC School Supplies. I’m a pain to work with as I am very particular so there was a lot of back and forth once again but the final result is fantastic and I’m so delighted with it!

I’m asked about job applications and interviews constantly. I have written countless blogposts on it based on my own experience and the experience of colleagues and friends. I’ve chatted to thousands of teachers through my Instagram and Facebook and I’ve done a lot of research about job applications and interviews. I wanted to create an AFFORDABLE online course for teachers applying for jobs in Ireland. The course was really well received and helped to build teachers confidence. I’ve loved receiving so many messages from teachers about their success at interviews!

I created an online course about beginning teaching in Ireland with tips for subbing, jobs and contracts, planning, classroom management, droichead, assessment, differentiation, supporting children with additional needs, working as a support teacher, working with parents and more!

As previously mentioned, I had a very clear vision for my new website. However, I struggled to explain exactly what I wanted so there was a huge amount of work and effort to get the new website up and running. With over 600 blogposts and 300 products, it was a huge task to move them to a new website with lots of rewriting and changing things around. Once again, there was a lot of back and forth with the website developer but I’m delighted with the final result.

The website has now been viewed over 3,000,000 times!

This was another HUGE achievement and a fantastic collaboration with Rahoo. Ciara was a dream to work with and I thoroughly enjoyed creating the Classroom Management course. The feedback was fantastic and lots of teachers messaged me throughout the last three months to share how successful their classroom management was as a result of ideas I shared in the course!