I very occasionally misplace my diary. When I do, it feels like the sky is falling down. The horror of missing a vital appointment, or worse, double-booking two vital appointments, is too much.
We all need something to help us get organised. We all need a stout, comprehensive planner, preferably not one that’s held together with rubber bands and duct tape. Everyone has their favourite diary or planner, but the one that our school has come to rely on is the Primary Teacher’s Planner.
It’s a larger-than-A4, spiral-bound thing, that has enough pages to cover every day in the academic calendar, and then some. It’s got all those useful pages for contacts, class lists, pupil tick lists, and so on. What’s more, it is really sturdy; it will last a complete year, which is the first requirement of a thing like this. The second requirement – that it should be able to hold loose pages of important faxes and emails, all stuffed in at the back – it also manages in spades.
Finally, and most crucially, it makes you look really busy and important when you’re running around the school during your non-contact time.
They’re available from www.edplanbooks.com. They’re worth looking at, particularly as they’re just over a fiver a piece.