Time for Rainbow Jane to get more Creative!

I'm counting down to my retirement on September 19th 2025! What made me decide to take this decision? Well, everything I do, I do with complete passion and the need to do 110+ percent, and that approach is stressful, and ultimately not good for my blood pressure. I can't change the way I am, but I can change where I put my energy and passion... so now it's time to get more creative, spend more time with friends and family and has some new adventures. Yes, I've still got a couple of years to go before my state pension kicks in, and after my varied working life, I'll still be seeking some short term contracts to keep me in good supplies of all the crafting materials I love, and fund some trips!

I keep mulling over how lucky I have been. Firstly with the Jewellery Factory and Designs on You. From a rented floor space, or 2 x1 metres, in what was the Mecca Arcade in Leeds, to my stall in the Merrion Centre and eventually No.9 the Grand Arcade, running a bead / craft shop and a bridal accessory business was so much fun. It was a business of it's time, something that online shopping would make harder to do now. With Designs on You, I sold tiara's and bridal jewellery wholesale to bridal shops as far a field as Japan and New York, winning the Best of British Bridal Design awards for accessories for 3 years running, back in the mid 1980s! The bead shop also appeared on a Yorkshire TV program, Yorkshire Enterprise. These were days before mobile phones, so I have struggled to find photos... but I do have did have an old Designs on You catalogue at home!

After the 9 year lease at No 9 The Grand Arcade had finished, and with most of the income coming from the bridal side of the business, I sold the beads and moved Designs on You home, travelling to lots of amazing craft fairs. But when David came home and said, 'My PE master says I could be in the rugby team, if we didn't go away for so many weekends!' - that was it, time for a change...

And so after a whirlwind of supply teaching, I started in Reception at Hovingham Primary in 2001. So many amazing memories of my time at Hovingham, and so many lasting friendships. Perhaps my time at Hovingham is best summed up in the video I created when I was leaving...

This video from my time at Hovingham, also links to my journey at 3P Learning, and talks about the impact that Mathletics had there.

It was also while at Hovingham that I wrote 2 books - the first was 'Dealing with Feelings, a book about developing emotional literacy through the use of stories, and the second book, as 'Puppets, Language and Learning,' a book about using puppets in the classroom! Neither were great sellers, but they were fun projects to do.

From Hovingham Primary, I moved to Farsley Farfield Primary School. I had fun here too, but my Mum was getting more poorly and it was becoming increasingly hard to give her the care she needed while also giving my 110+% to my role on the senior leadership team. Life is interesting... it was at the end of the day, when I had taken a few hours out of school to take my mum for results of tests, which showed she was suffering with vascular dementia and Alzheimer's, that after school the office put through a call from 3P Learning to me. We'd had a few conversations about sales jobs, but I loved teaching too much, but on this occasion the discussion was about training for schools... and I knew it would give me the flexibility to care for Mum, and so the next chapter started,

On January 1st 2016, I joined 3P Learning - home of Mathletics, Reading Eggs, Mathseeds and Writing Legends - amazing online educational programs, and I came having seen, first hand the impact that Mathletics could have on children's progress. My roles have had different titles over the years, but basically they have been focused on knowing the programs and how they will support teachers and drive student progress, and sharing that information with teams across the globe and with schools. I've been lucky enough to visit Sydney, several times, and also Phoenix - Arizona, Calgary and Barcelona, all with work. I work with amazing people, who create these awesome programs, and who share them with schools across the world. Best of all, I'm part of the Giving Back Team, who provide gifted licenses to educational establishments, who have devices and the internet, but no funding for programs. This team supports so many amazing projects, from Tong-Len, the school run by Tibetan monks at the base of the Himalaya's, Myanmar ABCs, supporting young children in Myanmar, unable to attend school due to the unrest in their country, to a small orphanage educating children in their care in Jamaica, to the licenses gifted to Ronald McDonald Houses linked to hospitals in Australia.... and so many more incredible projects in Canada, America, UK, South Africa, India, Asia and Australia - literally across the world. If I was to pick one moment - one day, it would have to be the day I spent training Ronald McDonald educators on how to use the 3Essentials, the complete package for reading, writing & maths, when I was last in Sydney, with my colleague and friend, Nic.

It's all been amazing ... I'm able to keep my personal projects going with access to my 3E account, so I'm hoping that it won't be a complete good-bye, but rather a step back, so I can play more, create more and stress less! Here's a few more photos - one with me dressed up for Halloween in school, World Book Day online and out visiting schools and doing conferences. I've made so many friends along the way, but I know we'll keep in touch, you have my email, my webpage, and facebook link. If I travel to your part of the world, I'll come and see you, and if you come to England, come up North to Leeds and come and see me.