We all have our morning routines.

A spot of yoga. A cappuccino from the little shop at the end of your road. Or a mad, tornado-style manoeuvre from bed to bathroom to workplace. Whatever your routine, I invite you to take a moment to analyse it now…

The funny thing about routines is that you don’t necessarily notice them. The lives of teachers and TAs are built on a multitude of micro and macro routines throughout the day. Your lesson timetable, playground duties, assemblies, interventions, staff meetings, parent consultations, morning briefings, afternoon briefings! The list goes on and on. Yet educators are expected to adapt to any little or large change to these routines at any point. And, oh boy! Do they change. When was the last time you had a ‘normal’ week? Where everything on the various timetables happened the way it should have and when it should have?

It can be difficult, even for the most flexible of us. I’m a firm believer in routines. As educational professionals we are always saying “children need structure”. Well, so do most adults.

I didn’t used to like my morning routine. It was a panic-filled, empty-stomached run around, trying to get everything sorted and ready for the day. I started to dread it. I needed to switch it up. The morning was too important, a pivotal factor in deciding my mood for that day, to let it go on the way it was.

Also, the morning is where you have the most power. Before the children have arrived, before the parents come to your door, before the workday has truly begun. This is where you can carve out a little piece of time to take a breath.

I started having breakfast at school because I never felt like eating at 6 a.m.!  And I found eating at work actually became a great thing. It forced me to stop and sit down for a tiny bit. Soon, I started reading while I ate my breakfast (I found that helped me to stop worrying about the coming day). Sometimes I’d go into my year group partner’s classroom and eat breakfast with him. I tried to make this a part of my workday but not feel like work. It really changed my mind-set. Knowing I was going to get to work and then have that time, even if it was only five minutes some days, really helped.

So, over this cup of coffee, take a moment to think about your morning routine. Is there room for a tweak anywhere to improve it?