Portfolio – a work in progress

"Life is always rocky when you're a gem"

To keep you up to speed – I am currently developing a ‘Portfolio Career’.  I have been reliably informed by a friend within the HR industry that this is the ‘new thing’. Well, you know me, always up there, hip-hop-and-happening, in with the kids and so on and so forth (ahem). 
 
So, apparently a Portfolio Career is one which consists of multiple part time jobs.  It is also referred to as the “gig economy,” and can be seen as a long-term lifestyle choice which provides an individual the autonomy to choose how and when to work, and to achieve a better work/life balance.

​Well, it seems that I have been ahead of the game as I was doing this years ago and that time – when I had three jobs and worked all hours and every day - was the happiest I have known.
 
So, I am currently starting a collection of small and selective roles – if I was in the property market maybe I would be classed as bijou!? *

Firstly, as Clerk to the Governors of Temple Guiting Church of England Primary School I am only contracted for about two hours per week, and this is ‘as and when’ with regard to termly meetings and any other ad hoc work that is needed – for example, tidying up the Governor’s portal of the website, working on the strategic plan and vision under the direction of the governors, and suchlike. 
 

Secondly, twenty hours per week (and term-time only) as Coordinator and  Administrator for the SEN [Special Educational Needs] Department, at a small independent school called Bredon School.  Funnily enough, it’s NOT located in the village of Bredon which is closer to my home, but just outside of Tewkesbury on the way towards Ledbury and the Malvern Hills.  It is a beautiful site comprising 84 acres but also has its own school farm - “which is home to herds of pedigree and commercial pigs, sheep and cattle, as well as an assortment of chickens, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs and Shetland ponies. Spanning 35-acres, the farm also houses allotments, gardens, greenhouses and a polytunnel”.
 
Bredon is a co-educational independent boarding and day school for children aged 7 to 18 years and places an emphasis upon both vocational and traditional education.  It is specifically “dyslexia-friendly” and CReSTeD* accredited and holds designated Dyslexia Specialist Provision (DSP) status.  [*Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils]
 
I will obviously be looking to fit in another part-time role because neither of the above will ever make me wealthy (or even touch our regular financial obligations), but the atmosphere in both schools seemed positive, and the staff I met were very friendly and cheerful – and that’s half the battle isn’t it?

Above:  Temple Guiting Primary School - for 94 pupils

Below: Bredon School; just a tad bigger - and grander!

 
*bijou as a name actually means jewel, but is also translated as ‘small’ and ornamental or - and this is the one I am embracing - as “highly prized”!