Although it’s sometimes hard for us to face it (myself included) teachers are more than their job. If you don’t think teachers struggle with this, go out for dinner with a bunch—what do we talk about?? Teaching!)

RULE #1: Remember you have a life outside of school (even if you spend most of your time there, you will eventually get a life and start going out. You need to blow off steam, and you don’t want to be doing this so close to school that you run into your students. I mean, I love my students, but being professional means you don’t want to hang out with them until they graduate.

Secondly, you want to love where you live. So choose a neighbourhood with little shops and cafes. After coming home at 7 pm with grocery shopping still needing to be done, I want to kiss the owner of the IGA for setting it so close to my house!

RULE #2: If you are a young teacher moving to Melbourne – live near a train line! You can use Metlink online to plan your train times so you get to all destinations on time. I recommend this heartily, as with a big city, and a sprawly city like Melbourne, you can bank on it taking 45-60 minutes to get places (if you aren’t driving) unless you plan your trams and trains.