Summer's over for hundreds of teachers who today return to their books, lesson plans and meetings.

They will spend the next week in workshops, arranging furniture and gluing pictures to walls in a bid to prepare their classrooms for their new pupils.

But for many teachers, work did not begin today -- it began weeks, in some cases months ago.

"By the time the end of August comes around my mind is already thinking about school,'' said Warwick Academy's Sharon Edness. "There is a lot to do before the children return.'' Somerset Primary Learning Support Teacher Relda Jones said she began thinking about the upcoming year the moment school let out.

"When I finished in June I started planning for the new year,'' Mrs. Jones explained. "I picked a theme and began talking to people and researching ideas, so I started getting ready then.'' Elliot Primary School's Patti Jean Millett said she also started preparing well in advance.

Mrs. Millett said she spends countless hours during the summer holidays creating new, colourful artwork to brighten up her classroom.

And, if her first few days back at work are not taken up with professional development courses, she said she launches right into getting her classroom ready.

"I usually start with my bulletin boards. I have five of them to do. I do the art work up myself during the summer.'' Then she said she sets her sights on the walls.

"I put up the alphabet, power words and all the charts that have to go on the walls.'' She said a good deal of her time was also spent on checking all of her equipment and educational tools since, invariably, something would have been broken during the last school year.

Mrs. Millett also said that physically arranging her class room also consumed a great deal of her time.

"Sometimes you have to wash the chairs and tables if they are not already done. You have to do all of this before school starts because once the children arrive you don't have time to do it.'' And Mrs. Millett said that she, and a lot of other teachers, paid a visit to Al-Mil -- a supplier specialising in educational materials.

"Most teachers check Al-Mil if they want to get fresh stuff for their classrooms. The company brings in books which you can get a lot of ideas from.'' Mrs. Millett's colleague, Alana Smith said she usually spends a lot of her personal money at Al-Mil getting her Elliot Primary classroom ready for school.

"I went to Al-Mil and picked up stickers and things for my bulletin board and I easily spent $200,'' said the Primary one teacher. "People don't realise how much of our own money we spend. There are all sorts of expenses that go into being a teacher,'' she added.

In a bid to avoid after-school detention, Mrs. Edness paid a visit to Warwick Academy last Thursday to get a head start.

"I usually like to go back before school begins,'' said Mrs. Edness. "I'm going early to see what my new classroom looks like. They have been doing some building over the summer.'' Like many other teachers, Mrs. Edness said the first thing she focused her attention on was getting her bulletin board ready.

"The younger the class the more preparation you have to do,'' explained the Primary 5 teacher. "You have to decorate more and make the room more attractive for younger children.

"Sometimes it can take longer than you are given, so you have to stay late to get it done.'' Mrs. Edness said she also had to formulate her lesson plans before the children returned to school.

She explained: "You have to plan what you are going to teach and map out what is going to take place within the term.'' Mrs. Jones said she will not be able to get into her Somerset Primary classroom early this year since, as a member of the curriculum writing team for the Primary Schools, she would have meetings and workshops leading up to September 1.

But the moment she does get into her classroom, Mrs. Jones said she will proceed with a carefully planned agenda.

"I've bought sponges and buckets so the first thing I will do is clean-up the room,'' she explained. "After that I'll do my walls and bulletin boards. This year's theme will be the rain forest . All the material I purchased this summer surrounds that theme.

"I'm looking forward to getting back.'' And life in front of the blackboard is just as tough for teachers of older students.

Saltus Senior School's Anthony Bennett refutes the notion that senior school teachers did not have as much preparation as those in the primary schools.

"We also try to make displays for the walls,'' pointed out the economics and business teacher.

Like most of his colleagues, Mr. Bennett will spend this week attending a variety of meetings.

"I will have a departmental meeting where we'll decide how we will deliver the course and make sure we are all teaching and evaluating the material the same way,'' he explained.

"I'm also a tutor, so I will have to meet with the other tutors and then there will be the general staff meetings. Once the meetings are out of the way, I will start getting my room ready.'' Mr. Bennett added the moment the students stream through the doors, teachers switch out of vacation mode and revert back to their school mindset.

He said: "As soon as students walk in its like you've never been away.

"Two-and-a-half months is a long break for us and the kids -- a nice long break. But once school starts you get a routine.

"As soon as you're back it's like you never left and you start looking forward to the next break.''