Every NQT is entitled to a 10 per cent lighter timetable than other classteachers, and all being well it won’t be cancelled every time another teacher is sick.

So how are you spending this release time? Any teacher will tell you it is a very precious resource, so make the most of it.

It’s all too easy to spend your induction time doing things that are immediately necessary - marking, say, or displays - but it’s not always a good use of time in the long run.

When considering what to do, ask yourself whether it will help you meet the standards for the end of the induction year and whether you are going to be a better teacher as a result. If you make specific plans, you’re less likely to lose your release time.

Link activities to the objectives you’re setting with your induction tutor. If marking takes hours, set yourself an objective to improve it.

Spend some time reading articles on the subject and getting other people’s tips for how they do it more quickly than you. Looking at their systems and what they write is really useful.

An excellent way of spending your release time is to observe others at work.

You’ll find out so much about teaching and learning. Over the year, observe a range of teachers and other staff, age groups, specialist groups, subjects and lessons at different times of the day. Observe in other schools, too.

Observing a lesson so that you get something out of it is not easy. There is so much to see that one can end up getting overwhelmed. You need to have a focus. Don’t always watch experienced and successful teachers. You’ll learn a great deal from seeing other NQTs and supply teachers too.

It’s cheering to see that everyone has similar problems and it’s fascinating to study the different ways people manage them. If you watch your class being taught by someone else, you can see the children’s learning, behaviour and reactions, and how another teacher handles them.

Spend time with other staff, like the special needs co-ordinator (Senco) or the gifted and talented co-ordinator. Find out how best to teach certain groups of children. Talk through specific problems with them as well as with your induction tutor.

If you’re in the secondary sector, it’s fascinating to track a pupil for half a day and see what their experience of school is. You learn lots from seeing the styles of different subject teachers, and you gain an insight into how students learn. Certainly, helping pupils to make connections between subjects can really help to improve their work.

Making resources, reading books and articles, and finding ways to make your assessment systems more effective are all useful ways to spend time. Look through resources in the school - hunt around and you could find something fantastic by accident!

Going on courses can be very useful, but ensure they’re covering what you need to improve. Don’t just look at ones run locally - cast your net wider to find just the right one.

Remember that you’re being inducted into the profession, not just your school. Keep your ears open to everything, but keep thinking about how you could use ideas in your classroom.

You may benefit from finding out more about outside agencies, particularly if any of your pupils are seen by them. You could sit in on some of the work of educational psychologists, health visitors, educational welfare officers, speech therapist or occupational therapists.

Go to different sorts of educational settings. If your school has a link with a special school or pupil referral unit, make an appointment to visit them and look around.

Get to know the local area around the school, looking at where the children live and the places they talk about. Some could have educational possibilities but, even if they don’t, the experience will give you some insight into the children’s lives and help you keep up with breaktime conversations.

It’s a good idea to plan a class visit, while you have the safety net of still being a new teacher. It takes lots of organisation and even choosing a good venue can take ages. You need to visit it beforehand, and do a risk assessment of all points on the journey and at the venue. This will give you the chance to think through potential problems and avoid things that could go wrong.

Reflection time is a must. It should have higher status and time allocated to it. Analyse why things go well, and why other things don’t go so well. Most of all, make sure you spend the time becoming a better teacher.

Sara Bubb works with NQTs and people on the Graduate Teacher Programme at the London Institute of Education and is author of ‘A Newly Qualified Teacher’s Manual’ David Fulton, pound;15