Thanks for the tips!
@tecman - between Oct and March I had lessons booked every week. So I suppose yeah, I am "low time". There was a period of 3 weeks of no circuit-able planes at the school, and most weeks consisted of an 16kt crosswind, low mist/fog or chucking it down with rain.
My lovely airfield has played the "we're shutting the runway to learning flights today' a few times too.