My Bruver Got a Bike an I Dint

I have much better things to do than this, but Seany started "the bike thing" again so I have to have my say!

For further clarification on what the bike thing is all about, you might want to read point ten of 30 Things about Seany.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, unless it's a bike and then it will come in a box with a big shiny bow on it.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. Real trees are too wide and would get knocked over by the bike as it goes past.

3. When do you put up the tree? As early as I can get away with it. I like hearing people complain to me that it's too early.

4. When do you take the tree down? One of my kids usually knocks it down with their new bike as they ride around (if one gets one, they both get one!!). Failing that, I take it down before I go back to work in January.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but I don't really agree with stealing eggs out of nog's nests.

6. Favourite gift received as a child? I don't remember. Did I get a bike? No, I don't think so. My brother did though.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, and every year a bit more of it gets broken. The shepherd now has a shorter crook (ooh!).

8. Hardest person to buy for? Secret Santa presents when you don't know who you are buying for.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Seany. I can just buy him a bike every year as he keeps losing or breaking them. (Never taught the value of money!)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Decorative teapot. What is the point of that?
"I have bought you a teapot",
"Oh Thank you!",
"But don't use it, will you?",
"Why not?",
"It's for decoration only",
"Right, so you have bought me a teapot, but I can't use it as a teapot.",
"That's right."
"What the F*&K am I supposed to do with it then?!"

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. We get 50 free stamps because Larry is a postie.

12. Favourite Christmas movie? Love Actually

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? July. Yeah, so what! Shut up!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, every year. The kids have so many things that they don't realise I keep taking their toys and wrapping them up for them again the next year. At least they get something they really want!

15. Favorite thing to eat/drink at Christmas? Clotted cream, Brandy Butter, Port, guinness (wow, now I see why I am having to diet!)

16. Clear lights or coloured on the tree? coloured and flashing

17. Favourite Christmas song? I want to ride my bicycle

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Christmas day in Bethlehem was great, but I love being home with the family for Christmas.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes. Frank, Pat, Ricky, Bianca...erm... I can't remember the others.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A Fairy.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Open them Christmas day. Shake, prod, sniff & squish them as soon as they arrive!

Anyone else want to have a go? Let me know so I can have a read.

Oh, and don't worry, I bought myself a bike!

All change

So, after maxing out a credit card (or two) on nursery fees, it was finally time to call it a day and admit that a private nursery was not for people like us, but for the professors and doctors etc. who can afford the extortionate fees. Added to which, we were only really keeping him there because he loved it so much and it only took a week of him saying "I don't want to go to nursery" and a few incidents like not being told they had changed his keyworker, looking at his record of progress to find it had not been updated since he had moved into the pre-school section a month ago in addition to my repeated but unsuccessful attempts to get them to put a coat on him when in the garden (NOTE: all the staff were always wearing fleece jackets!)to wake us up to the fact that we were no longer getting value for (lots and lots of) money.

I was scared. Little Z had had six childminders before starting school and I really didn't want the same for Big J. I made some enquiries and found a childminder on recommendation from a few mums at Little Z's school. We are now 2 weeks in and all is well. She is very qualified, really friendly, and Big J likes her. Apart from that, I don't think I will be messed about by her.

Big J has also started a new Pre-school. It is the same one Little Z went to so it was a bit strange going back there after 4 years. It has changed somewhat, but Big J is happy there and I am hoping he will stay there until he goes to school in September.

So, new childminder & new Pre-school as well as all the new places he will go to with the childminder are all the ingredients I needed for an overwhelmed and slightly bewildered little boy. So, what better time to introduce these things than just coming up to Christmas when everything else is out of routine too!

I am glad to say that the changes have gone as well as could be expected and with as few tears (from all concerned) as possible. He does not seem too concerned to have left his nursery, quite the opposite in fact which tells me maybe we should have done this sooner. I just hope that he doesn't think his new pre-school is always like this with party food and Santa coming to visit.

For God's sake...

This is mad! Inciting racial hatred? Aren't they doing that by the way they are treating her? Can we take seriously a country which still lashes people in public? Is it a crime to make a mistake?

What a ****ed up world we live in!

What the X...

I have never watched X-Factor before, but this year Larry & I have watched it from the beginning and have really got into it. With only 6 acts left in the competition, it is getting tough to decide who to vote for (at home of course, not actually wasting money on phone voting). Beverley has been one of my favourites from the start of the live shows. Apart from the fact that she is a Primary School teacher, she has an amazing voice and was a very strong contender. I thought she could win it. Until, that is, some people decided that talent doesn't really matter and voted instead to keep other acts in who really, in my opinion, should not still be in the competition. What were they thinking?

"If Beverley goes this week it will be ridiculous. If that happens, I will not watch it again" I stropped as I gasped in disbelief at seeing that Beverley was in the bottom two acts.

Well, that's it. I don't ever want to watch it again. I have no idea why it is called x-factor. It is complete xxxxxxxx. (Oh, maybe that's it!)

Oh, and to make matters even worse, someone's supply placement is just about to be cut short.

Driving Lesson

Thank you so much to the (rather aged) man in the (average) silver car, who pulled up alongside my car today to point out to me that my driving was substandard. You may have been somewhat confused at my blank expression and complete lack of response and could have been led into thinking I did not care. However, I do appreciate that you are obviously a caring person who wished to help a fellow motorist, even to the point that you thought you would drive quite closely behind me just in case I should require your help or advice. As someone who is committed to the education of others, I thought I would offer you my own words of advice. First of all, I would like you to think about your use of questionning. Do you think an open question like "Why didn't you use your indicators?" was more likely to get a response than a closed question under those circumstances? Secondly, while I admire your lack of expletives used as you shouted at me, I'd like to point out that the need to shout would be greatly reduced if you were to wind your window down. Oh, nice horn, by the way!

PS:
As this incident took place outside my new school, If by some freak unfortunate coincidence you happen to walk into my classroom with your child on the first day of next term, I would be very grateful if you would pretend never to have seen me before!

Who Nose...

Tried to do Christmas shopping today, but after spending a morning dragging Big J around the shops telling him to "put it down", "Leave that alone", "That's not a toy" etc... I decided to take a break for lunch and continue after we had eaten. As I sat in the car checking my mobile phone, I realised I had missed several messages from Little Z's school and one from Larry telling me that Little Z had fallen and hurt her nose and face and needed to be picked up. The last message was left at 11.50. I finally dashed, apologising repeatedly, into the school's office at 13.25. A trip to A&E resulted in us walking back out as soon as we had walked in as the place was full of people with more serious injuries who would undoubtably be seen first. A short car trip down the road took us to the NHS Walk-In Centre where the staff were helpful and friendly and where we were seen within 30 minutes. The result being that Little Z has cuts to her face which should heal in a week or so and a suspected broken nose which cannot be checked until the swelling goes down in approx. 10 days when we will have to phone for an ENT appointment which may then mean waiting another 2 weeks. In the meantime, she is more concerned with why people are staring at her,why she is not allowed to do PE for 2 weeks and whether she will still be able to do her ballet exam on 15th November.

An Englishman's Home is his Castle...

(apologies for taking so long to actually get this post finished & published)

A few months ago, my friend Sarah announced that she and her husband, Ben, were moving to Derbyshire. After staying with Sarah's granny for a few weeks, they have now moved into their new house, so we thought we would visit them on our way to Grimsby. We took the campervan and booked into Elvaston Castle (not a real castle at all!)campsite nearby to stay for the night.

After visiting Sarah & Ben's new house, we all went over to Elvaston Castle Country Park. A pleasant walk in the woods was the perfect opportunity for Big J to cover his lovely clean trainers and the bottom half of his trousers in two types of poo and some of his own wee! What a charming boy!

We headed for Nottingham the following day, which was not enjoyable in the least. I love Nottingham and as the children have been following the Robin Hood series (yes, yes, I know it's not age appropriate!) I thought they would love to visit the castle. Yes, I am sure they would have preferred to visit the Robin Hood experience museum, but at thirty odd pounds for the family to get in, we decided the castle was more appealing. Didn't I realise they would be disappointed when they saw it and found out it was not a real castle at all, but more like a large stately home? Did I really expect them to get excited about an art gallery and some plates, bowls & cups? Well, yes, hindsight would have been handy (or possible just some forethought!).

A longer than anticipated drive finally got us to Seany's house - not a castle either, but the kids were happy to see Uncle Seanie, as were we, of course!

Despite the fact that we had (and still have) no money, we still managed to visit a windmill (Windy Miller was not in so we didn't get to see it turning, although I managed to keep Big J quiet for about 10 minutes by saying, "Quick, I just saw it move - keep watching!"); a zoo (of sorts) in Cleethorpes (no, not the Sunday Market!)although Seany said it was not quite like the San Diego Zoo or the one in St Louis and we also went for a long drive in the country in search of Alvingham Watermill which I remembered visiting as a year 3 pupil with my favourite teacher and thought Little Z might like to see as the one we had seen in Elvaston had not been working. We also managed to reach the Appleby's Ice Cream shop in Conisholme just in time.

Thanks Seany for another great break.

The Slippery Slope...

At Paulton's Park last weekend, Seany & I stood watching Little Z and Big J have their last climb, swing, jump, bounce and slide on the adventure playground before going home. We laughed as we remembered how a number of years ago, we had visited Paulton's with Little Z and had ourselves had a go on the biggest chute slide. I was signed off work with depression (no, let me finish!) and remember thinking at that time "I hope no one sees me enjoying myself!" It's a common misconception that depressed people have to be miserable all of the time.

So, anyway, I was reading Seany's blog this morning about the joke someone has cracked at the Tate Modern (no, I'm not mocking it, actually I liked the thought behind it) and having clicked the link to the news article about "Shibboleth 2007" I saw a related article entitled "Tate Modern Unveils Giant Slides". Now, that is something I would really enjoy going to see. I love swings and slides and never seem to have grown out of them (mentally, ok?) so I was very excited to hear what the artist had to say:

Artist Carsten Holler said his work, Test Site, was a "playground for the body and the brain". He says slides can help combat mental health problems.

(Source: BBC.co.uk)

What a fantastic excuse!

So, my plan is as follows:
New Job, New house, Big garden, Giant slide, not thought beyond that yet...

How to Get a Primary NQT Teaching Job

I cannot believe how hard it has been to get a teaching job. I know some people have not found it so hard, but I also know some people who were happy to apply for and accept any teaching job in any school and some of those people ended up very unhappy and soon moved on to another school or left teaching altogether. What I am talking about, is how hard it has been to find the right teaching job in the right school. Too fussy? probably. Happy? Yes! I am now.

But this got me thinking how it would be nice (good descriptive word!) to put something together which might help some of the Primary NQTs still out there searching for the right job.

I have put this together and put a link in "Teachers Cupboard" on the right. I am not pretending to have more experience than others, but just wanted to share what I have learnt on my journey. I hope you find it helpful.

Free Stuff!

Yes, I know that Northerners (should that have a capital letter?) seem to have a reputation among the southern folk for taking anything that is free whether they need it or not, but this free stuff is really useful, for teachers and other people involved with education, that is. Yes, I do like the fact that it is free and no I would probably not order some of it if I had to pay for it, but isn't that true about many things? Are there not certain things in life which are free and which we take willingly, but would probably not pay for. Enough about that now.

Anyway, if you are a teacher or LSA or TA or Parent or someone interested in school / education stuff, then have a look at this site. You have to register and then you can (within reason) order what you like. Some things are restricted, but I have been able to order most things I needed to. Just thought I would share my find with you.

By the way, I have also put a link to this on the right hand side under "Teacher's Cupboard" so you can find it easily in future.

I got a job!!!!!

Yippee! I actually did it! I got a job!

Thanks to fantastic feedback from two job interviews I went to last week and this week, (and a lot of hard work from me, I might add!) I finally got offered a job at one of the best schools in the city! I'm really happy. I had a super day starting with lunch with the children at 11.45, interview at 2pm and then story at 2.45. I didn't want to do any ordinary story, so we did a "rap" version of The Little Red Hen with the children using body percussion to provide the pulse to the rap. When I left, the children said they hoped I would be their new teacher. Aww!

Overload

Aaargh...two interviews this week...have I said something on application I won't be able to live up to?...am I really as good as I have told them I am?...I can't speak much French any more, what if one of them is a specialist?...don't know what lesson to teach...something on problem solving...I have no ideas...have done no supply yet this term...will I be out of practice?...got to practice answering interview questions...what year group was one of them for? HELP! Can't remember...Little Z's birthday next weekend...who is coming to party?...must chase replies to invitations...need to buy a cake...when will I get time to do that?...visitors coming next weekend...house a pigsty...no time to clean...less time to tidy...what about shopping?...Ballet wednesday...she can't miss as she has an exam coming up...extra ballet lesson Thursday to practice for exam...needs to take a CD for the music...she needs to practice at home too...she needs a hair net and some more hair grips and some hairspray...has Little Z done her homework yet?...Must remind her on Monday to ask her teacher for the other homework sheet as she only brought half of it home...what shall I do first?...so many things to do...is there time to write a post for my blog?... no!

Big Mistake...

Little Z was sitting in the living room reading her school reading book, Big J was sitting at the table finish the breakfast left over in the bowl from the morning and I was minding my own business in the kitchen. It was quiet. Actually, when I think back, it was probably too quiet.

Big J then appeared at the kitchen door with an "I'm going to have fun watching you get cross" expression on his face, showing me his hands which were covered with white stuff. Several times I asked him what it was, but all he did was smile and say "I put that all over my hands." What was it? Then the truth dawned as I looked across at where he had been sitting to see a Tipex bottle on its side in the middle of a white puddle. As I got closer, I realised the full extent of the damage: White splodges up the wall, white streaks up the glass of the patio doors, white patches on the dining room chair he'd been sitting on and a breakfast bowl (with no breakfast in) swilling with Tipex. Apart from that smell, which will probably bring me back to that moment every time I smell it in future, I really did not know where to start with clearing up the mess or how to start with discussing with him what he had done. I usually insist that the children clear up their own mess, especially where they have made it deliberately, but the Tipex had started to dry and just would not come off with normal detergent.

After much perseverance, we managed to clean it off the table and windows. The wall will have to wait until we decorate again. The bowl went in the bin. The boy spent the evening pealing the tipex off his fingers like PVA glue. Two days later, I am still finding Tipex in unusual places and am now being very careful when completing applications as I have no way off correcting mistakes.

So, at the end of it all, what have I learned? Well, I'm not sure. This morning I intercepted a 'hairspray incident'. Maybe I have learned not to let him out of my sight!

Thinking of having children? Are you sure?

Rock-a-Bye

Having always enjoyed a good sing song with my children, I was really pleased when watching Teachers TV a few evenings ago to hear that children from "musically alive" homes grow up singing and responding to music more freely than children from families where singing and music is not regularly shared. I thought it was quite common for parents to sing with and to their children and assumed it was only the children many of us like to classify as "disadvantaged" whose parents do not. But, after asking a few of my friends (not the disadvantaged ones, of course!) whether they sing with their children and make up songs as I do with Little Z and Big J, they all said they don't. I felt quite pleased with myself.

So, I guess it is no wonder then, that yesterday after singing a couple of songs with Big J (ones he knows from nursery) I started singing wind the bobbin up, he does not join in, but instead bursts loudly into, "TF TF CH, TF TF CH" (come on, use your imagination, I am doing my best phonics effort here!) "We will, we will rock you!" He has been singing a few well known Queen songs for a while now and although I think it is quite sweet, I always thought that most children must do the same and that it isn't really anything that special. Now, I am not too sure how common it is. Actually, I don't care too much either.

I now take him to Mini Maestros conveniently run by a friend of mine. It not only gives me an opportunity to spend some time with Big J and therefore not feel so guilty about putting him into day nursery all week, but has also let me see him in a different way. I expected him to be very outgoing and loud, singing and playing instruments confidently. However, he was much more reserved and hardly joined in at all the first week. I'm really glad he has a quieter and calmer side to his personality. This will certainly be useful when he starts school next September.


Interesting song fact:
Did you know that the Grandfather Clock got its name from the song "Grandfather's Clock"? If you are as sad as me and want to know the words to that song (unless you are even sadder and can remember them all!) you can find them here. (Which is also where I found out that interesting fact) There are more verses than I remember, must have day dreamed a lot in music!

Too quick to judge?

Okay, I thought it was only fair, having spoken to Little Z's teacher after school today about something which was bothering Little Z, that I should now update my blog to say that actually I found her very friendly and helpful. Maybe she was having an off day the last time I spoke to her (although I have noticed the "attitude" on more than one occasion). My previous remarks were not unjustified, but I must speak as I find, and today I found her to be very pleasant.

Teachers on teachers...

Do teachers always think they can teacher better than their own children's teachers?

What about non-teacher parents? Do they also think they could do a better job?

Lots of the children in Little Z's year have parents who are teachers. Many are experienced teachers who have been in the profession for a long time. So, what do we think of Little Z's teacher?

Well, to be fair, I cannot pretend to have polled them all, but many of us feel that although we have no complaints about her actual teaching, her manner is abrupt and she is not at all approachable. I don't like the way she talks to the children or the adults, which worries me, as Little Z needs a teacher who she can give a hug to when she feels a bit insecure. This teacher is about as huggable as a lamp post!

Harsh? yes, I suppose so, but I have not told you the name of the school or the teacher's name.

It would be interesting to consider this again at the end of the year to see whether my opinion has changed. Let's call it a formative assessment!

Will I share the results of this assessment with her? No, but I will have a few questions when I get to speak to her at "Meet the Teacher" evening.

I know teaching ability is obviously important and the fact that she is doing loads of good stuff with the kids and has a fresh & modern approach, as opposed to some of the older, set-in-their-ways teachers Little Z has had previously, is a really positive thing, but personality is so important and being able to respond to children's social needs as well as their academic ones is crucial. Oh dear, I feel like I am writing my personal statement all over again!

When is parents' evening? Get the Prozac ready!

A week in the life of....

Do I have too much time on my hands?

Mon 3 Sept
Took Little Z to INTECH, the Science Centre, for the last day of her summer holiday. INTECH was a lot of fun for both Little Z & I and highly recommended. Science has never been my strong point and having forgotten a lot of what I learnt at school but still being expected to teach it to children, it was really good to be able to have the opportunity to experiment with all the interactive exhibits.

Tue 4 Sept
Little Z started Junior school. On the same site as her infant school, but nevertheless a different school and still slightly daunting for her. She got on well and her new teacher seems very pleasant. I am pleased to hear the class do not come in on monday morning to sit down and write in their weekend diary, but do thinking skills exercises and that the teacher regularly does "brain gym" type exercises with them.

Most of my close friends know what I did on Tuesday and have advised me strongly against doing this again. (Nothing sordid, just don't want to upset anyone by posting about the details.) I decided I have enough friends and so does my son!

Wed 5 Sept
Took Big J to Southsea's Blue Reef Aquarium. Big J walked for over 3 miles to and from the Aquarium to where we parked, which is not bad at all for a 3 year old. During the walk as Big J showed my how to crawl along the promenade like a wolf, I understood how he is going through a pair of trainers every 3 weeks. The aquarium was good, but quite a lot of money for the amount of time it took to get around. Big J liked the sharks best of all and has not stopped talking about sharks ever since. I confirmed what I already knew, which was that Portsmouth is a rip off tourist city. Each time I have been there, I have been intentionally short changed or overcharged by someone in the tourist trade. Next time I will go to Bournemouth instead where the tourist traders are more honest.

Thu 6 Sept
Went to a friends for lunch. That sounds like she made me lunch. In fact, I went to her house and made lunch for both of us while she did some DIY work which she should have been doing while we had been chatting for over an hour on the phone earlier.

Visited some friends in the evening and the weather was so lovely we sat in the garden. They have a lovely garden. Big J liked it so much he watered the flowers, which we only found out when he emerged from the other end of the garden pulling up his pants and saying "I've done a wee!" I am so proud.

Fri 7 Sept
Went to another friends with some exercise equipment she wanted to borrow. Didn't intend to stop for lunch, but did. Didn't have to make the lunch myself.

Seany went on his holiday. Well, at least it should keep my mum out of the pub!

Mr Motivator

No, Not that awful guy who made me turn the TV off every morning, I am referring to Ralph Marston. Never heard of him? Well, depending on where you are reading from, I am not completely surprised.

A few years ago, during my own "difficult" time in my life and hopefully the most difficult, I looked everywhere in desperation for help out of the deep dark smelly pit I had fallen in to. I have posted about this time in my life before and am not about to start whinging about how hard life is and how I have had it harder than anyone else, but I want to share with anyone who is interested, something I found back then and which helped me through.

On my search for help, I found a website by Ralph Marston called The Daily Motivator. Have a look for yourself. (I have also put the link in "The Quiet Area") There are several presentations to make you stop and reflect, to encourage you to be positive and to help you through difficult times.

This morning, while sorting through some papers, I found some of the little motivational cards I had printed from his site, which had been helpful to me back then and it made me wonder whether the site still existed. It does (obviously). Although I was not visiting the site in a desperate search for help this time, I read todays "motivator" and have printed it (with permission of course) because it is very relevant to my current "battle" to eat healthily and lose weight.

I am 3 weeks in to my plan, which has got to be a record, but with a bit (okay a lot) of help from "Gael Lindenfield", I feel like I am going to stick at it this time. I have only lost 2 pounds though in 3 weeks and although I am staying focussed on my goal, I cannot help feeling a bit disappointed and demotivated. Reading the Daily Motivator reminded me that although some of my efforts will not bring results, I will benefit from them. Good point. Even though I am not losing weight, I must be healthier for eating more healthily and getting more exercise.

Thanks, Ralph!

Room

Many months ago, I blogged about how Big J had taken to sleeping on the floor of his bedroom so we had taken his bed out of his room and put a mattress down for him to sleep on. I think he quite liked sleeping on the mattress on the floor and it certainly made it easier when we went camping as he was already used to it!

While attempting to clear out the garage, I came across Big J's bed and thought maybe it was about time he stop sleeping on the floor.

We assembled the bed. It wouldn't fit! The bed he used to sleep in was a child's bed. This was a full size one and just an inch too long for the space we wanted it to go into. Bum!

We had already broken the already flimsy wardrobe by moving it. Now we had to move it again. Larry was getting frustrated to say the least with my constant flow of suggestions as to how to solve the problem and it was getting closer to Big J's bedtime. It was looking increasingly like Big J was going to be sleeping on the floor again.

Finally, we managed to find a place for the bed, the wardrobe and the toy box leaving just about enough room to swing a goldfish.

Tuesday saw a necessary trip to The Range (Hardware etc. store) to buy some storage boxes to go under his bed. These replaced the toy box which is now going to take the bed's place in the garage (I'm sure there is some kind of logic here?! Please let me know if you spot it!) We also found a cute pop up storage panda, which we filled with all his soft toys. At last we could see some floor space.



This morning, after hearing some banging from Big J's room, I anxiously called to him to ask what he was doing. "I'm Hiding in my polar bear!". So much for buying a cute storage solution. He thought it was a tent! No sooner do I put the toys into the panda, than he has taken them all out again so that he can climb into it.



And the floor space has gone again! Oh well, easy come, easy go!

Harry Potter

Larry and I practically gave up spending time alone together when we had Little Z and then made things worse by having Big J. We have no social life and couldn't afford one even if we wanted one.

As the summer holidays are here (and almost gone again!)and I have lots of teacher friends now with nothing to do (hee hee!), I decided to talk one of them into looking after Little Z for a few hours (would I find one crazy enough?) so Larry & I could go to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It didn't take long. My friend Sarah, probably the busiest of all my teacher friends, who is trying to sell her house, buy another house and do several other things besides, agreed to look after Little Z (did she know what she was agreeing to?). So, while Big J was still at nursery and Little Z was playing with Sarah's rabbit, Toby, and making cakes etc. Larry & I went to the Odeon at Leisureworld.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been out for quite some time now, so we were in one of the smaller auditoria, but we did not expect it to be full so thought we were likely to be able to sit where we wanted and have room to move our arms. It seems many others had the same idea. It was full. We did have a choice of seats, but it was limited. The seats were quite comfortable, though and if it was not for the teenage couple sitting next to us who evidently thought they were in a café and it was okay to talk (not even about the film for goodness sake!!!) in normal voices throughout the film, we would have really enjoyed it.

The film was good. As a fan of Harry Potter, I would not say it was brilliant, but I liked it. I think it was fairly true to the book, although I don't think the scene with Sirius in the Department of Mysteries was as big and exciting as it could have been. Somehow it didn't quite meet my expectations. Parts of the story which I thought were important had been omitted or changed, which disappointed me. I think if you have not read the books you will enjoy the film more than if you have read them. Either way, I would still recommend going to see it if you haven't already.

Expecto Patronum.....


What would your Patronus be? Find out here.

Be prepared though. Apparently mine would be an Amoeba! How glamorous!

What will he do next?

It is difficult in todays world to shelter our children and protect them from things we don't want them to know about, at least yet. We try our best to teach them about the dangers and to teach them right from wrong. It is different from when I was a child. Children have access to so much and seem to know about things they are not ready to know about. I find that even if I stop Little Z watching something on TV or on a DVD that I don't think is suitable, there will be someone at school happy to tell her all about it. I am glad however, that I can rely on the adult members of my family not to teach my children to do stupid things like run into the sea, for (randomly chosen) example...



Or can I?

Thanks, Seany! It might have been a long time ago, but he remembered! :o)

Having said that, we did have a great afternoon.

On Saturday Little Z, Big J and I discovered Holly Hill Woodland Park and liked it so much, we went back with Larry today. We were all fairly muddy by the time we got back to the car, so will shortly be investing in some walking boots for Larry and myself. Little Z's wellies kept her feet dry. Big J's wellies, although okay for large puddles, didn't really meet his needs today.

Berry Nice!

I have not been Blackberry Picking (or Brambling as we used to call it when I was little) since I was about 13 years old. "That can't be very long ago", I hear you say, but you would be surprised. It is quite a few years ago now. Anyway, enough about me feeling self conscious about my age, after cycling at the sports centre, Little Z and I walked home with our bikes (she is not ready for the roads yet, despite her insisting she is!) and spotted some brambles near our home.

We took a tub each and went out to pick some. I was amazed at how many more I seemed to pick than Little Z. In fact, I could swear that at times, the number of blackberries in her tub were decreasing rather than increasing!

Once we had picked all the ripe ones we could reach, filling my tub and strangely leaving Little Z with about 15 in hers, we had a healthy and free dessert for after dinner. Healthy is one thing, but free is even better. I shall be going back again this week and hope no one else gets there first!

I want to ride my bicycle....

At last, we have ditched Little Z's stabilisers for her bike (we will keep them of course as they were a present from Uncle Seanie!).

Last weekend we took Little Z out to Wilverley in the New Forest to ride her bike. She was so good at riding with stabilisers and had at last plucked up the courage to ride much faster than she used to, that we thought she was ready to ride without stabilisers. We took one of them off, but found that she was relying on that one to keep her upright while she started off with both feet on the pedals. The only way to get her riding properly was to take them both off.

We had tears and tantrums and kicking the bike (and that was just Larry! It's not easy teaching a stroppy seven year old to ride her bike!), but finally, lots of shouting, screaming and stropping later she was riding, albeit wobbly, without us holding on to her bike. Yippee!!

So, all we had to do now was to get her a bit of practice so she could start off by herself and ride around more confidently. But that would be easy, surely?!

I took Little Z out to the sports centre today to have another go. We had more tears and tantrums and kicking the bike, but finally, lots of shouting, screaming and stropping later she was pushing off by herself and riding, much more confidently. After shouting at me over and over again, "I want to go home. I don't want to ride my bike. I can't do it!", and me shouting back that we would not be going home until she could *£$% well do it, it was impossible to remove her from the sports centre where she took pleasure in showing me how fast she could ride and how close she could get to running over me while I was sitting on the grass!

Now, she wants a new bike, one with gears!

Happy Campers!

We have just got back from our first proper holiday in the campervan. We have never been away for more than 2 nights in the van before, but decided it was time to do it properly. As members of The Caravan Club we get preferential rates at some sites and exclusive access to members only sites also at very good rates.

We started our holiday in Somerset visiting Larry's family as it was his mum's 60th birthday. It didn't cost us anything to camp there as we were on their drive! While we were there, we visited Minehead and Cleeve Abbey. From Somerset we went to Combe Martin, where we stayed at a commercial and rather expensive site. Combe Martin was nice, but nothing special, however, we did meet some lovely people on the campsite and there were loads of children for Little Z and Big J to play with. As newcomers to this campervanning game it was great to talk to people who had been doing it for quite a while as we picked up some helpful tips. We also quickly found out that it is almost impossible to eat your breakfast in peace and that if you want the other kids to go away from your door, you have to tell them straight!

The following day we headed for Woolacombe. On the way to Woolacombe we were driving through Ilfracombe and decided it looked so lovely that we wanted to park up and have a look around. After being given a ticket by someone who had paid to park all day but was now leaving and didn't want it to go to waste, we phoned a local farm campsite and booked in for the night. We spent the rest of the day on the unusual Tunnels Beach.

We spent the next day on the beach at Woolacombe where I got very sunburnt despite having put sun cream on. Big J spend most of the afternoon in the sea with Larry and Little Z stayed with me on the beach after attempting to go into the sea, getting scared and then wandering off by herself through the thousands of other people on the beach. I'm just glad I had "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" to take my mind off what could have happened had Larry not caught up with her in time.

Having passed through Lynton & Lynmouth on the way to Combe Martin, we wanted to stop there again on the way back so after spending the morning shopping in Ilfracombe (we hadn't had time to see the shops when we had been there the first time as we had spent all day on the beach) we spent the afternoon in Lynton & Lynmouth including taking a ride on the cliff railway before travelling back to Somerset to see Larry's family again. We stayed two more nights on their drive before driving home to Southampton.

Glad to be back? Well, yes, I suppose so, but Larry & I are thoroughly hooked on campervanning now and I don't think it will be long at all before we go away again!

Did I finish Harry Potter? Yes, I did. Did J.K.Rowling finish Harry Potter? You will have to read the book to find out or cheat as "some" people have suggested!

The Walking Week!

Little Z and I have been very healthy this week:

On Monday we walked about 3 miles from near to Little Z's school (where we parked our car after dropping Big J off at Nursery) to Shirley Library and back.

On Tuesday, as the weather was supposed to be the best we have had for a long time, we drove to Bournemouth and walked 1.5 miles along the seafront from Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe Pier. We then got the train back as it was too hot to walk, stopped in a cafe for a healthy lunch and then went to the beach!

On Wednesday, we walked about 4.5 miles from home to Shirley and back.

Having read Seany's post on his trip to "the pictures", I decided it was about time I went to the cinema too, so on Thursday, feeling tired and not wanting to walk anywhere, I surprised Little Z by taking her to the Odean Cinema at Leisure World to see Shrek the Third. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. I really wanted to go to see Harry Potter, but although I know some poeple have taken their children to see it, I know Little Z would be frightened by it and would either want to leave part the way through the film, would hide her eyes for the whole thing or would not sleep for weeks! I will probably wait for that to come out on DVD unless I can get a babysitter so Larry and I can go together to watch it.

Today we are preparing for our trip to Bridgwater in Somerset to see Larry's family. His mum turns 60 on Saturday so we are all getting together to make it a special birthday for her. I am not looking forward to it very much as lots of family invariably means lots of bickering and petty arguments and lots of diapproving looks about the way people choose to live their lives.

After that the plan is to take the campervan off to North Devon for a few nights. Not sure where we are going to stay yet, but I am looking forward to the four of us spending some good quality family time together.

We will enjoy ourselves no matter what the weather does!

Snow Way!

My children never fail to surprise me with their innovation. They can be so creative when it comes to play and I love to listen to them making up their own games. This morning they were playing so nicely together that I decided to relax on the sofa for a while as I have been out for 2 nights running now, which I never do, so I was exhausted.

The children played in the conservatory and I asked them to close the sliding patio door to the conservatory as Little Z has a very loud voice. I left them to play. Alarm bells only started ringing when I saw Big J walk past the conservatory door with an empty bean bag cover.

They had created their own winter wonderland. They enjoyed shovelling it into buckets and pouring it into other toys and onto the furniture. They had "snow" fights and made snow angels. They had a lot of fun until I asked them how they were planning to clean it all up.



Now, here's a funny thing, you know, I am not sure they actually had planned to clean up. When I asked Little Z what she was thinking when she tipped all the beans out of the beanbag and who she thought would clean it all up, she said she thought dad would do it. Actually she was half right. After working a night shift and a day shift with no break in between, Larry came home and insisted, despite my protests, on clearing up all the mess. I helped. The children didn't help. The children now have to pay the consequences, which for Little Z means helping to tidy our bedroom (her own decision) which needs a good sort out. Big J is more difficult as it has to be something he understands. I think Big J will have no DVDs for today as we will not have time to put them on for him, being so busy tidying up.

I hope that is the last snow we will see until winter!

Strut Your Stuff for Charity

At the end of last week, a friend of mine invited me to a charity shop fashion show she had organised at her church in aid of Naomi House. Anyone who knows me knows that I hardly ever go out socially and usually stay at home with the family. However, I thought it sounded like fun and decided to go. Little Z said she would like to model something on the catwalk, so we went shopping. I was very impressed with what I managed to buy:



The first outfit she wore was a French Designer Dress (actually, I don't know if it was designer, but it makes it sound better!) It cost £1.49.

The pink trousers were originally from H&M and the top originally from Next. I bought them for £99p and £1.99. So the whole lot came to less than £5.

Little Z enjoyed herself on the catwalk, she got her feet massaged by another of our friends who is a qualified reflexologist and she also managed to win £5 for being voted "Most Fashionable"!

We all had fun and most importantly my friend raised a lot of money for charity!

Leaving School

This week has been very busy, although I have not done any supply at all.

Little Z has left infant school and will be going into Year 3 in September, so I bought cards and gifts for her teacher and LSA. I did not buy a gift for her headteacher, (I refer you to an earlier post!). Buying gifts for teachers, especially as Little Z's teacher is retiring, is difficult. I try to find something which they will not just put onto the car boot sale the following weekend, yet do not want to spend a lot of money. I am afraid I decided to buy chocs for the LSA and found a lovely gift book for the teacher. Little Z also painted them a mug each and put a message on the bottom. I think they liked the gifts, although you can never tell, as they are hardly likely to say, "I am afraid you can take these gifts back, because I just don't like them. What were you thinking?"

Now we have six weeks ahead of us with no getting up early to take Little Z to school. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with her while Big J is at nursery.

And relax...

It's a Dance

I would just like to say, to Little Z.

Larry & I went to see her perform in the Highfield School of Dance Summer Show at Cantell School on Sunday and we thoroughly enjoyed it. She was a field mouse in the story of "Snow White and the Eleven Dwarves.

Although we have to pay out a lot of money for extra rehearsals, costume hire etc., it is worth it when we see the enjoyment she gets out of performing. I admire the way she dances on the stage in front of hundreds of people without any sign of being nervous.

I am now saving for the next show!

A Bad Day continued...

I thought the day had been fairly bad so far, having spent most of it sorting out the PayPal transaction I had not made and getting the bank to do some giving rather than their usual taking! I can't say it got worse, but it didn't get better.

Little Z had had a dressing up day at school. They were having a garden party and had been asked to dress up as "anything to do with the garden". Little Z had gone as a garden gnome. She was very happy as we collected her from school and was excited as her best friend, Little M, was coming to play at our house and stay for tea. They had fun playing dressing-up and painting mugs and after dinner the girls and Big J went out into the garden to play on the swing, slide and trampoline. As we have bark down instead of grass in the garden, it didn't matter that the weather had been wet, because they weren't going to get muddy.

What I didn't know is that we'd had a recent visit (probably several) to our garden by a fox or a cat (probably both) leaving deposits of something which could not be seen because it was all the same colour as the bark. So, in addition to having it stuck to the bottom of my shoes and the children's shoes, the children had managed to get it on their clothes (including little Z's white dressing gown!) as they slid down the slide onto the bark and had also brought it all through the ground floor of the house, across the road play rug (sorry Seany, again!) into the hallway, up the stairs, across the landing and into the bathroom! Lovely. The smell was disgusting and it took all evening to clean it up. The most difficult thing was not so much the cleaning as stopping the children walking through it and spreading it further! Again, I suppose I can consider myself lucky that we don't have carpets in any of those places. Lucky me!

A Bad Day...

The last Friday 13th I wrote a post on a crazy superstition I had read about on the internet. Although I still have no time for such silly superstitions, after my Friday 13th experience yesterday, I am beginning to wonder whether there is something unlucky about that day.

After taking Little Z to school (dressed as a gnome - that's another story!) and Big J to nursery, I dropped off a birthday present at a friend's house and came straight home. The first thing I usually do when I get home (when I am not working) is check my emails. My email box is often full of junk sent by people who think am I interested in increasing the size of my manhood(?) or that I am desperate for a cheap supply of viagra(??).

However, the email which caught my attention was the one from PayPal telling me that my payment of $220 had been made for some photography equipment. Nothing unusual about that, I suppose, apart from the fact that I have not bought any photographic equipment and had not authorised a payment through PayPal.

I then noticed another email from PayPal telling me that the seller had issued me with a full refund. That's okay then. I guess I could consider myself lucky that I was getting the money back. Couldn't I?

The problem though, is that debits go out almost immediately, whereas refunds take several days, so the money is going to debit my account on Monday and the refund is unlikely to reach my account until Wednesday, which would not be a problem if the account had fund in or an overdraft facility, but, as it is not my main account, it has neither. So, I called the bank and spoke to seven different people who between the told me that because this was not my main account and it has no turnover they were not prepared to arrange a temporary overdraft facility for £40 (which was all I needed) for 2 weeks. They also told me they could not stop the payment going out as it had been authorised already, they told me they would not waive the unauthorised excess fee and that PayPal needed to contact them to stop the payment going through.

I had already phoned PayPal who had been very helpful and given me immediate instruction on how to flag the unauthorised transaction to them and how to change my passwords and what precautionary measures to take etc.. They had said that the banks would usually waive any fee once they knew it was unauthorised. They had asked me to contact the bank to let them know PayPal were investigating it and said they would get back to me within a few days.

So, after being passed around at the bank and explaining my situation to seven different people and explaining that PayPal were not going to stop the transaction as they needed to investigate it first and by the time they had done that the money would have come out already and in addition to this, the money was already on its way back because the person who had received the money had realised it was not his and had refunded it (breathe!), I got through to someone who actually listened to what I was saying and agreed that under the circumstances I would not have to pay an unauthorised overdraft fee unless I made another withdrawal which took me overdrawn. Finally!

I completed all the necessary online forms for PayPal and changed my passwords etc. so having spent all morning sorting this out, I then spent most of the afternoon downloading anti-spyware software and running deep scans on my computer. There was nothing there, but I am now quite confident that I have even better protection against anyone trying to obtain my personal details.

Oh Well. All's well that ends well! Or is it???.....

You will answer my questions...

I thought The Doctor might have come to save me. He didn't. I sat there in the Deputy Head's Office at a table with the Deputy Head and the Headteacher being interrogated, thinking that at any moment they were going to unzip their foreheads and reveal themselves as members of the slitheen family. They started by telling me they were looking for someone quite specific (yes, schools usually are!?) but that they did not know exactly which year group they wanted to employ someone for or in fact what the role was going to be yet. Then the ordeal began. When they started asking questions, such as "Tell us about your teaching philosophy" and "How would you ensure the children were making progress?" I said I was sorry but that I had not prepared to be interviewed. They apologised, slightly, but said they needed to see someone and talk to them as they would know who they wanted from seeing the person rather than reading what that person puts on their application. They asked difficult questions for which I had, funnily enough, not prepared answers. I feel I did quite well, but I don't think it really matters. I did not go to the school with a good impression and I have left with my suspicion having been confirmed. Witnesses would probably report having seen me running from the scene. Sorry, I shall not name the school, but I am satisfied that a few of you know which one I am talking about. I am so right to be picky about the schools I apply to, even if it has left me with no job for September!

Who the cook are they?

After watching Most Haunted Midsummer Murders last night I didn't fancy going to bed straight away as I would lay awake looking at the shadows and listening to every creak the house made, so I did a bit of tidying up and Larry turned over to "Big Brother's Big Mouth" guest hosted by Dan Wright and Stephen Marsh. I'd never seen them before, but thought they were quite funny and were doing a good job of hosting the show. A few minutes after turning over, Larry said, "Hey, it's Big Cook Little Cook!" I didn't think it was them. Okay, Little Cook Small has a ginger mullet-style haircut as does Dan Wright, but Dan Wright is quite tall and Little Cook Small is, as his name suggests, only about 3 inches tall! It couldn't possibly be him. Also, Big Cook Ben, although having a similar northern accent to Stephen Marsh, wears bright coloured clothes. I was convinced it was not them, especially as they were both swearing lots and making comments of a sexual nature and I know Big Cook & Little Cook would not use that kind of language.



How wrong I was! How shocked I was! It turns out that Little Cook Small is not really 3 inches tall, that it is just a camera trick and that really he is taller than Big Cook. Having done a bit of research on the internet and found their showreel it also turns out that there are more things we would not want our children to know about their favourite TV cooks. I Don't know what to believe any more. It's got me thinking that maybe Bungle wasn't a real bear after all!

Reports

The advantage of not having my own class at this time of year is that I haven't had to spend the last month staying up all night writing reports. I do however get to read Little Z's school report and feel I can now appreciate how much work the teacher has put into putting it together, albeit cutting & pasting from last year's year 2 reports!

I was very happy with Little Z's report. She has worked very hard this year and has made really good progress. At the end of year 2 she has come out with level 2A in reading, 2B in writing, 2C in maths and level 2 in science. I cannot ask for more than that.

Just to explain a bit about the levels for the non-teachers who read my blog, Reading, writing & maths grades are assessed by the teacher using statutory tests towards the end of year 2. Level 2 is divided into three sublevels for reading, writing and maths 2C, 2B and 2A with Level 2B being the nationally expected standard for most 7 year olds. Level 2 in speaking & listening and science is the nationally expected standard for most 7 year olds.

So, I am more than pleased that little Z is where she should be at the end of year 2. Although I know it doesn't really matter at the age of 7 what grades she gets, I was concerned that if she went to Junior school as one of the lower achieving children, she would be pigeon holed as such and may not have the opportunity to achieve her full potential.

I can imagine for some parents it must be a nerve wracking moment reading their child's school report. However, I always enjoy reading the teachers comments. She said that Little Z is a "delightful girl who has worked hard this year and made steady progress.She is a happy and sensitive girl who enjoys the company of her friends. She is often laughing, skipping around and having fun. She is polite and well behaved and is always willing to help others. She has been a very responsible "playground friend".

I am very proud of her and wonder what Big J's first school report will be like? hmm! I don't really want to think about that yet!

Nothing much...

I've had quite an uneventfull week:

I have had two and a half days' supply at three different schools, one of which I have never been to before and would definitely go back to. It is coming towards the end of term now, and having spent quite a lot of time at St Mary's Primary Foundation Stage, I am quite sad to be saying goodbye to them all for the summer as some of them will not be there in September.

It is looking increasingly like I will not have a job to start in September. As I have posted previously, I have applied for jobs, some of which I have had interviews for and some not. Many schools have not even bothered to write to say "sorry, we have not shortlisted you for interview, but thank you for applying." Considering the applications take hours of work as each one has to include a 2 page tailored personal statement, it is very frustrating to have put in so much work to receive no reply at all.

I feel disappointed, to say the least, that I have not got my own class for September (again!), but I just keep telling myself, I am doing the right thing by being choosy about which schools to apply to and not just applying to work anywhere. I am also a bit frustrated, because many of my friends who I trained with last year, are now completing their NQT year. Some have not enjoyed their year, jhowever, and some have dropped out, so I am sure I am doing the right thing by holding out for the school which suits me.

Plan to take the kids swimming this weekend. The rain has stopped (it seems?!) so may have to go to the pool for a swim!

Hope you have all had a good week.

Wet Playtime

Saturday mornings are always quite hectic. Although, I don't have to go to work, Little Z has no school and Big J has no nursery, Larry (previously known as PP) does go to work which leaves me to entertain the children by myself, which is easier said than done, especially on a rainy day like today. After realising that having a quiet morning at home always ends in tears (usually mine), shouting and frustration all round, I decided a few months ago to take the children out every Saturday morning. It worked. Saturday mornings are now great, unless we decide we are all a bit tired and don't fancy going out, in which case all is fine until about 11am and then Big J starts to get restless and goes into mischief mode and Little Z, not knowing what else to do, follows!

Our usual Saturday activity is swimming, but if we don't get there early enough, the pool gets too busy and Little Z is still trying to build her confidence in the water, which is difficult with lots of people splashing around her. Today we were not in the mood to rush, but knowing that my sanity was at risk if we stayed in the house, I tried to think of something else we could do. As the weather was so wet and had been for days, it was not easy to think of something to do which wouldn't cost too much.

I chose Serendipity Sam's Play & Party Centre. Big J has not been there to play before. Last time we went was for Little Z's 5th birthday party and Big J was still a cute little (actually, quite big) baby in a pram! Why have I not thought of this before? Before I had finished paying, Z & J were already in the giant cage-like structure (a cage for children - great idea!) which has 3 or 4 levels of slides, soft play things, ball pits etc... I found myself a comfy seat on a sofa and sat. I sat and relaxed and sat and looked around and sat and relaxed more. I was not the only one. Many parents had brought their children, sent them off to play and then settled down to read a book or newspaper and drink tea.

Before anyone rants about knowing where your children are etc. I did keep my eye on them and made sure I caught sight of them every 5 minutes or so, getting up every now and then to find Big J longingly watching other children on the money operated Thomas ride.

After 2 hours of running around, the children were tired out and I was relaxed. I think we will be visiting Serendipity Sam's more often.

What to do in an emergency...

Every now and then, one of my children does something which makes me so proud I want to cry. That has nothing to do with what I am about to recount, but is worth knowing...

Before getting his PJs on for bed, Big J always goes on the potty. He wears a nappy at night time still (not unusual for a child of his age) but still tries on the potty or toilet as it gets him into good habits for when he does finally sleep without a nappy.

After sitting on the potty for about 10 minutes reading his "My First Thousand Words" book, he stood up to announce he had done a snake! He always subjects to close scrutiny what he has created and assimilates it to something like a train or snake or mountain depending on the shape. Because he pays such close attention to it, imagine his horror (and mine) when he saw that, having stood up without everything having, shall we say, detached itself, part of his "creation" had fallen to the floor and landed on his road play rug (incidentally a birthday present from Uncle Seanie). "It's on the road", he exclaimed. Then, seeing that it was a serious situation which needed urgent attention, he reached for his toy fire engine and started to "drive" it towards the obstruction in the road. Luckily, we were able to intercept the fire engine, before it reached its intended destination. Phew!

Clear Expectations?

Okay, I know I should put it behind me and move on, but I can't rest until I can work out exactly what went wrong with my lesson at my interview on Friday.

Usually, the schools give you a guide as to what they want you to teach, but this time the school was quite specific. I had to teach a group of mixed ability year 1 children the learning objective "To investigate and learn how to spell verbs with -ed (past tense) and -ing (present tense) endings" for approximately 20 minutes.

My first thought was that this is too much to teach in 20 minutes, so after discussing it with a few teacher friends, I decided to focus on one of the spelling rules of adding -ed & -ing to verbs. As I planned my lesson, I was also aware that if this were my class, I don't think I would be teaching -ed & -ing together, but didn't really want to take more out of the lesson for fear of being told I had not really achieved the objective of the lesson.

In hindsight (stupid hindsight!) I was right. They said the lesson was a bit confusing and they didn't feel I moved the children on. I take responsibility for that, but it would have been helpful if they had made their expectations clear (surely one of the first rules of teaching?!). I assumed they were not expecting me to teach everything in 20 minutes, but I didn't know quite how much or how little they wanted me to do.

I would really appreciate any teachers' comments (Please don't write "See me!") on this. Am I right in thinking I should not have tried to teach -ed & ing together and that that is what confused the children? I tried to plan the lesson in line with the new CLLD guidelines which are apparently the latest thing to be occupying teachers' time. If you are interested, here is my plan. I'd be happy for anyone to give me their (constructive) opinion.

As always, I have learnt from this experience. The interview part went very well, which is, as I have mentioned, something I have struggled with in the recent past, so I am now much more confident in my ability to "articulate the wider aspects of the job" as one interviewer describes it, and I feel I can now talk the talk much better. Are my legs starting to give way though?

Le Meme Chose (The 'Meme' thing!)...

I sat down to look at my blog this morning after a busy week of supply teaching, personal statement writing, application completing, interview question prep, interview lesson planning, interview, dealing with little Z's nose bleeds (not, I hasten to add, caused by Big J) and a few mundane things. It's not unusual to have no comments on my blog, so It was nice to find that my reliable Big Bruv and my 'neglected by me but not forgotten' blog friend, Kerenza, had both left comments without me realising as I have not had chance to check my emails either this week!

I thought it was about time I visited Kerenza's blog and while looking through her recent posts found she had created herself a "Meme". Having no idea what this was, I decided to do a bit of finding out. On my search I found the daily meme which, if you also do not know what I am talking about (please, someone say you have never heard of it), gives a clear explanation of what a meme is. So, I thought I would have a go myself at Kerenza's Meme. It was harder than I thought, but here goes...



1. Dr Who - usually catch the repeats as well.

2. Torchwood - watching back episodes. Can't wait for new series.

3. Hotel Babylon - same as above.

4. Grey's Anatomy - Haven't seen this recently, but really would like to make time for it.

5. Teacher's TV Primary Zone- lets you into other peoples classroom to see how they teach. I love seeing expert teachers doing things I do - it makes me feel really good about my teaching.

6. Extras - Back episodes again (the wonders of technology!)Ricky Gervais really makes me laugh in a "How does he get away with it" sort of way.





1. How to talk so Kids will Listen, and Listen so kids will talk by Faber & Mazlish. (predictably my no.1)

2. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler. Not a week goes by when I don't share this with children in the classroom or read it at home with my own children.

3. Belonging by Jeannie Baker. She has done a range of lovely picture books for older readers. Really good for class discussions on a range of environmental issues. Really worth a look.

4. Pete My Story by Pete Bennett. Somehow I expected this book to be better than it is. Interesting reading about his childhood though.

5. How to Create and Develop a Thinking Classroom by Mike Fleetham

6. Waiting patiently for the new Harry Potter to be released. I shall confine myself to the cupboard under the stairs then read & read until I have finished!




1. Julie Andrews

2. Emma Thompson

3. Catherine Zeta-Jones

4. Gwyneth Paltrow

5. Juliet Stevenson

6. Catherine Tate - Foul mouthed and not at all glamorous, but she makes me laugh out loud and I need that sometimes.



1. David Tenant

2. Alan Rickman (yes, I know how old he is, buut he has the certain something)

3. Orlando Bloom

4. Johnny Depp (sexier as he gets older)

5. Colin Firth

6. Val Kilmer (Forever!)





1. Love Actually

2. Nanny McPhee

3. All the Harry Potter Films

4. Truly Madly Deeply

5. Sliding Doors

6. All the Aardman Animations Films - Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run etc.




1. Talk to my husband!

2. Go Canoeing

3. Learn to play the Guitar (I started, but didn't get far)

4. Learn Polish (Am learning slowly, but would like to have more time to do it)

5. Go to the gym (finances allowing)

6. Tidy the house (of course it's at the bottom - it's less fun than the others)




1. Peanut KitKat Chunky

2. Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons

3. Millionnaire's Caramel Slice

4. Thorntons champagne Truffles

5. Nesquik Chocolate Milkshake (Makes lovely smooth hot choc too!)

6. Thornton's Cranberry, Orange & nuts chocolate bar.

Job?

Interview? Yes.
Job? No.
Feedback? Not really.
Confused? Very.

Thank you Sarah & all my friends at St Mary's Primary Foundation Stage who helped me prep for the interview lesson and helped console me afterwards.

What has gone wrong?

In my job, I get to work with a wide range of children from a wide variety of backgrounds. I am at a school at the moment (yes, it's the one I am always going on about - hopefully I haven't named it in previous posts?!) where lots of the children come from deprived backgounds and although that is not an excuse for poor behaviour, it is often part of the cause of it.

So, What sort of weekend am I having then, when I would prefer to be there than at home? A weekend where my own children, who are definitely not deprived of anything, are just out of control and PP and I just don't know what to do next.

When doing my PGCE I read that "All teachers need to remember that however frustrating a pupil may be, he or she is somebody's precious child." This works, unless they are your "precious" children. Then what do you do?

So, What have we tried?

1. We have house rules:
- We do not hit
- We walk in the house
- We do not interrupt when someone is talking
- If we don't eat our dinner, we don't have dessert
- We do not shout
- We do not swear
- We tidy up after ourselves
- We speak to others how we like to be spoken to
- We are responsible for our own actions
- We respect each other
- We share things
- We use our manners
- We do not throw things
- We help each other

I know, it sounds a bit like the rules you get in a classroom, but they do work, or should I say, they did work. We have had these since before Big J was born and little Z helped to make them.

2. We have family meetings.
Every now and then, if everyone seems unhappy and things seem to have got out of hand, we have a family meeting. We all get a chance to talk about how they are feeling without being interrupted and we usually manage to get issues resolved. It makes us all more aware of how everyone else is feeling. Big J has always been too young to join in. Now he is three, he is old enough to join in, but won't sit down for long enough and doesn't really understand about not interrupting and respecting others' opinions.

3. We say how we feel.
We are open about our feelings and encourage the children to express their feelings too. This is harder than it sounds as it is sometimes really hard to remain calm when you are bubbling with anger inside, but part of expressing your feelings is about saying that you are bubbling up. The other side of this is accepting other peoples feelings and allowing them to express their feelings. This sounds like a load of touchy feely nonsense, but it's not. It does work!

4. We give them a choice.
The children are given responsibility for their actions. If they are not behaving how we expect them to, we give them a choice. They then take the consequences for their choice.

I am exhausted.
~ Big J hits us and blows raspberries when we say "no" to him.
~ He hits Little Z when she freaks out at him going near her.
~ Little Z whinges constantly about how hard done to she is.
~ She encourages Big J to do naughty things when we are trying to calm them both down for bed.
~ and the list goes on and on and on....

I look at other people's children, and I'm sure some of them are worse at home behind closed doors, but lots of them seem to be much better nehaved and easier to cope with than Z & J.

We don't smack them and we hardly ever shout, so what went wrong. What have we done to make our children behave like this?

I have run out of ideas.

Thanks for listening. Feel free to make suggestions...

Letter have it!

Little Z came home with her school newsletter today. I usually enjoy reading it as it tells me what events are coming up and what is going on in school. However, after reading the letter today, I was not impressed.

Having recently applied (yes, this again!) to little Z's school (no, I'm not naming the school as I want to be rude about it!) for a year 2 teaching post, I had received no letter or acknowledgement and so had to assume I had not been shortlisted for interview.

I didn't expect special treatment simply because I am a parent at the school (and wouldn't have got any even if I did!), but I don't think it would have hurt to have let me know, seeing as I am at the school every day and have given up quite a lot of my own time in the past to support the school. I felt I had been very professional.I had not told any of the other parents I was applying; I had not discussed what I had seen on my walk around with the head teacher and I had not mentioned to anyone that the vacancy was due to retirement of one of the year 2 teachers (although they could have found this out by looking on the LEA Website).

I had spoken to the office manager and asked if, instead of going to look around the school (which I was already very familiar with), I could make an appointment with the head or deputy to briefly discuss their expectations etc. I was promptly told that this would not be possible as the other candidates would not have the same opportunity and that it would not be fair.

Here comes the best bit: In the newsletter today, the head has announced the appointment of Mrs K who had worked as an LSA there and had left the school last year to do a Teacher Training Course. Well, I'm sure she was appointed in a way which did not give her an unfair advantage over the other candidates.

As far as I'm concerned they can stuff their job. If that's the way they work, I wouldn't want to work there anyway.

No. I still haven't. Don't even ask!

I recently had another interview back at the school who told me I could teach but couldn't talk about it. I really thought I had it this time, but although he said my interview was a lot better, I they said I was still not articulating the wider aspects of the teaching job. He did say, however, that they had not appointed anyone and told me to "watch this space!" Is he seriously expecting me top apply for a 3rd time? It took courage to phone them up to apply a 2nd time. No, I think I have to accept, I will not be working in that school. Not yet, anyway!

Two days after that interview I received a call from another school inviting me for an interview on the first day back after half term. AGAIN, I came very close to getting it and he couldn't really give me a real reason why I hadn't got it, except that they had to choose someone and they felt the other candidate had shown off her skills more.

It is really sole-destroying. I keep being told, these things happen for a reason, but that never helped in the past and it isn't helping now. Knowing that my perfect job is "just around the corner" is not very reassuring and it doesn't pay the bills.

On the positive side, I have to consider that I have now been observed by several different headteachers who have all said my lessons were very good. That has boosted my confidence and has given me the encouragement to keep applying for jobs.

The hunt continues...

If only...

A three year old boy from Southampton,
Just didn't care what toys he stamped on
he would spit, hit and kick,
and behaved like a (naughty boy),
and so now the front lawn's being camped on!

There was a young girl from the south,
who just could not control her mouth.
She thought it was funny,
to shout at her mummy,
and now also camps outside the house!

The Preparations

With Big J's birthday only 1 day away, I have a lot of work to do today as I am working tomorrow so won't be able to prepare anything during the day. As it rained all weekend, I also have lots of washing to do today.

* The balloons are inflated (although 1 has popped already - probably the first of many!)

* The cake has been taken to nursery (for him to celebrate with his little friends)

* We have bought another cake for home (after much discussion with Little Z who does not like plain sponge or jam and wanted to get a chocolate one instead of the Thomas the Tank Engine one for that reason, despite it not being her birthday and knowing that Big J would almost certainly prefer the Thomas one to a rather dull looking chocolate one!)

* We have bought the party food (which has filled our fridge to the brim and which we will probably take several days to eat, bearing in mind I am going to attempt to stay within the guidelines of Weightwatchers)

* I have filled a couple of party cups with "lucky bag" type Sweets & Treats, although Big J and Little Z are the only children coming to tea as Big J doesn't really have any friends apart from the children at nursery (I can't exactly invite 50 children to the house!) and the little girl in Little Z's class who we invited (as both Z and J get on really well with her) can't come as she is already going to another child's house for tea!

It does sound like I have done most of the preparation, but I still have to do another load of washing, clear the dining table so all the party food will fit, wrap the presents, write the card, iron my work clothes for the week, make sure Big J has clean ironed clothes for the week (I wouldn't normally bother too much but he is having photos taken this week and so need to make sure he looks presentable!) and get my supply teaching bag ready for the week.

So, if I have all that to do, what am I doing updating my blog?

Good point....

News & Opinion update !!

I haven't blogged for about 3 weeks, but it always seems to be that if you have time to blog, you don't have anything to blog about and if you have something to blog about, you are so busy doing it that you don't have time to blog about it (?? What a load of nonsense!?). So, I have tried to organise my post into some kind of order, although this is not what I am best at so it will no doubt stray from the point every now and then. Here goes...

Purchases:
The most exciting thing I (we) have done in the past 3 weeks is buying a campervan to replace the one we have already. The one we had (and still have actually) was about 27 years old and needs quite a bit of work doing on the body (don't we all?). We decided rather than keep ploughing money into the old one, we would look for a new one. It is, of course, not brand new, but it is considerably newer than the last one and in much better condition. We have not yet been off camping in it but intend to very soon having been (or about to be) given joint membership of the Caravan Club for our birthdays.





Opinions:
I don't often watch the news, which means I don't usually know what is going on (anyone who knows me does not need me to tell them this!) and so do not usually formulate an informed opinion about current events. Sometimes I happen to be in the room when Cartoon Network has not automatically taken control of my children and so am able to watch some grown up stuff. After watching the news, I pondered to myself, 'since when has it been acceptable to leave a 3 year old in their bedroom while I go out for a meal?' and 'does it make it okay to leave your children alone if they are locked in and if you are only a few hundred yards away?' and 'If I had spent thousands of pounds on IVF treatment, would I not take a little more care over where I left what I had paid for?' I know, you might say that doesn't necessarily make the child more precious, but I think, from experience, it means I would be more protective.

Complaints:
I received my Driving Licence back this week endorsed with 3 points. I was pleased to note that they had decided (for whatever reason) not to fine me. Under normal circumstances I would have been satisfied, however, the letter was dated 20th April and it had arrived on 10th May with a yellow sticker on the front telling me there was £1.24 to pay as Her Majesty's Courts Service had failed to put a stamp on it! I was lucky enough to have been let off the charge with PP working in the office, but decided to phone HMCS to complain anyway as they had sent an important document without paying postage, risking losing it altogether! They did apologise and offered to send me a stamp (how generous!). I accepted the apology but declined the offer of a stamp.

Work:
I have done a lot of work at an inner city primary school in their reception class. It has been chaotic but lots of fun. They even let me take Little Z on the trip to the farm as her school was closed for polling day (We are trying to raise standards and every child matters so lets close lots of schools for a day so we can use them for polling!) I have now been volounteered by a friend to do supply at her (scary!) school in year 5. I will be team teaching with a very experienced teacher, so should learn a lot, but am a bit scared as I generally turn down schools like this. I am looking at it as professional development and think I am actually going to enjoy the challenge.

Jobs:
No, I don't have one yet. Stop asking!
I applied for two jobs I really wanted and didn't even get interviews. Stupid schools. I am not going to take any old job though (or any for that matter if I doin't even get an interview!) I am sticking to my decision to be picky about where I apply to. I want to do my NQT year in the right school and with the right support.

Diet:
I am still doing weightwatchers. I have lost 10lb so far. It is hard but am trying my hardest to stay with it as I know it works.

Birthdays:

Big J will be 3 on Tuesday. My Birthday is the following Tuesday and then PP's birthday is the following Wednesday. Poor Little Z always feels a bit left out at this time of year and so we do our best to involve her in the celebration of Big J's birthday and to play down the adult birthdays as much as possible. We do notice her behaviour get considerably worse though at this time of year and have to try really hard not to make matters even worse by getting angry with her.

Well, I think that is about all for now. I am sure I will edit this a few times over the next few days as I remember other things that have happened over the last 3 weeks, but I don't suppose anyone will notice.

Bye Bye Campers!