Today is Thursday and it has already been an action packed day. First thing this morning I was on the field with CM Sports who are going to run our Sports Day on the 4th July. We are going to have a bit more competition this year so there will be winning teams. I know there are many arguments for and against this but we feel that it is another way that children learn to accept that we can’t always win and the answer will not always be yes. The spirit of the event will be that we will all take part, be proud of our achievements and the achievements of our friends. I honestly can’t wait but I do hope there isn’t a staff race because I am not sure where my trainers are. Actually it just jumped into my head that we used to wear pants and vest for PE in my day and no-one would want to see that.

After my foray onto the field I then did the rounds of the classrooms and looked at all the lovely learning that was going on. Nearly every child in Year R was outside enjoying the sunshine with the odd child inside doing their reading or writing. Nearly every child in Year 1 was busy with guided reading then doing a piece of writing based on the book Oliver’s Vegetables. Apparently on Monday a juicy carrot was pulled from the ground and Oliver had clearly had better luck growing his carrots than I have had. Nearly every child in Year 2 was also busy with guided reading and then they too were writing a piece based on the book The Egg. Everyone is clearly at the ‘big write’ stage at the moment!

Looking at the teacher’s planning it looks like the children still have maths and phonics to go before lunch in KS1 and then topic work in the afternoon. Gosh it’s all go isn’t it. Year R work in a different way of course but they too will be having phonics before lunch and then teacher led maths input after lunch. We will all be ready for a lovely holiday which is nearly here.

I imagine that Year R parents will be shocked that their children are nearly at the end of their first year at school. Similarly we are having lots of visitors clutching paper work ready for their children to start in September. It is so hard for parents in Fleet because every school has such good reputation and parents are spoiled for choice. Numbers of school age children has declined in recent years which has affected almost every school and school budgets are challenged. As a group of headteachers we will of course continue to work very hard to make sure every child in Fleet has a good experience at school. We do have spaces though so if you have any friends who are unsure of where to send their child to school tell them all about Tavistock. A few prospective parents have said that they didn’t know we were down here so I must try to parade up and down the High Street with my banner a bit more often.

In terms of another nearly, poor Mr Christie told me this morning that some of the children call him Mr O’Connor! He said in the nicest possible way that he nearly collapsed when they said that! I said that he was such a good role model for the children because he is the only man in school that he shouldn’t worry what the children call him! When I first became HT I dragged the real Mr O into school to take part in an assembly and he nearly cried! He didn’t have the best memories of school and he said he was scared of all the little faces looking at him. I think he was a bit scared of me too to be honest.  I am very kind though and only bring him to school out of hours now when something heavy or dirty needs doing. I do try to play to his strengths and he does make a good brew. I wonder if it is nearly time for me to wheel him out again?

Right, it’s nearly lunchtime and I am due to eat with Year R today because I like to share myself around. On a roast day it is always handy to have an extra pair of hands to wield the chainsaws to cut the roasties. Many of the children are quite happy to eat their potatoes like a lollipop stabbed on the end of their fork but I’m not keen on that. Afterall I am nearly old enough to remember when there were no such things as knives and forks so we need to use them so they don’t become extinct like the dinosaurs.