Soon, my son, shall come the rain...

So I'm sat in my kitchen, out at the washing, feeling sure my wife said something about washing and rain....  hang on a sec, it'll come to me....  nope, it's gone.  Never mind.

So dear blogbuddies, how goes it since last we blogstrutted?  We have made a sure and firm start to term 6, with the vast majority of the school taking up where they left off at the end of term 5 - hard work and high standards.  Books and displays continue to impress (and the governors have been into and around most of them already this term) and displays of our children are finding their way into the children's centre, and vice versa.  Ms Lacey's class even found the time to sneak down there last week to share stories, without even telling me! 

Therefore, what have we learned since the last intrepid meanderings of an inexperienced blogmasher?

Quite simply this - when in the right frame of mind, and with the right expectations from the grown ups, our children are quite amazing.

As for the small minority to whom this does not apply, watch out.

Short one this week folks, but next week I am hoping to bring you only the second ever blog-from-school-camp, which last year won some kind of Perrier writing award (or so I'm told - it'll have to go on the shelf behind my Little Chef Best Colouring 3rd Place certificate 1986 and my 2 Michelin stars).

So for now, from someone who looks as if he's about to get wet and in a whole heap of washing related domestic disconcord, that is all.

Five sixths down...

Greetings fellow travellers through the Blogosphere.

33 weeks done.  Five sixths gone.  10 / 11 months down (loosely counting).  Where has it gone?  What have we achieved?  What have we to show for our endeavours?

Well, plenty actually.  Except windows.  We've covered all of those with work.  It's darker than November by my desk at the minute.  However, to keep me company, I have a stash of work so huge it will cover several display boards, which it is going to do throughout term 6.  I also have loads of paper which doesn't want to go in any of the thousand folders I have accrued, but that is a job for tomorrow and an invention entitled bin.

So, what have we learnt since last our blogpaths crossed?

Year 1 and 2 do not like witches, but they do like Quinten Blake.  And Angelina Sprockett.  And Mr Magnolia.  And hedgehogs.  Pretty much everything except witches, if truth be told.

That year 4, despite the end of that particular topic, will not leave the bugs alone.  The bug hotel is currently busier than Fawlty Towers on a rainy jubilee holiday weekend.

Reception can write. And write. And write and write and write and write.  A lot.

Year 3 are slowly turning into legends, and a tall Welshman was quite rightly strutting around here with his RAG sheets on show like his leek on Dewi Sant.

Year 5, in their own utterly unique way, are extremely creative.

Nursery love a project.  So do the nursery children.

Finally, it is a universally acknowledged truth the country long and wide that year 6 do not like the time immediately after their SATs.  I can hear the sound of tearing even now as heads and year 6 teachers forcibly remove the hair from their heads.  Come on Year 6 - sort it out! You are better, more beautiful people than this.

(Or, scrub that and rewrite - Come on Government - sort it out! Let the children of this nation enjoy their final year of innocence, naivety, childhood without the ever looming presence of a false situation that means more to the adults than it does to them!  Who ever got refused a job because they didn't get a level 4 at the age of 11?)

Have a superb jubilee weekend and superb half term everyone.

From a tired but extremely proud and happy headteacher, that is all.

Two weeks in

When I said, at the height of the Indian Summer last September, "Please will you get me an umbrella?", my wife looked at me like I'd asked for an umbrella at the height of an indian summer.  Who's smiling now, in wet trousers and shoes, eh love?  Who's smiling now...

So, two weeks on and its business as usual: amazing work, incredible behaviour, and ambassadors who have made us proud to belong to Badock's Wood.  Year 4 science, year 1 and 2 hedgehog posters and reports, year 6 maths, year 3 letter writing, year 5 ...pretty much everything - it has all been really impressive.  We asked some people last week to turn their behaviour around - they have done it, in spades.  Year 1 and 2 had a trip to the zoo on Tuesday - without getting wet! - and were all apparently amazing.  To cap it all off, we have been joined by 4 new friends this week in years 2, 3 and 4, all of whom have proven to be, in the words of Mr Davies, "legends" (insert own Welsh accent).

And has this inclement weather dampened our enthusiasm?  Thwarted us in our endeavours?  Negated our joie de vive?  Rained on our parade.  Nay, and thrice Nay Mr Bumble.  We've just...got wet.  And got on with it.  Job, as they say, done.

In my last intrepid meanderings into Blogsville I spoke about the exciting new partnership with the Children's Centre, and the start of our joint work.  Well, we started.  My, did we ever get started.  We made a really exciting start to our project and what should be an enormous benefit to everyone.  Already, we have started to work more closely together for families and individuals.  Job, as they say, started well.

All joking aside, all I really wanted to say at this point was an enormous thank you to the 60 new colleagues who came together with such positivity and enthusiasm to embark on what promises to an exciting, ambitious journey.  And what a potential destination...

Keep dry and stay safe everyone.

That is all

If you were me, what would you say...?

Term 4 reaches its conclusion, the Easter egg hunts have been conquered by the vainglorious (or, year 5 scabbling around on the floor) and the sun shines on the righteous.... or Southmead, as we call it. What have we learned?

- When challenged so to do, year 6 know how to show off;
- That fairgrounds come in all shapes and sizes;
- That starting a topic off on the last day of the previous term works wonders;
- That discussion, open and honest, can bring about improvement for all.

The whole fairgrounds / pirates / giants thing went down a storm, and the school is all the more colourful for the efforts of the whole team. This unseasonable weather at the deep end of the term has allowed us all to take our learning outdoors, and my how we have enjoyed it. I would just sign off this part by saying "well done everyone" - I've seen the RAG sheets, and I'm well happy.

As George said to me this afternoon - " 'Ave a nice day tomorrow...when I'm having a lie - in!". Well, on many other occassions, the wind up would have hit the spot, and I'd have been forced to mess up the spikes on his hairdooooooooooooo. As it was, he couldn't been further from the wind-up-truth: I am really looking forward to tomorrow's inset, as it is the start of a new and exciting chapter in our history - we start our work with the Children's Centre!

Not only am I really looking forward to getting to know loads of new colleagues and friends, I am also enormously excited about what we can create. Just think of it. The potential, the possibilities, the projects, the outcomes. I think it can and will be amazing.

So, if you wer eme tomorrow morning, in front of a staff that has more than doubled, what would you say? What message would you give? What points would you put across? It is something I have been thinking about for weeks, and I am really looking forward to getting this fantastic project started.

So, as we think about what to wear tomorrow (after all, it is important girlfriend) and look forward to Mr V's BBQ, have a great start to what I hope will be a cracking Easter hols, and stay safe.

For now, with great excitement about what I have to say next, that is all.

Except for

All the best Vaise - take care xxx

Bears, giants, pirates and fairgrounds

A new smartphone app perhaps? Maybe the ingredients for a winning entry to Come Dine with Me? Or things it is unwise to sit on?

No. That's our term 4 curriculum.

Oh yes, it is. And what fun it has looked. The work around the school is so exciting, so colourful, so well presented, so crammed with learning, that I have been late for meetings, so engrossed have I been with reading things when I should have been on my way.

And these are still competing for display space with the dragons, puppets, bridges and meals we have on display from last term's learning. Can't be all bad surely? No, sir, not one iota.

So what have we learned in the last few weeks, running up to International Women's day?

We have learned that some quieter friends are now happy to speak in assembly.

Some older friends are extremely good at showing how kind they can be.

Some parents should keep their own counsel.

Some of our taller friends keep putting art in very interesting places.

Above all, we have learned that, thankfully, spring is on the way, and aren't we all delighted it is.

Advance news: coming soon - the biggest running club in the world EVER! Get your trainees out grandma: if I'm "running", then so are you.

Happy International Women's day everyone.

That, finely put, is all.