Saturday

Yay - the weekend.  Two days of housework, washing, drying, ironing, cleaning out my bedroom and cleaning carpets.  Aren't I a lucky bunny?  Yes, I am!

I am feeling very well this morning.  It's a surprise.  Yesterday I came home from school early (that is four rather than six o'clock) because I was starting to feel quite poorly.  Sick, aching, shivery - oh, you get the idea.  The heating was on but I stayed cold, generally unpleasant stuff kept threatening (but didn't appear) and at five thirty I took myself to bed.  Still shivering cold so I dragged a duvet from the guest room and put it over my own.  That seemed to do the trick in that the coldness gradually receded and I warmed up, fell asleep and woke feeling fragile but fine.  Very peculiar indeed but I am extremely relieved I am not out of action over the weekend.  Whatever it was, it was short and sharp and, if it was infectious, I am unlikely to have shared it with the children as it was my SEN day.

A good day too.  I got LOADS done.  An interim IEP which I shared with the class teacher who agreed it was what was needed, a meeting - no, three meeting, some satisfactory conclusions, referral information worked through so my fellow SENCo can write a referral form, an observation and yet more paperwork done, a draft statement read and handed over to the class teacher . . . oh, and another meeting after school!  I was not on top of things by then but it went well and we were all thinking along the same lines which helped enormously.  So all in all, despite the yuck in the evening, it was a brilliant day.

This week I have had my student in and have tried to get to grips with the paperwork.  She, on her part, is coping well with various changes of teacher and has been a pleasure to have helping.  It's early days but she has impressed me.  She has also been receptive (perhaps politely) to some ideas I have had for keeping a record of things we have arranged and when.  She has so much to do, so many things that need arranging.  Observing other key stages, observing science, maths, English, foundation stage, phonics, some short sessions or group activities to teach, various key people to talk to . . . and I could see us getting hopelessly muddled if we don't have a system for keeping on top of it! 
She's observed me a lot this week, making notes as we go along in what seems to be a slightly unfocused fashion, so I suggested that she decides which lessons she wants (or needs) to observe in a focused way and use the lesson planning form she has to use to make notes on different aspects she sees and learns from.  After all, that's what these first weeks are all about.  Then, afterwards, to take herself off to the staffroom to make some more reflective comments to maximise her own learning.  That suggestion seemed to go down well too.

Well, better have my porridge with cranberries, cinnamon and maple syrup and then get going!  First stop, dry hoovering the carpet before trying out my Vax. 

I've chosen this for no other reason than that they are bright and cheerful and on a dull morning like this one today a bit of cheerfulness is a Good Idea!

Saturday morning

Look at the time!  Stupid o'clock right enough.  Yesterday was most peculiar.  I woke up with a bit of a headache: nothing much, just a few twinges.  As the day went on I started feeling yuck.  Mostly tummy stuff but nothing that stopped me working.  Enough to make me leave school as soon as I possibly could and I'm glad I did because once home the shivers started   Not nice feeling like that, not nice at all.  So it was heating on, hot cuppa, paracetamol and bed.  Bed at about half past six, would you believe!  As I warmed up under the covers I fell asleep and that was that - I feel a whole lot better now, despite the time and I should be able to catch a bit more sleep before most sensible people are awake and up.  I wonder what that was all about now . . .

Despite the above, it was a very useful day yesterday.  I got loads done, useful, helpful, necessary stuff.  It's a very satisfying feeling to be up to date with stuff.  As the school year moves on, one finds that if one doesn't deal with what comes in straight away, one ends up six foot under - and yes, the use of 'one' is deliberate because I know I am not the only 'one'!  At the moment there's time.  It's when there's no time and/or no energy that the problems start.

Enough of whinges.  Looking ahead, it's a planning free weekend.  I have a friend around this morning for a chat, George should be here to work his usual magic on a garden that is starting to look decided autumnal and I want to blitz my bedroom at some point.  Also, I've found an old book on my bookshelves that has some likely looking recipes in it and I want to try one when DG and DD come over.  It's a thick soup (yum) just right for days that are getting noticeably shorter and make one think of soups, stews, casseroles and other such comfort food.  With that in mind I intend to start my old habit of making 'leftover soup' on Saturdays - basically, any veg left over from the week goes in and it ends up either as a minestrone type soup or as a zizzed chunky soup, depending on the veg.  It's frugal, it's tasty and it is likely to do me for several lunches during the week.

Now that we have a nice big staffroom with a good sized table, lunches are becoming something of a social occasion and more and more people are bringing in 'leftover' type meals to warm up in the microwave.  It's really rather pleasant to sit around the table chatting as we eat.  The 'new' (nearly a year old now) staffroom is proving to be a decided blessing in many ways.  We're lucky . . .