Wednesday 8 February 2023

Wednesday, 08-02-23

 Morning, everyone.  It's another clear, cold and frosty early morning with a clear, bright moon and a sky that is just starting to lighten a tiny bit.  It looks promising for the day ahead.

Yesterday didn't really go according to plan.  On Monday, I over-did it a bit at circuits, I think, and by late Monday afternoon all across the top of my back and my neck were aching quite badly.  That carried on yesterday - I did go to Groove but was very careful and didn't put in anything like the usual range of movement or energy that I usually give.  Lindsey understood and gave me alternative actions to do if I needed.  It definitely loosened things up but I took the rest of the day very easy, rested and just kept the shoulders and neck moving gently to keep them as loose as possible.
So no gardening (too cold anyway for a wimp like me) and no drawer tidying yesterday although I want to get the latter done today as they really are a disgrace.  I would like to do the ironing too but that depends on how uncomfortable it gets.

Early evening, I went to the Governors' training and, to my surprise, it was really good and extremely useful.  It was all about our role in monitoring assessments and progress and how to use the school's official data to unpick trends, patterns and achievements and to use these to ask challenging questions of the head teacher.
For example, the figures might indicate that a certain group of students - let's say, off the top of my head, disadvantaged children - are not progressing as well in science as their peers;  it is part of our role to unpick that, ask for any reasons and what is being done to support these children.  A good head (and N is a very good head) will already be aware, will expect questions from us and be ready with answers.
(I need to say - the above really is off the top of my head and in no way reflects reality in any way)

As we are part of an academy trust of seven schools and the other schools were also represented there, we were then given time to look at our own school's data and consider pertinent questions to ask relating to that data.

It sounds a bit complicated, more so than it really is, I think and is very much a central part of the role of the governing body so it was very useful to have this training.

On to today and it's going to be another gentle day.  I will get the drawers tidied but I won't do any gardening and I will see how comfortable or otherwise the ironing feels.
At Personal training, Lindsey will modify the programme and I'm going to ask for a massage too.  I am sure that will help a lot.  Fingers crossed it will all be a lot easier by tomorrow.  
Have a super day, everyone.  Stay warm and cosy!  xx

16 comments:

  1. Hope the aching bits get better soon - and today goes well

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    1. Thank you, Sue. It's gone well so far. Same to you. xx

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  2. Hope the discomfort eases soon, these pains can be very dibilitating and affect all movements.

    Your Governors' training made me chuckle a bit. Maybe my teachers could have done with some searching questions, especially in sciences as looking back, I could have done with receiving more motivation and enthusiasm. However, we were in classes of 40+ so individual attention didn't really happen, unless you were exceptionally bright or dim.


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    1. Well, it's the head who we ask rather than the teachers. What I gave was an example but there are various 'groups' -pupil premium, EAL, SEND and so on, all of which are considered separately as well as boy/girl, etc.

      It was good to have our role in the whole kerfuffle clarified xx

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  3. We always had to do that with state or nationwide test scores…feel better

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  4. Love a nice massage. The governor stuff is interesting but a bit technical for me!
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. It is a bit technical, I agree. It's OK for me, coming from the other side of the fence but most governors don't have a teaching background which is why things like this are so necessary. We (our governing body) were well represented - there were four of us actually there and four more online. xx

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  5. The training sounds really good, even though you are a new governor you are most likely bringing a lot to the governing panel as an ex-teacher. You can see the problems from all sides and question appropriately.

    I hope your aches and pains ease up a little today, I half-heartedly pulled at a few weeds this morning and them came in and had a cup of coffee instead. Some days you just have to!!

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    1. I've been a governor before - I stepped down when life got tricky with Mum and Dad. Things have change a lot in the last few years though, including assessment and reporting.
      Thanks - they have. No gardening though - it was too cold. xx

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  6. I hope the aches and pains have eased off and you enjoyed your massage (if you did have one). It's frosty here so the garden is being left to it's own devices for now ... too cold for me even though I can see things that need to be sorted out!

    The governor training sounds interesting and has a real purpose. xx

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    1. Thanks, Eileen. It really was and not just meeting for the sake of meeting. xx

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  7. Hope the aches and pains are gone or at least not as bad.

    God bless.

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  8. I hope the pains ease up tomorrow. Don't overdo it!

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