pfb -in fact only child - off to secondary on Thursday...

[MaryAnnSingleton]

am being calm but every so often panic strikes me - ds is fine about it, it's just me fretting about roads to cross/ money for the canteen - will it get lost/stolen, what about the lockers, arghhh ! Plus,as with the beginning of every term,I'll miss him - I love having him here in the holidays !
It also means that I have no excuses not to sit at my desk and work on the job I'm meant to finish by the end of Seot...

ds1 had me worried this morning. 10 mins before he's due to leave the house ds2 comes downstairs in non-uniform for Children in Need Day (which we knew about via letter from school).

Cue ds1 saying "Oh, erm, I think we've got non-uniform day today too" and goes back upstairs to change. Think? Is he sure? It wasn't in a letter, and whilst this isn't necessary in secondary, at this school I would have expected it.

I check the school calendar online and there's nothing there.

Fortunately dh agreed to delay his departure by 5 mins so he could drive past the bus stop and check the other pupils were in non-uniform. And even more fortunately they didn't arrive back, so I'm presuming ds1 was correct.

I'm still a bit annoyed with him though for not telling us before. He doesn't have many clothes and mostly just slobs around in crummy shabby things. I would have been out and got him something new for non-uniform day if I'd known in advance so that he would look a bit smarter.

Oh roisin - I always worry about things like this. You are like me - like them to look nice.

DS1 has not mentioned anything about non-uniform although it has been charity week at their school and have had all sorts going on at lunchtimes - throwing wet sponges at teachers, tug of war, guitar hero.

I am sure DS1 would have said......... (but now you have got me wondering arrghhhhhhhhhhhh)

The only decent pair of jeans (the only pair now in fact) he has have been ripped and we are having a trip into town tomorrow to get some more, admittedly the two rips are on the inside of his leg towards the bottom but still....

me too !

Phew - DS1 walked in and I said were you supposed go in non-uniform today, he looked at me like I had two heads and said no.

He has had a great day though from what he has said - all the teachers had to dress up as band members and perform - DS got to be one of the judges! The Spice Girls won.

!

Thankfully DD's school didn't have a non uniform day but they did have 4 students sponsered who were wearing their PJ's all day!

DD starts cookery next week - must remember to dig out tins etc for bringing stuff home as I don't want to be digging pizza out of her backpack!

They have now started Spanish instead of German for this half term not too sure if they'll go back to German after xmas for another half term. do other schools do this? I know the other local High School does a term of each plus French in yr7 then they pick which to do for the rest of KS3.

Ofsted is coming on Monday as well hopefully the school will get a good report from them. The Head has been in place for just over a year and talking to a Mum who's DC's are in Yr9 and 11 she's really made some dramatic changes that appear to be working. I was looking at the extra activities on the web site and every day there are at least 10 different things on offer from knitting to live saving to GSCE help plus all the different PE stuff.

Magentadreamer - at ds1's school they've always all done just French all year in yr7, but as a trial this year they're doing 1 term each of German, French and either Italian or Spanish [I can't remember which]. I don't know what the plan is for yr8.

ds1 has a fantastic, very enthusiastic, MFL teacher and is doing German. He has learned loads: I am completely stunned at how much he's picked up, how keen he is, and how utterly fearless at having a go and trying to make up a sentence.
This week they started doing the past tense
He has more merits for German than any other subject, and more merits in German than anyone else in his class.

(I'm a linguist myself, and after the shaky start he's had with the government's fantastic primary MFL strategy, I'm relieved and delighted that he's loving it.)

Thanks for that Roisin.DD is finding Spanish alot easier than German and at least now my bargain pound shop Spanish dictionary will be put to some use!

MAS - how did DS get on the rest of the week with his lunch money?

From what DS has said, they do not switch around for languages, he is doing Spanish.

DS is making Fat Rascals next week in cookery - a bit like a scone/rock bun with a cherry on top. I made some on Thursday night to the recipe he has been given and they turned out lovely.

My diet will start some day (maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow - but soon! )

Oo cakes! I doooooooooooooooo so hope DD makes cakes obiously for the ease of transportation back home with the....

ds making salad this week !
bellavita - he didn'r get his money back ( no surprises there) but wasn't asked again... he gave some money to a children in need collection which I said was ok to do !

ha ha ha! ds1 will be so impressed (not) if he gets to make salad in Food Tech!

He thinks they will swap tech teachers at Christmas and Easter and at some point he will do one term of cookery.

am fretting about salad dressing in rucksack

would you like french or italian dressing with that madam?

arf ! we've been trying to decide whether he should take cooked or raw pasta - are going for raw as it is a cookery lesson !

fingers crossed for you MAS lol

It has rained all day here so am just wondering what sort of state DS's rugby stuff is going to be in? Not looking forward to it!

BTW - I did manage to purchase a very fine pair of football boots for £12 on saturday - so was very pleased with myself

hey,well done bellavita. No ds yet as he's having his singing lesson..

ds safely back from singing lesson, salad intact ! hooray !
He was asked by someone else for loan of 10p today which he handed over as this boy had borrowed a pen before and handed it back..think he has to learn who to trust and use his judgement..but I cautioned again against lending money..
also, I realised that after school things mean coming home in the dark - am fretting slightly.

Are you having the salad for tea?

Fingers crossed that he gets his 10p back

I know what you mean aboutthe dark - luckily DS has not asked to do any after school clubs so I do not have to worry, but in fairness, the school run what they call the after 5 bus, which would drop him off in the village and we are literally a few mins from the stop.

DS's rugby stuff stinks - mixture of grass, mud and god knows what else - yuk!

The mud on his boots was still wet, so I took them outside and put the hose on the bottoms which cleared it in 2 secs, thankfully.

When he came home he said so and so forgot his pe kit today (they have jogging bottoms for outside and shorts for inside) and no one would lend him their spare shorts, so I lent him mine. They are filthy and DS needs them for tomorrow for indoor pe.

I can understand where he is coming from - but I have now got to get them dry overnight so he can wear them tomorrow, although to be fair they are of the silky material variety so an hour or so over the radiator should dry them - but still!

yes we are !
He will walk home along lit streets,there's only a bit of a dark bit at the beginning, mind you it won't be dark dark at 4pm !
Hope the money thing does get stupid.
Good luck with rugby kit cleaning - think ds is doing hockey on a gritty astroturf pitch.

doesn't get,I meant, obviously !

ds1 always seems to manage not to get very muddy at all. I suspect he is one of those children who stand around on the sidelines desperately trying to avoid any action. LOL.

He has managed to misplace his coat at school today
So he was soaked when he got home.
It's the first thing he's lost, but he doesn't know where he's left it. He can't remember taking it out of his bag ...?!

I have told him he needs to spend every breaktime and lunchtime looking for it until he finds it!

Oh no roisin, do you think they have lost property sections in secondary schools and that someone would be kind enough to place it there? What will he do, just visit every classroom he has been in today?

DS wore his winter coat all last week, although a couple of times he came home with it in his bag and only had his polo shirt on - will not wear the school jumper for love nor money!

This morning he asked if he could wear a fleece and I was not going to argue with him as I remember my Mum making me wear a winter coat from the moment it looked cold rather than letting me decide how I felt, I used to hate that, funny how things stick in your mind from years ago. But actually, she still treats me like a 12 year old now - but that's another story.

They do have a lost property section, but ds1 doesn't know where it is! The coat had his name in, so I'm trying to be hopeful.

He said someone was mucking around with his bag/coat earlier in the day, and he thinks it's been taken out. But I don't want to encourage him to jump to conclusions.

It's a uniform coat and not cheap, but at this time of year I can't leave him many days without a coat. Aarrgghh!