Yep I'm here! Really here for the first time in ages. A whole half-term has passed by without any posting. A clear indication of how busy daily life has been. Lots going on at school and some children are being quite challenging at the moment.
Yesterday was a good example of that. Had to help deal with a child that was refusing to co-operate with any instructions and had been sent to what we call the "Restart" room - a time out area where they are expected to carry out their work. This particular child had no intention of working and was proceeding to climb and jump across the tables in the room. We decided to ensure everyone's safety by removing the tables and chairs from the room. I would have liked there to be padding on the walls but as this isn't the case I decided to borrow some bean bags from the nursery so at least the child had something to sit on. Made the mistake of bringing one that had a zipped on cover rather than sewn on. When I went back to check how the supervising staff member was coping I discovered the floor was covered in the polystyrene balls from inside the bean bag!
Fortunately by that time another senior teacher had arrived and I was able to get back to my own work. The child was also persuaded to help clear up the mess they'd created.
Other than incidents like that - of which there are many - we are now counting down to the end of the academic year and a new era - the Headteacher is leaving in July and for the time being the current Deputy will act up as Head. Works fine for me as I get on really well with her. Yesterday they also promoted two teachers to acting assistant headteachers so things are slowly falling into place.
On the home front progress is being made on hubby's snoring but we have opened a can of worms. He is waiting for a letter to arrange a sleep test but it may be that he has sleep apnoea which is not great. It would explain why he's so tired and able to nod off so easily during the day but if it's really bad the treatment could involve sleeping attached to a machine to ensure he keeps breathing during the night. It could also affect whether he can drive or not but as the long term effects of sleep apnoea can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems it's not something to be ignored.
Our youngest flew off to New Orleans for the week yesterday and hopefully has arrived ok. There were delays at Heathrow yesterday so I hope he made his connecting flight ok. His long distance relationship seems to be holding up - SKYPE is a wonderful thing! (Although time differences are a pain in the butt!) His girlfriend will be visiting here again in July.
Our daughter flies out to visit a uni friend in Jersey today for a few days so a quieter house at the moment. It will be even quieter soon as our eldest son is all set to move to Nottingham in the next couple of weeks. He leaves his current job next week and today (finally) received the contract through for his new job which he will start on 10th June. He has rented a two bedroom flat (his girlfriend will be moving in soon) which looks lovely. We'll be able to see for sure when we help him move all his stuff up there! Fortunately he doesn't have loads of stuff but he does have a large TV and stand and he's taking a computer desk from here so we may have to do 2 trips or hire a van to get everything there.
Once he's gone we will be playing the musical bedrooms game again as he currently has the biggest room of the kids. Once again one of them will probably have gone from A to B to C to end up back at A again. Sounds like the story of my life!
I like the term "Restart Room." We had many such incidents and they were often difficult to resolve. But you seem to have managed quite well.
ReplyDeleteMy Tom had a snoring problem too, but it turned out to be not sleep apnea but a problem with his sleeping position and his neck being out of alignment. The solution was a special pillow and nerve/muscle relaxants. So that mostly solved it but truthfully I often stumble across the hall for some quiet. Good luck!
Kids these days don't seem to understand civility.
ReplyDeleteI'm also here for the first time in ages, first I was away for a month and once I came home I found my garden needed my undivided attention. Time just seems to slip by. I find it a bit strange to read about your school experience, I retired from work (school) at the end of March and now, it seems like a lifetime ago. I think your 'restart room' is the same as out 'time out ' room. And I think you seem to have as much 'fun' in your as we did in ours. Sometimes I wonder what on earth makes these kids act out this way, I'm sure a lot of the reason is because of the amount of junk food they eat and lack of a proper balanced diet. But I guess I’m old fashioned about things like that.
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