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I bet it just means the world to her that you are both there. Xx

My granddaughter's performance was just brilliant, she did so well with some solo singing and lots of lines... This was an opportunity for grandparents to watch so I was there with her maternal granny she is such a lovely lady and I am very lucky to share my littlest grandchildren with her...🧡 I have been reflecting on our different responses - her just quietly clapping - me clapping like my life depends on it accompanied by an awful lot of whooping!!! Wonder which approach my granddaughter prefers - don't think I will ask just in case! 🤣🤣🤣

Afternoon all. Everyone seems to have had a busy few days! Enjoy your planned events 😊 I'm planning a lazy weekend 🤞😁

I third you with the heat! It’s unbearable and I know we are not nearly as hot as up country. I did a changeover this morning and literally had to peel all my clothes off and get in a cold shower when I got home. Not enjoying it at all, too hot to go outside or do anything. Have had two sea swims this week but there are so many jellyfish it’s not pleasant! So many different sorts this year as well. My woofer had her operation yesterday and all is well, thank goodness. Except my bank balance is £900 lighter! Sunnyday get your England flags out, you never know when a miracle might happen! Enjoy your granddaughters end of year performance. Scary how quickly time goes. Froglet your dinner sounds scrummy and perfect for this weather. Keep cool everyone and have a lovely weekend.

I'm with you on the heat Sunnyday! How lovely that you are able to go to see your granddaughter's performance - hope all goes well. I also love that advice from your MIL, I think I might try to adopt it as my own guidance. I have had a busy Friday so far - friends coming for dinner tonight (we first worked together nearly 20 years ago and still get together semi regularly for food and a catch up. I've tried to plan a menu that is light and doesn't involve too much hot cooking so I've roasted some mediterranean veg to have with chickpeas, will do a lemon couscous, a simple tomato salad, houmous, tzatziki and flatbreads and lemon mousse for pudding. I've cubed a load of watermelon and put it in the fridge for a starter. Now the cooking bit is done I'm going to get on with the cleaning. I have to say it's so lovely to be able to do this when I haven't spent the day at work. I love hosting but I have never managed to leave work at a sensible time and it was always a manic rush! Other than that I'm planning a quiet weekend mostly inside where it's marginally cooler! Take care everyone.

Good morning - 'tis Friday Whoa - this heat is just ridiculous - enough already! Off to see youngest granddaughter's end of year performance this afternoon - can't believe that she is about to leave Primary school, no idea how that happened... Have had a 'zillion' questions from solicitor re sale of MIL's house - I am forever grateful that when we met her she said "if you don't know an answer, don't get into a tizz, just say you don't know" - phew! Tennis: c'mon Fery! Football: c'mon England! Hope everyone is okay and that no one has melted (looking at you Sue!) Happy weekend all x

Just beautiful 🧡

He will be 10 months on the 11th. It’s just ridiculous how fast it’s going. Louby they certainly are a complete joy, my heart just literally fills when I look at him. Didn’t think I would feel this kind of love again since having my boys, but by golly I do. Dreading Thursday, not sure who is going to be the biggest wreck me or her! 🫣 Out on our adventures on Monday!

Oh zigzag how lovely but I agree with louby sure he was only born 5 minutes ago how on earth is he crawling already?! Poor dog - everything crossed for her that all goes well and that she isn't too stressed x

Crawling!!!!! how old is he now? I'm sure he was only born a couple of months ago!😳 They do bring so much joy don't they 😊 🤞🤞 all goes well with your other 'baby' 😊 xx

Froglet for goodness sake be careful! Glad you are feeling better. I think my husband had a go at that ice cream recipe, it was nice. Sunnyday, glad Mr S is feeling better, that’s a relief for you both. You sound like you are having a very busy retirement! Good for you. Louuby Lou you clever girl, well done. It’s amazing what you can learn of YouTube isn’t it. Nice feeling to save some money as well! I have my grandson on Mondays now whilst parents are at work, the very best day of my week. We take the dogs for a long walk, he obviously goes in the backpack thingy so we can go off roading. This week we went around the local farm and saw all the animals. Can’t believe I’m so lucky to be doing this with my own grandson. He’s also started crawling in the last two weeks so that’s exciting! Oh my goodness how you forget the need to have eyes in the back of your head! All the holiday lets and air b&bs have ramped up so am trying to squeeze as many in as I can along side my other domestic cleans. The next eight weeks will be busy! My darling dog has to go to the vets for a dental procedure under sedation next week, I’m dreading it, she gets so anxious and so insecure when in a strange place. I’m going to be a basket case that day! Fingers crossed all will be well. Have a lovely weekend all, enjoy the beautiful weather. Xx

Hope your not too sore anywhere 😯 I too have to consider footwear - I trod on a torn whilst gardening in wrong choice footwear and have been hobbling about until I finally got it out! xx

I have to say it was remarkably easy! It took less than an hour - even Andy was impressed 😂 It has 4 arms and each line in indivually threaded and secured, I just need to do a few very minor half inch tweaks to a couple of the rounds but will do when not in the direct sun. Enjoy the Tennis. x

That was exactly what someone at school suggested. I think I'm probably just being a bit careless and was also tired (less sleep 'cos of the heat). Mostly just feel a bit daft!

Hi louby - yes, lunch was lovely although it was too hot really. Are you still going round and round? Hi young Froglet - what is going on - I would suggest that you 'take more water with it' but I know you don't indulge Right - back to the Tennis!

Hello all! Really glad to hear Mr S. is doing better. Louby - I really hope you're not all tangled up! And afternoon tea - what a lovely thank you present - enjoy! I'm still a little sniffly but loads better than I was. I fell over again on Wednesday - slipped in the bathroom. All is fine but I think I need to make sure I wear something on my feet more often - I'd gone barefoot as I usually do in hot weather! Visit to Hardwick Hall yesterday which was lovely - they've recently had some portraits which had been for cleaning/conservation returned so there was a new exhibition to show them and it was fascinating. I am experimenting with easy homemade icecream (condensed milk and cream) which seems to work well. Other than that a quiet weekend although I have friends coming for dinner next Friday so I am having a happy time browsing recipes while I decide what to cook!

Hi Everyone! Good to hear Mr S is doing better, did you have a good lunch in the end? Forglet, hope you're feely better now. Actually managed to fill two green garden waste bins on Monday! (then remembered we'd gone two -weekly for collections and it wasn't our week 🙄😬) I'm now off to 'restring' the washing line- wish me luck! I was just going to buy a new one....until I saw the price of them 😮 replacement line £15 + a video link on how to do it, some reviews say allow 3-4 hours 😂😂😂 We have an afternoon tea tomorrow - a gift for doing 'hoilday garden duties' for a neighbour, so looking foward to that. Have a good weekend all xx

Good morning - 'tis Friday (again!) How is everyone? Young Froglet hope you are okay after your fall? Much, much better week for Mr S - once that relentless heat subsided he was fine (well as fine as he will ever be!) - so no more 'caring fairy' duties for me (until the next time!) Have had a pretty busy week and next week will be even busier (how did I ever find time to work?!) Looking forward to (hopefully) a quiet weekend. Very much enjoying the Tennis and the Football - although the footie is not good for my Blood Pressure 🤣 Hope that the weekend is kind to all x

Hi, @KerryHodgkin A "Permission forms" feature is something we are still looking into! I've made a note to update you here with any developments. If you need anything else in the meantime, do let us know :) Jack

Are you any further on in being able to add permissions such as plasters, nappy cream, photo's on other childrens learning jouney etc to the all about me or a seperate area ?

Hello, my name is Victoria and I’m nearly at the end of my CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Workforce course with Learndirect. As part of my assignment, I was encouraged to participate in an online forum to share my experience of the importance of reflection as part of my professional development. There are two theories that have been particularly influential in helping people to understand the reflective process. David Kolb – Kolb’s learning cycle: David Kolb was an American educational theorist and psychologist. He developed the experiential learning cycle, where he believed that adults learn by doing and then reflecting, not just listening. He suggested that learning happens through four stages and that people progress through a cycle, resulting in new experiences. Concrete experience (doing/having an experience) – This is about doing something. In an early year setting, this could mean teaching children to play a game of snap for example. Reflective Observation (reviewing/reflecting on the experience) – This is about reviewing and reflecting on the experience and what happened. This might mean that the practitioner thinks about which elements of the game of snap seemed to work well and which elements were less successful. Abstract Conceptualisation (concluding/learning from the experience) – This is about developing new ideas. For example, when playing a game of snap, it might be useful to use pictures on cards that link to children’s experiences and to have extra cards that match, to prevent children from becoming bored. Active experimentation (planning/trying out what you have learned) -This is about putting into practice new ideas. When playing another game of snap, we use the new picture cards instead, giving the children more opportunity to find a “snap”. David Kolb’s process is shown as a learning cycle because after testing new ideas, we may need to reflect on the experience again before continuing. This theory highlights how reflection supports ongoing learning and improvements I have found Kolb’s process very informative, but Gibbs’ reflective cycle is my preferred option. I have learnt that Gibbs’ model was developed from David Kolb’s 4 stage experiential learning cycle, but he designed it to give clearer steps to enable an accurate reflection. Gibbs’ model is also referred to as an iterative model, which means learning is completed through repetition. There are the 6 steps in the reflection cycle, each step informs the next and I have found these are easy to relate into everyday situations we experience as Early Years Practitioners. Graham Gibb’s cycle of reflection: 1. Description (what happened?) 2. Feelings (what were you thinking and feeling at the time?) 3. Evaluation (what was good/bad about the experience?) 4. Analysis (what do you make of what happened?) 5. Conclusion (what can you conclude from this?) 6. Action plan (what are you going to do now to change the way you work?) How the cycle works: After an event or situation, whether good or bad, the adult reflects on what happened, how they felt and judges the experience. They then consider why it happened and what can be learnt from it and finally an action plan is created. I find this particular model has been practical for everyday reflection as it gives clear and easy steps to help reflect through the six-step process. Learning through refection is so important for Early years practitioners as it helps to – · Track your own practice, your colleagues and evaluate how effective it is. · Identify strengths and areas for improvement, which help to implement new ideas which will help the quality of your provision in the setting. · Improve outcomes for children and their families. · Encourages communication in sharing what I have learnt with colleagues and others. There have been more theories in relation to reflective thinking. Others worth reading about to support Early Years practitioners are as follows: John Deweys Stages of reflection – John Dewey was the originator of the reflective thinking. His theory influenced Kolb and Gibbs. Schon’s process of continuous learning – This theory is based on two distinct processes of reflection: Reflecting in action and reflecting on action. Christopher Johns’ five stage mode – This model is based on five stages to help break down the experience and reflect on the process and outcomes. This model encourages exploring how the experience has changed and improved the situation. I have shared my research to give my thoughts on which theoretical perspective I feel work well in my practice. I hope this is useful and I would really appreciate to hear from anyone who uses another approach or has information on theoretical perspectives that are less well known.

Oh froglet, do hope you feel better soon. Rotten to be feeling poorly in this weather. Look after that shoulder, scary how quickly a fall can happen.

'Tis Saturday! Sorry I missed yesterday - so good to check in and see updates from lots of you! Sunnyday - I'm glad the caring fairy got to go out - hope you enjoyed your catch up. Sue - loved the poem, that describes me exactly! Zigzag and Louby - no storms here yet. I'm hoping for one today! School for three days this week was interesting - we did lots of things like closing blinds, paddling feet and 'forcing' water on small people but the relentless heat and increasing tiredness due to broken nights' sleep was making for some very hot and bothered people (both the adults and the small ones). I was due to work on Thursday too but the school cancelled as they'd had so many absent due to heat the previous day - to be honest I was relieved! I spent 2 very slow days, doing a few jobs early in the morning and hiding in darkened rooms the rest of the day. It is, thankfully, a little cooler and we have a little breeze today. I'm feeling a little sorry for myself this weekend - 2 days of a really sore throat has become a definite sniffle and then this morning I slipped on an unnoticed wet patch in my kitchen and fell over - wrench my shoulder and think I'll probably have a good couple of bruises next week. It could have been a lot worse though! I've done the usual Saturday jobs plus a little planning for next week at school and have now taken myself to the sofa where I will either read a book or knit some more socks (small and not sticky unlike the crochet blanket!). Enjoy your weekend everyone.

I think the heat has shifted up a bit, we've still got another hot day. Really hope you enjoy your lunch, I know what you mean about finding dates for everything! 😊 I got up to watch the storm, but it was nothing like the one during the week for us just flashes and distant rumbles.

I hope the caring fairy enjoys her lunch, sounds like she deserves it. Tell Mr S to behave himself while you are gone.