It's Friday!

[sunnyday]

Whoosh - that's another week gone  

Pretty good week - today a little more challenging - as was last Friday - perhaps they are all feeling tired by the end of the week......

Determined to finish off bits of paperwork this evening and then put all thoughts of preschool out of my head until Monday morning

Lunch out with two friends tomorrow really looking forward to that 

Have a good weekend everyone 

[zigzag]

Ours are absolutely exhausted by the end of Wednesday afternoon so glad they have a break on Thursday! Stepped back and observed this morning and think I have a better idea of what parts of the room they are using/not using and resources that are just being emptied out.  Spent the afternoon after session having a bit of a reshuffle so keeping my fingers crossed for next week! 

Havea great weekend everyone🙂

[Froglet]

Pretty good week although a couple of my small people showed their true colours on Friday afternoon!  Had friends round for dinner last night which was lovely and am up to my brothers for a family lunch tomorrow so today was meant to be a very focused work day.  So far... mostly eating leftovers, reading and crochet.  I will be dynamic soon!  Have a great weekend everyone!

[lsp]

Hi everyone.  Not dropped in for a while.  LA stopped paying our subscription but I have decided to carry on myself.  I really can't believe how quickly the summer break flew by.  Nearly half term again lolx.  We are fairly quiet in terms of numbers.  Unfortunately only a few years ago we would have been over the moon to start Sept with this number but costs have spiralled and income is static. Anyway, we have become boy heavy again - I feel interesting times ahead.  May be back for advice! 

[sunnyday]

14 minutes ago, lsp said:

Hi everyone.  Not dropped in for a while.  LA stopped paying our subscription but I have decided to carry on myself.  I really can't believe how quickly the summer break flew by.  Nearly half term again lolx.  We are fairly quiet in terms of numbers.  Unfortunately only a few years ago we would have been over the moon to start Sept with this number but costs have spiralled and income is static. Anyway, we have become boy heavy again - I feel interesting times ahead.  May be back for advice! 

Lovely to 'see' you again Isp - think that most of us are low on numbers this September - it is a bit of a worry......

[sunnyday]

I have had a lovely weekend - lunch date with friends yesterday didn't quite go according to plan - the pub that we had booked was closed when we arrived - I'm guessing they must have had some sort of family emergency - anyway it didn't take us long to find another pub!

Loads of gardening done today - I anticipate that I will be full of aches tomorrow - weather was just too beautiful to spend anytime indoors

Hope everyone has a good week - see you here next Friday! 

[louby loo]

Yes, we too are quite low this year.  xx

 

[finleysmaid]

Ive had  a good but busy week!  9 new starters in and mostly settled. (one a bit unsure cos his Mums not really bought in to the idea yet!)

our biggest fundraiser yesterday so a really busy day selling tea coffee and cakes from 7.30 am!!!! should have made a good profit though so I don't mind …..we get to choose what we spend it on now! suspect it needs to go in to the reflooring the bathroom pot

Ive got a couple more starters this week then no more 'planned' ones till January. So for us its still quite quiet too. I can't figure out why we are all struggling for numbers...Brexit baby ban maybe?

[lsp]

I've been catching up on what you lot have been up to - whether you have been behaving yourselves?????  I did catch a glimpse of that C word being used somewhere!!!! Also housework - clearing and sorting and my pet hate- cleaning the oven. ..... need I say more.

[sunnyday]

How the heck is it Friday again? 

Quite a good week - some real 'magic moments' and then today not so good - definitely think they are all shattered by Friday

No exiting plans for me this weekend - visit to the opticians Sunday afternoon (likely to be an expensive turn out!) - I have no weekend TDL - this was my new school year resolution 'no preschool work to be carried out at weekends' and here we are three weeks in and I am sticking to it!

Happy weekend to all 

[Cait]

Well done!  I hope you manage to keep that up, as long as it doesn't mean extra evening working! 

[sunnyday]

17 minutes ago, Cait said:

Well done!  I hope you manage to keep that up, as long as it doesn't mean extra evening working! 

It might well mean 'extra evening working' - but I think to have the weekend free of any preschool thoughts/work will be good for my soul 

[louby loo]

34 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

It might well mean 'extra evening working' - but I think to have the weekend free of any preschool thoughts/work will be good for my soul 

I'm trying to do this too. Especially as we are quiet this first half term.  Headcount week a bit annoying though- as you need to do it all online   

x

[sunnyday]

1 minute ago, louby loo said:

I'm trying to do this too. Especially as we are quiet this first half term.  Headcount week a bit annoying though- as you need to do it all online   

x

Ah I came home during session time to complete my headcount 

[louby loo]

17 minutes ago, sunnyday said:

Ah I came home during session time to complete my headcount 

Well I sorta tried that - but then left vital info... addresses, at work!  so I just took the rest of the day off .

Did it on an  evening in the end, as I could just bring the paperwork over night.  xx

[Froglet]

16 hours ago, sunnyday said:

It might well mean 'extra evening working' - but I think to have the weekend free of any preschool thoughts/work will be good for my soul 

I think it is a great plan and I'm glad it's working out so far, long may it continue!  It has been a difficult week, some frustrations, some sad news, some tricky staffing issues and I have a couple of little ones with 'challenges' and I really don't know at the moment how I am going to handle things.  I am feeling pretty rubbish about myself because I haven't been able to stay on top of the basics let alone do some of my leadership 'stuff'.  It's not inspiring but I'm planning to just work steadily at home (both on school and home things because that has suffered too) and see if I can clear the decks a little and feel a bit more under control and positive next week.  It's not usually this early in the term that I find myself getting up at 5am to do necessary things because I haven't been able to stay awake and do them at a sensible time the previous evening.

[FSFRebecca]

Just now, Froglet said:

I think it is a great plan and I'm glad it's working out so far, long may it continue!  It has been a difficult week, some frustrations, some sad news, some tricky staffing issues and I have a couple of little ones with 'challenges' and I really don't know at the moment how I am going to handle things.  I am feeling pretty rubbish about myself because I haven't been able to stay on top of the basics let alone do some of my leadership 'stuff'.  It's not inspiring but I'm planning to just work steadily at home (both on school and home things because that has suffered too) and see if I can clear the decks a little and feel a bit more under control and positive next week.  It's not usually this early in the term that I find myself getting up at 5am to do necessary things because I haven't been able to stay awake and do them at a sensible time the previous evening.

Be kind to yourself Froglet, it's always hard in September when you are teaching the new cohort your ways of working. 

[finleysmaid]

13 minutes ago, Froglet said:

I think it is a great plan and I'm glad it's working out so far, long may it continue!  It has been a difficult week, some frustrations, some sad news, some tricky staffing issues and I have a couple of little ones with 'challenges' and I really don't know at the moment how I am going to handle things.  I am feeling pretty rubbish about myself because I haven't been able to stay on top of the basics let alone do some of my leadership 'stuff'.  It's not inspiring but I'm planning to just work steadily at home (both on school and home things because that has suffered too) and see if I can clear the decks a little and feel a bit more under control and positive next week.  It's not usually this early in the term that I find myself getting up at 5am to do necessary things because I haven't been able to stay awake and do them at a sensible time the previous evening.

my new often quoted phrase

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Don't try and do it all, work out priorities and try to think about what is essential and what can wait (I wish I practices what I preach however!)

Rome wasn't built in a day

[Froglet]

59 minutes ago, finleysmaid said:

my new often quoted phrase

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

Don't try and do it all, work out priorities and try to think about what is essential and what can wait (I wish I practices what I preach however!)

Rome wasn't built in a day

You're right and I try but the 'disappointed' faces of SLT when they ask "Why haven't you done that?" is hard to take, especially when part of the answer is 'because I was shattered, sneezing and snotty, left school at 6 and felt asleep at 8.30' and that doesn't feel like it's good enough.  It is what it is though, some of the cleaning is done, I can see the living room floor and a little more order will help me see the wood for the trees!

[Froglet]

1 hour ago, Rebecca said:

Be kind to yourself Froglet, it's always hard in September when you are teaching the new cohort your ways of working. 

Thank you, I needed that reminder.  Have been saying it to others all week but am failing to take it on myself!  

[zigzag]

We are very much in the process oh ‘house training’ all of ours.  It seems that the older children who left us where incredibly good role models and have left a big gap!  It really is exhausting, plus they are very young and getting used to doing full days means they are incredibly tired!  We had a trip out one morning this week to our local farm, which was really enjoyable.  I have a couple of children who I am thinking of referring to SALT.  I hate doing this as the service seems so stretched but I really believe that the time has come.  Little bit of work to do this weekend, don’t mind as the weather is atrocious ☔️☔️  Enjoy the weekend and be good to yourselves!

[sunnyday]

1 hour ago, Froglet said:

I think it is a great plan and I'm glad it's working out so far, long may it continue!  It has been a difficult week, some frustrations, some sad news, some tricky staffing issues and I have a couple of little ones with 'challenges' and I really don't know at the moment how I am going to handle things.  I am feeling pretty rubbish about myself because I haven't been able to stay on top of the basics let alone do some of my leadership 'stuff'.  It's not inspiring but I'm planning to just work steadily at home (both on school and home things because that has suffered too) and see if I can clear the decks a little and feel a bit more under control and positive next week.  It's not usually this early in the term that I find myself getting up at 5am to do necessary things because I haven't been able to stay awake and do them at a sensible time the previous evening.

Oh young Froglet I am sending you the hugest hug xxx that all sounds horribly tough......

[louby loo]

1 hour ago, Froglet said:

I think it is a great plan and I'm glad it's working out so far, long may it continue!  It has been a difficult week, some frustrations, some sad news, some tricky staffing issues and I have a couple of little ones with 'challenges' and I really don't know at the moment how I am going to handle things.  I am feeling pretty rubbish about myself because I haven't able to stay on top of the basics let alone do some of my leadership 'stuff'.  It's not inspiring but I'm planning to just work steadily at home (both on school and home things because that has suffered too) and see if I can clear the decks a little and feel a bit more under control and positive next week.  It's not usually this early in the term that I find myself getting up at 5am to do necessary things because I haven't been able to stay awake and do them at a sensible time the previous evening.

Don't be hard on yourself - perhaps you should tell the SLT exactly what you were thinking, after all your wellbeing is there concern too (well at least it should be).

Think Bullet Journal    (got some in Tiger Tiger at the mo!)

Make your list, prioritise, make an action plan.......... then find a good film/book, coffee/tea, cake and relax 

xxxx

[sunnyday]

30 minutes ago, louby loo said:

Don't be hard on yourself - perhaps you should tell the SLT exactly what you were thinking, after all your wellbeing is there concern too (well at least it should be).

Think Bullet Journal    (got some in Tiger Tiger at the mo!)

Make your list, prioritise, make an action plan.......... then find a good film/book, coffee/tea, cake and relax 

xxxx

I can tell you that our young Froglet is the queen of the bullet journal world - she very kindly talked me through the process 

So, no preschool work at all, as planned, but have spent the morning tied to the lap-top working on admin for a village charity that I am hon sec for  anyway all caught up with that now - so lunch and then some cleaning methinks - wow such an exciting life I lead 

[louby loo]

2 hours ago, sunnyday said:

I can tell you that our young Froglet is the queen of the bullet journal world - she very kindly talked me through the process 

Yes,  Froglet was mentor too ! 

xxx

[Froglet]

4 hours ago, louby loo said:

Don't be hard on yourself - perhaps you should tell the SLT exactly what you were thinking, after all your wellbeing is there concern too (well at least it should be).

Think Bullet Journal    (got some in Tiger Tiger at the mo!)

Make your list, prioritise, make an action plan.......... then find a good film/book, coffee/tea, cake and relax 

xxxx

Even the bullet journal has gone by the wayside the last couple of weeks!  I haven't done any school work today and given that I'm falling asleep now I don't think it will get done tonight.  I'm going to eat tea and go to bed early and hopefully be able to focus on things tomorrow.  My house is cleaner and a lot tidier and I have some decent food in for proper meals (I have plans for some blackberry and apple pasties) so things are looking up.  Thanks for the good wishes everyone!

[zigzag]

15 minutes ago, Froglet said:

Even the bullet journal has gone by the wayside the last couple of weeks!  I haven't done any school work today and given that I'm falling asleep now I don't think it will get done tonight.  I'm going to eat tea and go to bed early and hopefully be able to focus on things tomorrow.  My house is cleaner and a lot tidier and I have some decent food in for proper meals (I have plans for some blackberry and apple pasties) so things are looking up.  Thanks for the good wishes everyone!

Ahh bless you.  Have a good sleep and start a fresh tomorrow xx

[Gezabel]

On 14/09/2018 at 16:23, zigzag said:

Ours are absolutely exhausted by the end of Wednesday afternoon so glad they have a break on Thursday! Stepped back and observed this morning and think I have a better idea of what parts of the room they are using/not using and resources that are just being emptied out.  Spent the afternoon after session having a bit of a reshuffle so keeping my fingers crossed for next week! 

Havea great weekend everyone🙂

I never cease to be amazed at how effective a reshuffle can be!  We swapped our construction area and home corner over and it was like a magic wand being waved! Some fantastic, creative construction and some superb imaginative play in the home corner. Previously they tipped out the construction materials and did very little in the way of building. Likewise in the home corner they tipped all the food out but didn't really do much with it - now we have pizza being cooked and all sorts!!

[zigzag]

It really is amazing the results that small changes and tweaks make!

[lsp]

A very wet and windy Sunday.  Always takes me back in time to being young and not going out to play, the smell of a roast cooking and helping to make the gravy. Oh, and eating cold left over Yorkshire puddings with jam! Memories......