lynned55

I never knew that! How nice. Mind you I have always been under the impression that when playing for England they did it 'for love of country' 😀😀😀

I think I may try that Zigzag. Ours are dreadful at the moment. Noisy, loud screaming at each other. Fighting games and absolutely no respect for toys, staff or each other. Toys are just dropped, thrown or discarded wherever they happen to be. A couple of weeks ago- I honestly thought it was the weather- they were cooped up indoors day after day as soon as we did get outside, the heavens were opening. Then we had a few days of high winds - so thought it was that. But now I'm at my wits end with them. Yesterday we had two slapping each other round the face, taking it in turns to do so. But its the total lack of respect for resources thats really bugging me- they walk across anything on the floor, stamping on books- we've tried everything. I got so cross yesterday that I sent them all home with 'next week, we are having no toys out at preschool. Tell your mummies its because you dont know how to look after them' Felt bad after as it's not all (about 6 out of 25 are fine!`) of them, our worst offenders are the older ones. For the first time I am thinking some of these children should not be with us- they really need to be in school- in a more structured environment. Although as soon as staff try to do more structured activities with a group- they are so easily distracted and busy poking and annoying each other it becomes very difficult. Anyway- I think I may try your bin idea.

We do the same- our LA provide TD's- I dont really feel they are fit for purpose- need to be completed and read (they go via secure email- which is a whole other issue!) in Adobe Reader or it doesnt save/show changes. Last year was awful- Parents and then schools coming back saying we cant open them or they are blank! But hey ho- all but the odd 1 or 2 of ours go to the same school - so we usually give out information to them verbally. Which is far more useful.

Most definitely louby!! Children have and are settling so much quicker but yes, we are losing that connection with families. (or staff gossiping chit/chatting to parents whilst the other staff are still clearing away 😬 That used to drive me crazy! and coming in 15 minutes late then taking up a KW time for another 15 minutes whilst they talked! If someone thinks of something in between- I'd love to hear it.

Not sure I'm looking forward to all this in September. But as others have said- partly because life has been so busy lately and partly because I know I have at least two staff that are going to struggle with it. One because she 'knows' everything and one because she just doesn't like change. Although I'm not sure how much change there will be as we stopped using DM as a tick list (well some did!) a couple of years ago. But I also need to recruit a new staff member for September and am coming up to our dreaded AGM time and our annual threat to parents that we will close unless.................. However- I attended a brilliant webinair on what becoming an ICO involves. the other week and it has convinced me that this is the way forward for us. Their is a lady who specialises in doing/advising groups on this - for a fee of course- and helps and supports. It's expensive but worth paying her to do. I am determined that I am going to hand over to my Deputy in July 2022 and work from home 2 mornings as an Admin Officer- so would like to get this done by then. Oral hygiene- not going to be brushing teeth- happy to send more info home to parents on it. HV's seem to be in short supply in our area. We always ask who their HV is when children start but rarely do parents know. Rafa- we tried to stop our snack bar couple of years ago but ended up re instating it as we had some parents who seemed to think their children would starve if not fed for 3 hours. Ours have lunch at 11.50 - snack at 10.30 and dont start until 9.15 am- so it's not going to harm them to drop a snack. One thing we (as in staff team) are all in agreement about is continuing with in September is the dropping off and picking up at the door.

Very true, I do think we just like to moan about something (well I like a good moan anyway 😀) However I will say I never wanted masks , I think they have no place in Early Years- unless the obvious one, dropping off or sickness. But I think that so many people were asking for stuff- for so long and we've been through all of this for a year now and just when we are starting to feel we are coming out the other side (maybe) we start getting tests, masks, wonder what will be next. Priority vaccines, in July- when 80% of the population has been done 😀😀. Nice we're being thought of though.

Yep!! Made me laugh out loud when I read that one! What a waste of time and money. Wish they'd send us gloves- going through those like crazy

I watched this last night. I wasn't sure when it first started, but glad I continued, such a moving film. I'm doing well with my TV watching. I'm now watching Firefly Lane. Haven't heard of that one- will investigate! I did watch all of It's a Sin- which I found really good and so very, very sad. However it is quite graphic in parts, so dont watch if you are easily offended. My husband started it and then wouldn't watch it- to be honest, that suited me as didn't realise how emotional it would make me feel. I have finished Outlander - funny never liked the books but have loved all 5 series. Have also been catching up with This Is Us- - and am up to ep 3 series 4 I just love this! It is so clever the way it jumps back and forth without confusing ( I usually get quite cross with TV that does that) Something I caught quite by accident last year was- Women who Kill - I thought it was a documentary but it wasn't. I wont say anymore but really, it's very good. I think it was on Alibi- but not definite.

I hadn't heard that either. Funnily enough- I had a 'heavy' arm for a couple of days and by the evening of the following day really felt quite rough. However a good nights sleep, couple of paracetamol and I felt fine after 12 hours of sleep! My husband was fine- not even a sore arm. However I was like this after the flu jab- in fact worse. Really sore arm, large red hot lump at the site & extremely achy for 2/3 days. He was fine- he says its because my immune system is really good & therefore fights it all like mad, whereas his is rubbish and just accepts anything!😀😀

We have all but 3 of our children returning to us after half term- I'm quite surprised as I thought more would stay off until Easter. However most of them have siblings at home, so I reckon parents have had enough of them at home now😃 Both my husband and I had our jabs las week. He got his notification first- which I was really pleased about as he is classed as clinically vulnerable and then a couple of hours later I got mine! I think my borough must be doing really well as since last week I''ve heard of loads of our age U70's being done. Must say I was so impressed with the set up and how smoothly it was all run. If nothing else they do seem to have got this bit right!

So do I! One of my favourite series ever- does make my eyes water a lot though at times!

I've just done a very quick rekki of finances and on the amount of funded hours lost (£1350) and private income (£320) We stand to lose a lot of money each week. And that's with us open! I honestly dont think they consult with any 'expert' from any industry when they make these decisions. If they just spoken to one individual from each PVI section- and taken some notice of them- we wouldn't be in this mess. Finleysmaid are you completely closed now? Are you able to pay your staff?

I have been in contact with my LA a lot this week over funding, or lack of. Anyway they have finally come back to me in response to mt ' I fail to understand why some LA's are willing to pay and you are not' with this comment ' There are lots of rumours abounding at the moment, one of certain LA's are paying full funding- this is completely untrue' To say I was fuming is an understatement! Anyway, a friend with two private nurseries is currently collecting evidence from those groups who have written confirmation from their LA's and will be stuffing it under their noses on Monday- I cant think it will do any good to be honest. Unless the gov do a U turn then we aren't going get the money. We had to close last week, as even with our mobile radiators we couldn't get it past 3 degrees in there. I have 1 staff member ill, 2 'dont want to work' and 13 out of 26 turned up on our first day. I've delayed our 6 new starters until - well not sure when now. I cant help thinking now we would be better off financially closed. As fees from 13 children wont pay for 9 staff and the rest of our outgoings. We could stay open and have enough money to carry on for the next four months- if nothing else comes in. If you include the funding from the few that will be in then we could probably manage until the end of the academic year. Not sure what to do- I hate the thought of closing but our area is getting worse. London is in a dreadful mess and as much as I am against closing I cannot for the life of me understand why it is ok for us to open and not primary schools. Chris Whitty is now all over TV telling people to stay home- Monday I will be telling parents if you dont bring your child you will forfeit your place. What a messI am going to put a proposal to my LA on Monday asking if we can claim funding for the children that are in our 'virtual' classroom. See if that works- last resort really.

There is Cait- says something like it must be a 'resonable temp. H&S say 16 degrees for non physical or 13/14 for physical work. Well I'm not going to tell you what we are but we're lucky if we make double figures by the time we go home! It's warm when we get in as church is putting heating on overnight when no one in there. The last week we had it extended until 9 am- but didnt really feel the benefit as we then had to close suddenly. However by 10 am- we've lost all the heat- we have such high ceilings and the hall is so big. But it is what it is- so we will try and manage- not sure for how long.

My husband would like these- he loves marzipan!

Well, they've shut all of us (London) schools now- however I have written to parents to say- we will open, but please let me know if you're not coming in (2 have) but do not bring siblings to the door with you, the hall is really cold ( but that is about the 10th time I've told them this) and if we consider your child is not dressed appropriately we will call you up. But a bit politer than that 😀 Honestly I kid you not- we had a child come in with jellies on, both broken- so they flapped when she walked. Another child in a short sleeved T shirt and yet another one in crocs. To be honest I'd be surprised if anyone wants to come in after the list of do's and donts I've sent out!! But I expect they will- for the first couple of days and then by the end of the week- they'll trail off. Found an email from a parent sent at 8 pm lat night saying- 'Given the U turn by the government today re all primary schools in London closing, we are surprised we haven't heard from you regarding this' Makes you wonder doesnt it- I didnt actually trust myself to reply to him. But did point out in my letter to all that we did not hear information any earlier than they did and had to watch the news to find out what was going on. So, we will see how many come in and if its worth it. I'm really worried about closing due to hall temperatures as we could be shut for weeks. Just heard that Brighton & Hove are telling all their primarys to shut now wonder how many more will follow.

Isn't it awful news still- and whoever has renamed that totally incompetent streak of nothing -Gavin'Frank Spencer' Williamson- has got it spot on. Honestly- I'm not normally that rude about people but he and our Mayor have both been MIA (well Mr K comes out every now again to moan that the PM wont talk to him or hasnt included him in meetings) virtually since the beginning of this. Mr W is a disgrace to his office. We are one of just 10 London boroughs that haven't had schools shut. I kept thinking it was a mistake or typo and have gone back to recheck it. But nope, we're ok apparently. The fact that we are smack in the middle of 5/6 other surrounding boroughs that are closing doesn't matter. Our council has written to the gov asking why as our numbers are higher than some around the country that are shut. I had actually geared myself up to be closed next week and mentally drafted a letter to parents. Sunyday- like you, I really feel that if it is not safe for the primarys to open then it isnt safe for us. Really, this is the first time I have felt like this- Also the fact that only a percentage of schools are now closing really is going to put those children on a greater disadvantage than ever. However with our schools open dont feel I can say we will close. But (and this is a big but!) unless temperatures rise considerably to now, then we wont be opening. My house has been difficult to keep warm this week with heating on, so quite what it will be like going into a huge hall that has 20 ft or more ceilings and bare brick walls with windows open, I'm wondering how we are going to manage. So may end up closing anyway, due to cold. I forgot to say we cannot have our heating on, so we bought 4 rads, but can only plug two in each side as not enough points. So cant heat both ends of hall as when we tried to have two up one end and one down the other, the electrics tripped!. Cant have them plugged in one side with our door bell or CD player as the electrics trip. Honestly you couldn't make it up😀😀 Really I'm at the point where we have to laugh or with everything else we'd just cry!

I've been tucked up watching The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Soc - my absolute fav film at the moment ooh........ and mine. Loved the book as well and one of the very, very few film adaptions that I wasn't terribly disappointed in. It's a lovely film isnt it.

I thought the wearing of a mask doesn't lessen your chance of catching it from the children- it lessens the chance of passing something on. So it would make more sense for the children to wear masks- Not that I would advocate that at all. I think the answer is as you rightly say we all need to make our own decisions.

I'm so against us wearing masks in work. I'm not bothered by the children being scared of them- as you say- they are so used to seeing people in them now. But so much of our communication to them will be lost behind a mask. I often struggle to understand what people are saying to me when they are wearing them. What do we do about our children who already have communication or language difficulties. I hate wearing them, they make me sweat, feel panicky and if I'm having a 'senior flush' oh my word- dreadful. There is no way I could wear one for the morning, let alone all day.We wear them when collecting and dropping off but I worry as well about the way they are taken off, stored/disposed off. Is anyone else a bit concerned that we are bringing up a generation of 'sterile' children. I do worry that these little ones are going to have no immunity to any 'common' germs the way we're going. Originally they did say Primary & Childcare together, would remain open as normal. But Michael G didnt mention us today- just primary. I'm sure they will want us to open still (and primary schools) most people with children of that age just cannot work if they are not at school. So by keeping us open- that appeases those who are fearful of where our economy is heading and by shutting most of secondary years, appeases those who want schools shut. I dont know what the answer is and I think the PM is damned if he does and damned if he doesnt- whatever he does will be wrong for some- I'm no great fan of Boris but I am glad its not me making those decisions and do feel just a teeny, tiny bit sorry for him. Glad everyone managed to enjoy Christmas- it was so odd- we seemed to spend most of the day on Facetime or Zoom. I'm wondering what January is going to bring for us, I think if we all go back next week by the end of the week , cases will be sky high. Well they already are especially here in London I suppose but even higher. My brother ives in Dover, just up the road to the roundabout at the bottom of the motorway. He stopped going to work last week as they couldn't get their cars in or out of their road. He did say that most of the residents were fed up with the lorries at first (he had originally said how busy it was, much more than normal, before the French closed their ports) but ended up feeling really sorry for them. Although he said there were a couple of strong views exchanged between some who seemed to forget who had shut their ports! Anyway, I expect we will find out on Weds where we are heading, cant see us being in Tier 3 anytime soon. Enjoy your New Year all!

Aww- thank you!! And the rest of yu for such supportive messages- I was feeling so down when I wrote that, still am, but it is what it is- so big girl pants on now and off to tackle the hospital's phone to try and find out how my Mum is. I know they are so busy and I would never dream off complaining or moaning at them- but goodness it is so frustrating when you are trying to find out WHY she is even there to be constantly told Dr/Nurse- doing rounds/meds/on lunch break or they dont answer. Took us a day and a half to find out why she had been moved from the acute assessment to the ward she is in now. I keep thinking she must be so confused as well

Well, our Christmas is well and truly scuppered now. We were going to my eldest daughter for dinner - now cant go. Had a row (well more of a disagreement) with eldest g/daughter who at 21, thinks its ridiculous and we should still be going-she's blaming her Mum & stepdad- huge row with my son who at 31- thinks it's ridiculous and that we should ignore it and still be going- he's blaming us. In reality- its a joint decision between my husband, myself, my daughter and SIL. However- I am so angry- I could scream- I get why it's being done but am still absolutely furious with the government for changing things so late in the day. Stopped reading FB posts as am sick of people saying- I'd rather my family were safe than see them. I see my family all the time- so what difference does it make now. - I'm not seeing my Mum for that reason or my MIL or my husbands sister who is having chemo. Doesnt mean I have to be happy about it and no there may well not be other Christmas' for people like my mum, who is in hospital seriously ill , my MIL - at 91- may well not be here next year. or my sister in law who has cancer. Sorry- I know I'm not the only one and at least financially this hasn't affected our family- I feel so desperately sorry for those whose businesses have gone down the pan. Just had a text conversation with my hairdresser (she was cancelling appointments) and she's just said depending on how long she is shut for will make the difference between her going bust or not. There must be so many like that.

Well we had our first positive case- unfortunately they were in on Thursday, emailed Sunday to say the child had tested positive- so as I only had 3 staff who weren't having to isolate- then we made the decision to close, as of Monday morning. As I'm one of those having to isolate - I left it up to my deputy to close everything up. Such a shame as this morning I had a call from a staff member who started a cough Sunday night- got a test yesterday and has today got a positive-result- so now she's isolating until Xmas Eve and praying her elderly parents dont get it. (why do I feel guilty over that!) I've had a dreadful week- one of our closest friends- been friends for almost 50 years died, suddenly last week. My mum was rushed to hospital with pneumonia and in a diabetic coma at the weekend and now hearing we're going into Tier 3 as well (London) just about finished things off. So I for one cannot wait to see the end of 2020- although I do wonder how better (if indeed it is ) the start of 2021 is going to be. But I have 3 wonderful little people who are so excited, to share Christmas with (and one big one who has made it back from Uni with a negative test) so at least we have that to look forward to. Providing I dont come down with anything before the weekend! Such a shame as we have all the childrens presents, cards- decorations and cards they had made. All ready to go home next week, party planned for Weds and a carol concert- to be videoed and sent to parents. Never mind- more important that we are all safe. Talking about parents - When I sent out the emails re closure etc- I finished off with 'such a shame xmas presents and their work will be something to look forward to in January' or words to that effect. I had one parent come back and say. What a shame the staff who aren't having to isolate couldn't manage this week with the children who dont have to isolate! I haven't bothered to answer. I feel incredibly lucky to have got this far with just the one case. Hope the rest of you get to the end of term safely. Those that are full time, I hope you get to next week safely. Isn't it sad- I feel desperately sorry for those who now cannot work and/or have to shut their business down again.

Agree with Panders, if they're reaching it then say so. Last month (just before lockdown) we had 4 staff to 1st aid 6 hours 'study' and 6 hours practical- have done it this way as a 'blended' course for quite a few years now. I wouldn't like the thought that someone who was doing 1st aid for the fist time did the 'face to face' via zoom though. I think eventually Ofsted are perhaps going to have to make a ruling on this. I also managed to get a flu jab done in Sept- ended up with a very 'heavy' arm and lump on the top. Only lasted a day or so though. One of my staff is 65 in January and has een turned away so many times as they keep running out. Our parents feedbacks will be done over the phone- if we have time and all the staff in!

Aah thank you ladies!! Feel bit more settled this week- back to work Thursday - see what mayhem has gone on during the last 10 days!! The one good thing is- I have got so much of my paperwork caught up on!