School

A week off at the end of January

Thursday 29th January 2015Thursday 29th January 2015Baggie

Time to squeeze an update in before the end of January? I think so, especially when I have the excuse that for the last 9 days I have been at home having taken the last of my 2014 leave entitlement. An F.A. Cup weekend meant that their was no Premier League action and thus it was a perfect time, from a work point of view, to take a break.

So what has 2015 brought to the Bagnall household so far? The biggest, most important, euphoria inducing event is the fact that our central heating works! As regular readers may recall one of the problems with our house is that the heating has never truly worked and thus the house has always felt cold. This was a complete shock to us coming from a mid-terrace house, with cavity walls and a very efficient heating system. We called in an expert last winter who said that our system was full of gunk and recommended a power flush. This he did, cleared out a ton of gunk and although not perfect our house was at least, if not warm not cold. We thought that was the best it was going to be and thought no more of it over the warm summer months.

The first cold snap of this winter proved that the power flush had not done the job, for although the upstairs of the house was warm, you could see you breath downstairs. We booked another heating engineer to come round and in the meantime we purloined as many electric heaters as we could to keep the chill out, ignoring the effect on our energy bills! Chris (the heating engineer was due to come round the week before Christmas but an emergency meant that he had to cancel and instead made us his priority for the first week of 2015.

Without boring you with the minutiae of our heating system, effectively our heating system suffered a coronary. The fifteen years of gunk had collected in three separate sections of pipework preventing the hot water for reaching our downstairs ring of radiators. Fortunately, no damage had been done to the boiler, or the pump and after some pipe replacement, cleaning of the system and a few minor adjustments to the design of the system, the house was warm. The pipes were so full of gunk that there was no clear path through the pipe for the water to flow, no wonder the radiators were cold. Thankfully, that can fade into the midst of memory and we can now walk around the house without fear of frostbite.

As I have mentioned, and the title alludes, I have had the best part of a week and a half away from work. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of Lucinda, who was doing her usual hours and the girls who were both at school. Therefore, we have not been away or done anything overly exciting. Nevertheless it has been nice being the house husband and spending some time with the family, especially Ezra, who has enjoyed the bulk of my time. It has also been nice to not only drop the girls off at school, which I do every morning, but to pick them up from school, which I rarely get a chance to do.

We also took the opportunity to have a catch up with Éowyn’s teacher. As you know Éowyn (and Amélie) moved schools in November and thus we managed to miss parent’s evening (not that the teacher would have been able to tell us much at that point!). Therefore we asked if we could have a quick catch up after school one evening and this week suited both us and her very well. She told us that Éowyn has settled in very well and has made some good friends. Although she is clever, she has a tendency to talk too much and in doing so loses concentration and makes silly mistakes, which is something they are trying to work on as she is also disrupting the children she is talking to. So we have had a chat with Éowyn to try to curb that side of her personality, but it is something that we can’t do very easily as we are not there, the onus must be with the teaching staff who may have to split her little group up. Something that happened at her previous school when Éowyn and her best friend were being too loud in class.

The week off, was also well-timed for Granddad. Lucinda’s dad had ruptured a tendon in his shoulder at the end of last year and has been in terrible pain with it for months. Fortunately, his operation was scheduled in the middle of my week off so I was able to take him to the hospital. The operation was bigger than expected and although only a week has passed, John is still in a lot of pain. However, he has a follow-up appointment on Saturday so should know whether the operation has been a success and whether the pain is to be expected.

The week off was also an opportunity to investigate whether it was possible, and whether I wanted, to have laser surgery to correct my vision. I am slightly short-sighted but suffer from astigmatism in my left eye. So took the opportunity to make an appointment and see what the experts say, and probably more importantly how much it would cost. I never got as far as the second part for during my appointment they discovered that the cornea on the lower part of my left eye is too thin to safely perform laser surgery. Therefore, it is back to the opticians for me!

As part of my time off I had one of those rare events: a weekend off. Despite the cold January weather we decided to take full advantage and go on an adventure and visit somewhere new. We decided on Bocketts Farm and headed down to Leatherhead. Bocketts Farm is a working farm with play areas to entertain the children. All three found things to entertain them. There were trampolines, a soft play area little pedal tractors, all before we managed to see any animals.

Highlights of the day included watching the pig race, getting up close with the small animals in the petting zoo area. The girls were happy to stroke the rabbit and guinea pigs but weren’t as keen on the thought of stroking the chicken. However, the apprehension soon faded when the chicken was brought round and they happily stroked her too. Even Ezra stroked all the animals.

Those highlights were put into the shade by the biggest highlight of the day, for the girls at least, a pony ride. When they realised that there was the opportunity to ride a pony they both asked if they could queue up. Well considering the meaning of Éowyn’s name, how could I refuse? Both of them thoroughly enjoyed it, but thankfully neither have asked for a pony. Hopefully, that is the way it will stay. Take the opportunity when presented but not bankrupt daddy by wanting one of your own!

I would thoroughly recommend a trip to Bocketts Farms, especially when it gets a bit warmer as there are plenty of things to do to keep the kids entertained. We will be going back.

So after some time with the family it is back to work and back to the usual regime. The first photos of 2015 are on my Flickr pages and see you all in February.

Peace and Love

Baggie

Northern grin

Intense

Cheeky Chappie

Ready to ride

How do you drive this thing?

Looking relaxed

Safety first

Where are we going?

Well, what does my name mean?

Éowyn being lead

Pony Trekking

Lunchtime

I’m going on the slide

Are you ready to catch me?

I’m ready, put the film on

First day at a new school

Tuesday 4th November 2014Wednesday 5th November 2014Baggie

I’m afraid you are going to have to wait a little longer for the annual Badger Moot write up as Tuesday 4th November saw a huge change in the lives of both of our girls and I’m afraid that takes precedence.

When we had to apply for schools for Éowyn we lived in Stanwell Moor and thus took into account journey times to school among educational and development promises the schools made. That sounds worse that it actually was, you can rest assured that we were dutiful parents and attended the open days and listened attentively to each of the presentations. After much deliberation we chose Town Farm. Town Farm is based in Stanwell and geographically is the closest to our old home (although still a car ride away). Town Farm had always had a poorer reputation than some of the other schools but on our visit we were impressed with the attitude of the staff and the obvious improvements that had been made to the school, with the cash injection that it had seemingly received. We do not regret for one moment sending Éowyn to Town Farm, she had progressed well, made good friends (one very good friend) and got on extremely well with the staff, especially her reception teacher Miss Finbow. Nevertheless, since moving into Staines (upon Thames) and more importantly, the other side of the A30, (and Crooked Billet roundabout) the journey had made us begin to question whether we should keep her there and that question was becoming more important as it would obviously influence our decision of where to apply to send Amélie and consequently Ezra.

In addition to these logistical challenges of keeping the kids at Town Farm there were also the positives in the local school: Riverbridge. Riverbridge is a five minute walk across the park at the end of the road, and a number of children in the road also attend. One negative thing about Town Farm, from our point of view was that we never felt fully part of the community, probably because we drove there, dropped the kids off and drove back. The alternative is sitting in the midst of our (albeit new) community. Therefore at the beginning of 2014 we put Éowyn on the waiting list to join Riverbridge. We were hoping that a place would become available over the summer and Éowyn could start year 1 at Riverbridge. That did not happen and we were only offered the place at the start of October. However, with the girls party and birthdays we asked if we could defer the start date until after the half term break, as it seemed like a more natural starting point and give us time to break the news to Éowyn, and her best friend Aaliyah.

Riverbridge, always had a very good reputation in the area but it has recently merged with 2 other schools, one of which has closed down. This transition has adversely affected its Ofsted rating but we think that this is just a temporary situation and the other positives will hopefully justify changing Éowyn at this stage in her education. That is what we are telling ourselves anyway!

Changing Éowyn’s place of education also meant that we needed to change Amélie’s place of education. Obviously Amélie is not in full time education so in some ways it is not as difficult to move her. However, Amélie has made friends at MiniTots and is very settled with the children there and the staff, so it is going to be a hard transition for her too. Again, we were very happy with MiniTots and with their flexible hours it was ideal to fit in with Éowyn, and placed on the same site as Éowyn’s school, we could not have asked for a better nursery.

Riverbridge has a nursery but you have to commit to either all mornings, or all afternoons there is no provision for children to stay there all day. This does not suit us as we prefer 3 full days rather than 5 half days. However, the second closest school, Our Lady of the Rosary has a nursery that has spaces and the option to send Amélie for three full days. We were very impressed when we went to look around but two factors swayed us. The first is that our neighbour Kathy works there, so Amélie would know one member of staff before going there and secondly one of her friends from MiniTots goes there on Wednesdays, so she would know at least one other girl. Unlike full time school, Amélie was able to go there for a taster session before half-term and thus was a little more prepared than Éowyn for her first day.

Although the schools are closer and there is no driving required, we still have to leave home at about the same time. This is because Amélie’s school starts at 08:30. Also, since Éowyn’s new school uniform includes a blouse and tie, it will take a little longer to get ready we woke up, on quite a cold morning, nice and early. The obligatory photos of the first day were taken (see below) sand we dropped them off. Amélie met a little girl on the way to school and immediately stuck up a conversation with her. There were no special measures for Amélie, she simply joined the rest of the children waiting outside and quite happily headed inside. It seemed a bit of an anticlimax.

At Riverbridge, we had to take Éowyn into school via reception. At least it was warm inside the school. We had to fill in a couple of forms and while we were doing so the head teacher introduced herself. Éowyn went into shy mode and lost her voice. She seemed more overwhelmed by it all but wasn’t upset more shell-shocked. We said goodbye and she headed off after the secretary down the corridors and towards her classroom.

The beauty of being a short walk away from school is that there is no need to get the car out and fight for a parking space outside school. The downside of being a short walk away from school is that you walk to school and although that is really something to enjoy when the sun is shining, it is a different matter when it is raining. At 14:45 today it decided to rain, not a drizzle but a serious downpour. Lucinda and I were soaked by the time we picked the girls up. Nevertheless, standing in the pouring rain we did manage to have a quick chat with Éowyn’s new teacher: Mrs Preston. She said that Éowyn seemed to settle quite well, made a few friends and joined in with class discussions.

After changing out of wet clothes and warming up we spoke to the girls about their first days. Amélie seemed to enjoy her day and had made a few new friends and was looking forward to going back the next day. There is another girl there called Amélie, so Amélie is known as Amélie B.

Éowyn was a little more reserved by said that she enjoyed her day. Blake, her friend and son of our friends Emma and Martin, sat with her and played with her: the consummate gentleman, looking after his friend. She made a new friend and had taken a tumble in the playground. Pretty standard stuff. She was given a new reading book (a story about a mermaid, so she was very pleased) and the work that the class had been given to complete over the half-term holiday.

Although both schools will be following similar curriculum they have concentrated on different things thus far. As a consequence it is going to take Éowyn a little time to play catch up with the rest of the class. Éowyn is very bright so we have no worries that she will catch up, but for Éowyn it is a novel experience being the only one not to understand something that the rest of the class does. She does not like this, so this evening she asked me if I could explain Hundreds, Tens and Units, so we sat down until she grasped the fundamentals.

Everything seemed good and we were mildly surprised how well it had gone, until Éowyn got out of the bath and burst into tears. I think potentially the realisation dawned on her that this was it, she was at the blue school and there was no going back. Up until today, it was just a notion, an idea an abstract concept. Today it became real and talking to Nanny and Granddad and then Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz coupled with explaining her day to Mommy and Daddy brought home the fact that she was not going to see her friends and teachers at Town Farm again. It is completely understandable, I know some adults that have the same difficulty with change and I suppose deep down we all do.

A cuddle and a chat with Mum, then Dad eased her tears but I have no doubt we will have more before the week is out but I also have no doubt that she will settle down and catch up with the work that the rest of the class are finding easy at the moment. As always I will keep you informed through the medium of this website.

I will leave you with photos of them in their new school uniforms.

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS This momentous day also happens to be the 200th post on this website – thank you all for reading

Éowyn’s first day

Éowyn and Amélie

Amélie’s first day

Éowyn’s Sixth Birthday

Monday 20th October 2014Baggie

So a busy few weeks continues with our oldest child’s sixth birthday. Yes, Éowyn came into this world six years ago. Although six years, in the grand scheme of things, is not that long it is amazing to think how much our lives have changed in those years. It is also difficult to remember that we once had a life sans kids.

Éowyn’s birthday, this year, fell on a Friday. The Friday the week after 54 European Qualifying games. Hence my ‘weekend’ this week was Wednesday and Thursday so it seemed a good opportunity to claw back some of the days owed me to turn it into a three day ‘weekend’ and tag Éowyn’s birthday onto the break. With Lucinda unable to take the day off work it meant that I could take Éowyn and Amélie to school and look after Ezra, and then to be there to pick the girls up at the end of the day.

Despite it being her birthday, Éowyn did not wake any earlier than usual Friday morning. However, she did declare that it was her birthday and she felt different now that she was 6. She did not elucidate as to what this difference was exactly but good to know that there is a difference between being 5 and 6, it is too long ago for me to remember (the 1970’s!).

The morning, as most parents of young children can probably relate to, followed its usual routine of cajoling them to get ready and ushering them out of the door, so there was no time for present opening, that would have to wait until after school. However, she had received her main present from Mum and Dad the night before, her first bicycle. Yes, both Amélie and Éowyn received bikes for their birthday, I will keep you up to date with their progress and when the stabilisers come off. That is a little way off yet.

We had asked Éowyn what she would like to do for her birthday and whether she wanted to invite anyone around. It will not surprise anyone that knows our daughter that she wanted her best friend Aaliyah to come round and to go to the pizza restaurant (Pizza Express in Staines). Éowyn rushed out of school doubly excited firstly because Aaliyah was coming home, and secondly it was her turn to take Marmaduke home. Marmaduke is a teddy bear that is given to a member of the class to take home each weekend. The chosen child then has to write a little diary entry of what they did with Marmaduke and attach a photo of them with Marmaduke. So Éowyn insisted that Marmaduke came along to the restaurant.

Since Friday night, is usually movie night alternating between our house and Emma and Martin’s house we invited Emma and her kids Blake and Natalie along too. So a table was booked for three adults, 6 kids and a bear.

We only live a short walk into Staines town centre so we decided to walk the kids to the restaurant. As we started, we questioned whether this was the wisest of decisions, however apart from an attempt at walking on water by Natalie and Aaliyah (the mistook an algae covered pond for grass) the journey was uneventful and all six were very well behaved and we got to the restaurant relatively unscathed, if a little soggy.

I am not sure that the restaurant staff were fully prepared for the rumbustiousness of a table of excited children; however in fairness to our brood, they may have been a little noisy but they were not unruly. They all ate well, although the prize for the best diner was Ezra. He ate every crumb of his three courses and helped the others finish their meals too. Not bad for an 18 month toddler, although he is a Bagnall and my son, so it is to be expected.

The one thing we had overlooked when we decided that we would walk to the restaurant was the fact that we have just passed the Autumnal equinox and so the nights are getting longer. So by the time we had finished our meals and left the restaurant it was dark. O.K., we live in a town on the edge of one of the largest conurbations in Europe so dark is a matter of perspective, nevertheless it was a lot darker than when we arrived, especially the walk through the park, that had Amélie holding on to her daddy very tightly

Éowyn still had a large pile of unopened presents when we arrived back home (safe and sound, I hasten to add). She was kind-hearted enough though to allow Amélie and Aaliyah to open some of them, although not the big ones! There were a few tears when I refused to extract some of the toys from their packaging but it had been a long day and it was the cue for Lucinda and Éowyn to take Aaliyah home and me to put Amélie and Ezra to bed.

There was a whole weekend ahead of them to play with their toys and another party to go on Saturday morning. Georgia’s princess party, so they needed their sleep and so did Mum and Dad.

All it is left to say is ‘Happy Birthday Éowyn, love Mum and Dad’

Peace and Love

Baggie