cedar_grove | 34 Big Ducks

So it's been a while since I did a personal update on this thing... what's a journal for if not for talking about what's been going on? I'm bad like that. But one of the things I want to do is to use it more. I pay for it, why shouldn't I after all.

So, as some of you may or may not know, last week my school was visited by the Ofted team. We had an inspection a year ago, almost to the day actually, and from that one we kind of failed - we were put into a category called 'notice to improve' which basically meant we had the government on our back the whole year, checking our standards, our teaching, our attainment... that kind of thing. We had a visit from Her Majesty's Inspector some way through that year, and then last week was the full inspection in which we aimed to get out of the category and back to being a good school. What did that mean for us teachers, besides massive stress? Well it meant that all of the planning had to be tip top, and all of the lessons had to be observed by the inspectors. And from what I understand we all did pretty darned well as a matter of fact. I can only say in detail about my own lesson of course, but during the feedback from the inspector, she was saying things like 'I really enjoyed your lesson' and 'good' (which they're not allowed to say if your lesson judgement is anything less than good), and that she though the children obviously got a lot from the lesson. I also - in my role as Science Co-ordinator - had to have a 'conversation' with the lead inspector about the science curriculum and attainment, and I have to say, he was /most/ complementary. :) The official report comes out some time this week, but I just want to say WE DID IT!!! We got out of that horrid category and now we can actually get on with the job of actually teaching the children rather than jumping through hoops.

This week is assessment week, which means it's the children's turn to jump through hoops. LOL. We have one once a term, just to keep an eye on where the children are and what they're doing. And Monday just gone, I was sent back to school, to do an accredited course on middle management in primary schools, the title of the course makes me laugh. "Leading from the Middle." Anyway, it's 'blended learning' which mostly means there are only 4 taught sessions through the year, the rest is all online stuff. I need my username!

This weekend I'm planning a trip to Manchester to a con up there. There will be a bunch of people there from ST:ENT and SG:A. I hope to have a conversation with some of them Connor and Dominic for example.

I've got something else in the pipeline too, but I'm kind of a bit superstitious about saying too much about it right now, but good thoughts would be appreciated. I'll tell you when I'm ready, if you don't already know. :)