Am all Birthdayed out!

Hello everyone,
I am so sorry if you are feeling bereft at my absence! I have been very busy!

In  the last two weeks, my daughter turned 18. My step ma in law turned 70 and I turned forty flipping one.

I am caked up to the eyeballs in cake. I will be back very soon to blog up the cake what I made for Chloe! 

I shall return to regale you with 'hilarious' tales of my day to day life...........you lucky peoples.
Rachel xx
Ps I PROMISE to read up and comment on your blogs too xxx

Three Wishes Thursday

Pic from Google Images.

Three Wishes.

I have different combinations of these. Sometimes I like to mix them up. Sometimes I am a good wholesome Christian and the wishes are all about others less fortunate. Sometimes I am not. I am selfish, materialistic and unsociable.

It's important to have batches of three. Greed is not a good quality. Therefore, never ever is the third wish allowed to be  "I wish for three more wishes!"

I'm going to come up with some now. I've had them swimming round my head since 6am!

I am typing them with my toes crossed, my hair is tucked behind my right ear and I have a teenager in the bathroom: ergo they have to come true. 

Also depending on the tone of them you may guess what phase the moon is in!

BUT, and it is a BIG BUT { I like BIG BUTS ( sic )  and I cannot lie! }

One should also be very careful what one wishes for....

I'd really like you all to add your three wishes - you can have as many batches of three as you wish!

Batch 1.
1. I wish my daughter passes her A Levels and gets the grades needed for Uni.
2. I wish my son gets top grades in his GSCEs this year ( Y10) so he doesn't have to re sit them in Y11
3. I wish my  girls' maths group at work do me proud and make the L4 I was aiming  to get them to.

Batch 2.
1. I wish Harry didn't have cancer
2. I wish my mum hadn't had her strokes
3. I wish my dad hadn't had his heart attack.
( They are all still here so some wishes made at the time must have been granted )

Batch 3.
1. I wish I lived ON MY OWN, IN A HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE, WITH NO ONE TO BOTHER ME.
2. I wish my neighbours were lovely people with lovely children.
3. I wish the shop that was two doors down hadn't gone bankrupt and shut down, because  I now have a 3 minute walk to get emergency milk and chocolate.

Batch 4.
1. I wish I was thin
2. I wish I was thin but with ample perky bosom, pert buttocks and long slender legs
3. I don't wish to be a barbie doll though so please I want my wish to be tastefully thin with all of the above.

Batch 5.
1. I wish I could win the lottery
2. I wish I didn't have to go to work every sodding day
3. I wish work was full of interested, willing to learn, curious to discover, well mannered and obedient children.

Batch 6.
1. I wish for the makers of ER to make another series.
2. I wish to go to a Drive in Movie
3. I wish for a nice car to sit in at the afore mention Drive In Movie

I could go on and on and on! It goes unsaid that I wish for world peace, happiness and that no children ever have to suffer ever.  It's not unsaid now. #awkward!

Today only for a short time it's "I'll Grant Your Wishes Thursday."

 My one wish for today is that I get my mitts on a couple of Muse tickets - damn you work, making me be fully occupied at the time when I should be sat refreshing a screen trying to get tickets! ( I know, I know - in this day and age I am jolly well lucky to have a job but it's my perrogative to whinge about it! )

This was at Manchester 2010. Look how close I was!!!! That's THE Matthew Bellamy! I have no idea who that hand belongs to though!

You might recognise this shot - it was taken at Liverpool a few years ago. I bloody love Muse!

You all know I love my job! It pays for the above habit!

School dinners - Then and Now

THEN ( This colour represents my rose tinted glasses that I am wearing whilst writing this post. )

At Primary School my 'school dinners' relationship started on the very first day when I came home and reported that we'd had big black stones and custard. I now know of course these to be prunes! My mum told me that I'd eaten the custard and left the stones! I think that would still apply today!

Throughout school I recall a mixture of having school dinners, coming home for lunch and taking a packed lunch.

NOW
I work at the same school that I attended and whilst the hall is EXACTLY the same, bar for the new floor replaced only three years ago, the kitchen has been slightly modernised so our meals are now made on the premises. NONE of the children go home for lunch and most eat a packed lunch from home.

THEN
When I was there, as a patron of this fine dining restaurant, the meals were delivered from a central canteen and placed in warming ovens till service.  I also remember the pig swill wagon coming to collect ALL the waste food.

NOW
The waste is just bagged up into black bags and placed out for general rubbish collection. I find this incredible that a) it isn't sorted into raw veg peelings etc for compost and b) Our council does have a food waste collection recycling service now - so why not include our school?


THEN
We always had a main and a pudding and free access to jugs of water. We had tiny little GLASS glasses and we ate off white bone china ( it's what I was told at the time by a dinnerlady! ) and solid silver cutlery!( the same dinnerlady. ) I don't recall anyone smashing things or being cut to ribbons by the sharp cutlery.

NOW
The children have brightly coloured plastic all in one trays - which I HATE. They have matching brightly coloured  BLUNT chunky plastic knives and forks and spoons - which are no use for the fine motor skills required to cut and eat elegantly and little plastic beakers, again made from brightly coloured plastic. The dinnerladies  Lunchtime Organisers now serve the drinks at the same time as the children collect their meals and the little cup is balanced on the specially moulded tray. Extra drinks are served to them. They do not have free access to water as we did. Also the brightly coloured plastic makes drinks look weird and unappetising.


THEN
 The mains were less memorable I suppose. I think we had what we were given! No choices. I HATED fish days. Hideously watery yellow fish rectangles served with an ice cream scoop of smash. ( It probably was real potato but hours of keeping it warm transformed the taste and texture into thick gloopy stodge.  I remember my friend and I used to either spread the food really thinly round the 
plate or hide it under our knife and fork. We went to collect our pudding after we'd been cleared to remove our plates and scrape it into the big trough ourselves. We had to wait to leave the table until our plates had been inspected! The dinner hall was also patrolled by the Headmaster, who paced around with his hands behind his back reminding us not to speak with our mouths full, not to shout  and not to point. EVER.  He let us know which one of us he was speaking to shouting at by pointing at us. We were also allowed to go for seconds! It also caused great excitement  on the rare occasions when we had milkshakes! Green or Purple milk went down a storm!

NOW
In a similar system to the one demonstrated at the fantastic BLOG by Veg at Never seconds http://neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk ; every day, the children at my school now get a daily choice and are given cards to present so they never ever have to have what's left. The school operates on a three weekly menu very similar to the one pictured here -

Image from Google image search

 with each day having four choices. Always a meat dish, a vegetarian option, jacket potatoes available daily with a choice of fillings and the option of a school packed lunch. Thursday is a popular day with my current base class as it's roast dinner day! they sure love their roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings! It's good because parents can just pay on the day too - no advance ordering. Salad and bread is available freely. Fresh fruit is always an option as an extra to dessert. Portion sizes are a bit stingy I think ( even though we are tackling childhood obesity these days ) and there are never calls for leftovers too be distributed as seconds as each meal is ordered. The card system works very well and rarely is there an occasion where a child cannot have the meal they ordered. They are also allowed milk as a drink choice every day. Plain milk - not green or purple! Not a food colouring in sight.

THEN
I don't think I had a favourite main meal. I recall we had pilchard pie which I think I liked. The meat and potato pie was made with horrid grey gristle. This was the 70s remember. Times was hard and we were second class citizens! ( Quite rightly so!! ); there was the horrid fish dish, chips - when we had them were soggy, but we could put vinegar on - out of real  cut  crystal glass vinegar decanters ( That dinner lady was very posh! ) My very very VERY  VERY favourite was chicken supreme. That was delicious.

NOW
The children seem to love the roast dinners the best, closely followed by crunchy chicken wraps and the curries. Puddings  desserts tend to be healthy fruit based yogurts and muffins. Not a great deal of choice really compared to what we had.

THEN
The puddings. I think I put up with the mains ( except the Supreme ) just to get to the puddings. We had: great thick cuboids of chocolate sponge served with pale green mint custard, great thick cuboids of vanilla sponge served with chocolate custard. I liked those. On the dislike list was the HUGE dishes of semolina with a blob of jam in the middle. YUK. School rice pudding was awful too. The big black stones were to be avoided also. But my ULTIMATE BEST DISH OF ALL TIME WAS
Manchester Tart . Served in large rectangular slabs - the soft delicious pastry with jam on covered in the thick yellow wobbly custard with a glace cherry on and a sprinkling of coconut. It was blinking beautiful. So delicious. Mouthwateringly yummy!

Imagine my giddiness on the rare occasion we arrived at the queue to find that it was a Chicken Supreme  AND Manchester Tart day!

NOW
Well, yesterday to be exact, I made a Manchester Tart. Only mine was round, not rectangular! I made it from the memory of what it used to be like! I made a sweet pastry crust, pricked its bottom and blind baked it till golden. When it was cool I spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the base and I made a thick thick custard using Bird's Custard powder - a fancy pants home made egg yolk and vanilla infused cream concoction would not do - which was then poured onto the jam base and allowed to set. Dessicated coconut and a glace cherry was added!

TA DAAAA!!!! Think I am going to make Chicken Supreme for tea tonight!


What are YOUR memories of School Dinners?

If you were at school in the 70s - what meals have I blocked from my memory?!

What are you having for tea tonight?

Test and keep

Test and keep a new DYSON.

Now I know I should get out more - but to a housewife gambler* like myself - this was like winning the Euromillions 

NB note to self - as soon as sodding computer stops updating - get on lotto site and buy ticket for tonight's draw.

Note to readers - I am not a member of Gamblers Anonymous - even though from the first few lines of this post it looks like I might need it.

My post title is  referring to an email that I got today. It wasn't in the Spam - so therefore I reasoned it's real! I opened it. Still looked convincing. I was totally ignoring the fact that why on earth would they want me with only a few ( but highly intelligent and worthy ) followers, with relatively few page views a day - MOSTLY MINE - even though I keep turning myself off!!!

But in my inbox nestled a wee message saying 'Product Testers.'
It looked like this .

Testers Needed For: Dyson DC28

Sign Up Now To Become a Product Tester! If you are selected, you will be able to test a brand new Dyson DC28 vacuum, and keep the product after testing is complete. Step 1: Register with our site (for free) Step 2: If you are chosen, use the product for 7 days and write a thorough review. Step 3: Keep the product for your own use, if you wish!

So ( being incredibly naive )  I eagerly beaverly clicked the sign up link.

Wanted:
Product Testers

Dyson^© are considered the crème de la crème of vacuums...do they live up to the hype? We want your opinion, and will reward you for it! If selected, you will become one of our Dyson Testers. Tell us about your experience, and then the Dyson DC28 is yours to keep!

Step 1: Enter your email address:

I accept the Terms and Privacy Policy. I agree to the collection, use and disclosure of my personal data (including to third parties) for marketing purposes. This offer is free and without obligation.

Testers Needed For: Dyson DC28

Sign Up Now To Become a Product Tester! If you are selected, you will be able to test a brand new Dyson DC28, and keep the product after testing is complete. Step 1: Enter your details Step 2: If you are chosen, use the product for 7 days and write a thorough review. Step 3: Keep the product for your own use, if you wish!

Contact | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
© Copyright 2010 Lucky-Day-UK.com. All rights reserved, DVX LLC.



Fear not for my computer's safety - I am anti virused up to the HILT. It simply asked for my email. Strange, I thought - since they had already emailed me......I decided to look further. I actually, gasp, clicked the terms & conditions.

http://www.lucky-day-uk.com/pages/UK/terms-dyson.html - nowhere in the original email did it mention the word competition!
Instantly I suspected, it was not real. Well, to be fair - I think I knew - I did what any self respecting person would - I got on to Twitter and asked a couple of bloggy pros! One said - if it's too good to be true - then it isn't!Cheers BB! -  One of my first followers! Damn you real life proverbs and sayings! The other I think is going to explain the whole review process thingy! Which is a jolly lovely thing to do. So thank you Jane  - northernmum - a terrific Blog and a lovely lady who I tweet!

I also have emailed Dyson! I have attached the link and asked them if it's real and if it isn't - would they like me to test out a new hoover vacuum!! - You never know. If you don't ask - you don't get!

If they reply - I shall update you all! Fingers crossed for a shiny new dyson!

* Housewife Gambling - can be found at the twitter hashtags  #hwg & #housewifegambling.
It's creator is the lovely Lynda - @Pescispen - and we play this to amuse ourselves. Unfortunately she is poorly at the moment and has been for a good few weeks - so been unable to play. ( Gawd woman your house must be a RIGHT TIP )!!! Get well soon honey x

It all began when I tweeted ( rather interestingly I thought ) how I'd been up with the larks, had 15 loads of washing on the line, mopped the floor and changed the beds - she replied I'll see you the bed change and raise you a complete hoover through and a full roast dinner cooked or something along those lines! it just made me giggle. No money changes hands!! If you want to join in - come and find me on twitter - I'm @rachelradiostar!

Right O, gotta get a wriggle on. I have to go to town ( boo hiss ).

I also plan to make a Manchester Tart. If this goes well - it will be tomorrow's post!

Half way through Half Term - a bit about my job.

I love my job.  I keep saying this in lots of posts! I also love the break I get from it!

Summer A was a seven week killer. Brain tired is so different to physically tired! The children need the break too. As an adult working in a school - I can honestly say the holidays are not a luxury  to be envied but an an essential to keep the asylums from filling up!
Last week had some particularly challenging times.

I know people who don't work in education tend to think that those of us who do have it easy with our short 9 - 3 days and all of our holidays. These are myths!

Big long forum debate HERE

The truth is, I, as a  TA3/ HLTA arrive  at school every day between 8 and 8.30am. Even when I arrive at 8am - ALL of the teachers bar none are already there and have been working for at least half an hour.

At lunchtime I have an hour unpaid from 12 - 1 . I mostly nip home to hang washing out, run round with the hoover, set the tea going, make phone calls - eat a hastily prepared lunch and if I am super fast I manage a ten minute sit down! This rests on the fact IF I get out at 12. I rarely do.

The afternoon starts again at 1pm. Sometimes there is a lot of lunchtime angst and argy bargy to unravel which sets your stress levels through the roof! In KS2 we don't have an afternoon break and it's hard to keep the children on track - especially when they hear the infants playing out at about 2.15. Even without our break it's hard to fit everything in. Our junior bell signals the end of the day at 3.20pm .

Most staff run an after school club till 4.20pm every night. Mondays are staff meeting/curriculum meetings/inset which run till between 5.30 and 6pm.

I am paid pro rata - which means I get paid for the hours I work term time only. My pay is split into 12 equal month payments. This does not mean I am salaried per se like the teaching staff. When school is closed I am not paid. So all my holidays that I enjoy? Free!

MOST of the teachers I have worked with truly deserve their hard earned salaries. People  not in education who moan about it are just jealous. They should have chosen to teach! Why didn't they? Um because it is a REALLY HARD JOB!! 

My HLTA status - was completed in the first year it ran. I am a bit of a geek really. There was/is much controversy over it. SOME teachers were outraged that unqualified people were able to teach DELIVER lessons. Interestingly the SAME teachers are fiercely protective over their PPA time. Can't have one without the other!.  ( Said teachers are usually super unionised ) .
Also I was being asked to cover supervise a lot of the time on really crappy wages - another reason to go for HLTA.

ALSO interestingly - for HLTA the maths standard qualification ( I was OK I had my O Level - gained when exams were proper!) that was acceptable for HLTA was HIGHER than the  alternative equivalents they use to accept people onto teacher training degrees.  I worked extremely hard for my status. I had something like 52 standards to qualify and provide evidence for. The essays were Higher Education standard. It wasn't easy. Not everyone passed either. My file was taken and a copy made for the adjudicators to use as  an excellent example for others to be marked against! ( Not that you can tell from my writing on here!! )

One year I HLTAed in every year group except Reception. I was paid for 13 3/4 hours - out of this was 1 3/4hours for planning, marking, teacher liaising. Unlike the teachers I had to do this after school out of session times. I taught delivered RE to each class. That could mean if I set a task where recording was down on paper I could potentially have 6 classes of  30 pieces of work to mark. Really. In an hour and a quarter. Marking is NOT just a tick  or a cross. Each piece of work I mark I have to assess if the child met the learning objective, how well they met it and identify to that child what the next steps are in order for them to improve. Yes in RE. Also then I planned and delivered History, Geography, music and Art. Remember I only get paid for the hours I actually work.

As more staff gained the HLTA status I was grateful to share the workload! Guess what? Over the years - they have all given it up! Reasons? - see all the above and all of the below! The main bug bear is that we have no support! BUDGET will not allow it! Apparently.

I am paid HLTA rate ( incidentally NO WHERE NEAR WHAT THEY PROMISED when they first got going, also NO WHERE NEAR AN NQT - which on the one hand is fair enough - as they have been to Uni, got their degree etc - BUT  on the other hand isn't fair when I plan like a teacher; mark and assess like a teacher; am observed JUST like a teacher; (ALWAYS  have received excellent feedback with no room for improvements I may add ) given feedback like a teacher;  have to mark children's work objectively like a teacher indicating now the next steps, have to hand in my books for Monitoring and evaluating like a teacher; publish my medium term planning like a teacher; report on my subjects like a teacher AND I RARELY HAVE THE SUPPORT OF A TA , UNlike a teacher.

Also I am at the mercy of parents, like a teacher. Remember the Hyenas? I was observed by OFSTED, like a teacher. ( Again - an excellent lesson - I have posted about it somewhere - I was the only RE lesson observed by the Section 43 inspector - we are a C of E school - it was noted that I knew my stuff! - Again - no TA available for support THAT day! )

I get asked why don't you BECOME a teacher?  NO EFFING WAY!  Yes they have great holidays ........

They have so much work to do, so much paper work. Targets to meet. Any joy in teaching I think is MASSIVELY outweighed by the mundane crap they have to do.  Any joy is also SUCKED out of you by the behaviour of some of the children and their parents. The good ones throroughly deserve to have their holidays and their pensions and their salaries. They work hard for it.


Infact I have been reducing my HLTA hours down. This is because that whilst I have worked hard and really loved delivering the subjects that I have, History being my favourite - I took them on so many field trips, hands on learning, food was core to a lot of my lessons and we had a BALL  - now the humanities are delivered as part of our skills based curriculum - so the children don't have separate lessons as such. This is something I disagree with in upper KS2 - but that is for another day! 

The reason for my change of heart is that when I am in sole charge, I cannot nurture the little souls. I haven't the same time for them as I afford them in a morning when I am plain old TA3. I think this is a reason why some of my precious ones play up for me in an afternoon - because their one to one port of call is now standing at the front delivering lessons, stretched to the max by the other 29 needy souls.  My expectations have changed for myself. Most days, as I've mentioned before, my work is more like that of a counsellor or social worker. These children need love and care and TLC - I am just bursting with this stuff. My next goal is to get rid of my HLTA hours altogether and work alongside the Learning Mentor either in a Nurturing role - ( I did this years ago and I LOVED it ) or as a behaviour specialist - I have done so much training on this - I use this successfully in my TA role - but  in my HLTA role? Forget it - I ain't got the time! I've 30 children to manage en masse. Mostly its OK, but those little ones who needed me so much in the morning - still need me in the afternoon and it breaks me that I can't do it.

What are your thoughts on Education? Do you like your job? Do you get enough holidays?

Lynford

I have at long last ( I think ) sorted out my blog URL faux pas. Hopefully my few loyal readers will persevere and find me!

A few weeks ago, I wrote how my Year 4s rendered me speechless as they opened up the taps and FLOODED the classroom with enough salt water to over come the Thames Barrier.
The one where I made innocents cry.

As promised I am back to tell you about the lesson which followed.  I wrote about  chickening out and pulled a sickie - ( ACTUALLY something that I have NEVER actually done, EVER in my working career. EVER. How do people do it? My guilty conscience would not let me sleep! )

So I decided that I was just going to play this one straight. I made a very quick reference to the last lesson - completely glossing over the tears and upset. ( Fortunately bad leg dog girl was away on her hols! )

WALT, TIB n WILF were done, LO was identified and Steps to success were in place!
They gathered on the carpet , they listened to the moving story of Lynford the hamster. ( Full copies are available on request! )



Lynford was a hamster. He belonged to an unknown gender child.  It was hand picked from the pet shop. It escaped a lot. It was a cheeky hamster. It was a beloved hamster who had the run of the house.  It ran up Uncle Gordon's leg in the night.
I'm afraid it all went downhill from there and I now quote from the story;

" When Lynford was two years old, my dad told me to sit down. He told me that hamsters didn't live very long and that he might die soon.  I didn't listen. I didn't want to know."

Please note I did pause here for dramatic effect and for the impact of what was about to happen to sink in. I carried on.

" One morning I came down and Lynford was lying still in one of the tubes of his cage. I opened the tube and took him out. He was still warm. ( Here, some children actually visibly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief !) Dad and I took Lynford to the Vet. The vet said he was very old and ill.  The vet gave him an injection . She put him back in the box and we took him home. When I opened the box, Lynford was still. His body was cold. I knew he was dead.

( A lot of the children gasped and put their hands to their mouths as in OMG she actually read us a story and it wasn't a happy ending!  )

The story ends with the child saying he wanted Lynford to have a funeral like they did for Great granny.

I moved swiftly onto the task. I had no time for histrionics. The children were put into groups and set 'The Lynford Challenge'.

The children were challenged to help the boy or the girl ( as a class we decided on the name ALEX ) in the story to make a very special send off for Lynford. It had to be about making them feel better when they say goodbye. They would share their work at the end.

Do you know what? - They totally and utterly surprised me. They got straight onto the task, each group were deciding on pictures to draw. They worked diligently and with compassion. We shared their presentations and the only ones needing tissues for leaky tear ducts were the staff!!

Some of the work was HILARIOUS!
I'm now going to share a selection with you! Please note that this was not a literacy lesson - the children were working in draft - the spelling is atrocious! They are not my base class and I am a HLTA!! ( Schools today!) anyway - please enjoy!.....



I particularly like the second P.S. and the picture of the deceased.

In the letter, it suggests that they dig a hole, place him in it and 'berry' him. The second P.S. it said If you do 'bery' him can I come?

Glad they scribbled out the POO word - but Bon Jovi would perform a fitting tribute I am sure!!!!

Methinks this Lynford needed to eat less!

Some helpful advice from 'Lucy'

 

This one caused me to blub when a very solemn faced little one read this out in class!!



I will finish with a few class quotes from the class. ( The first one is QUALITY NORTHERNESS )

• I know, why don't we have a funeral? We can ask my mum and we can have a chippy tea.
• I love you little guy, every day I will praise to the hamster god.
• You could buy a lizard and tell him all about your hamster.
• I really understand how you feel. To cheer you up, why don't you get another pet? My advice would be not to get another hamster, because when it dies you will be sad again.
• I knew you loved that hamster like he was your brother.
• Dear Lynford, I know I only had you for two years, but you were so very special. You will be in my heart till the next time I see you. In hamster heaven.
• Dear Alex, I hope you know hamsters don't live very long. It probably hurts inside but he will stay in your heart. Why don't we meet in the corner at playtime? PS sorry for your loss

I LOVE my job!!!

New Blogger Upgrade thingy

Yikes

 A month or so ago I had a dabble and didn't like it.

The new upgradey bloggy thingy.

As you can guess - I'm not the most techy girl about town. I also like to live in the past and am most resistant to change.

BUT, the warning strip on  my dashboard was beginning to burn its way into my very soul so I have taken the plunge.

It's also half term and I have a little time on my hands.

I have all the things I need now to write a very poignant post.

I need to put the bins out first. ( the glamorous lifestyle can be yours easily too! )

Going to hit publish and have a see what happens!

Back in a bit.

WHERE DO I FIND THE LIST OF BLOGS THAT I FOLLOW? HELP PLEASE!

The plan WAS to write a post....

....this morning - but as it's been a while - I was catching up with all the blogs I follow! It's been a right riveting read - and my own post will have to wait till later!

It's Jubilee Day at school - we have to go in red, white n blue. I have no clothes of these colours. I only own and wear black. So I was elated last night to find a red, white n blue stripy apron!

Please note I am not in this photo as I am not Blonde and MY apron is red, white and blue remember!

Also I don't actually look that often but I am pretty sure my bottom is not that tiny and perky! I WILL be wearing my base layer of black under my pinny!
Happy Friday everyone. I will be back with my planned post later x