Ready for a holiday

Last week was mental!

Monday - meeting about a community concert I've got our scholl choir and band involved in. Followed by a prolonged chat concerning teaching Steel pans at Butlins.

Tuesday - Big Band rehearsal in Louth til late. Very enjoyable. I've asked to play bass next week. I think I'll take my double bass, it should suit the band more.

Wednesday - open Jazz session in Alford. A little fraught with chaos, but some nice guitar playing from a few guitarists. I broke a string on my double bass. That's the first time that's happened in twenty years. John Le Voi's guitar sounds glorious. I know I shouldn't lust after belongings, but I WANT ONE ..... NOW!!!! He makes them himself. Only £1460. A snip for the quality of guitar. Ah well, in my dreams.

Thursday - Jazz night at the 1874 bar in Boston. I was a bit worried about this before hand, but soon felt relaxed and I think I played well. Not much left of my fingers though.

Friday - Neil's stag night. A gentle low-key affair. A lovely meal at the Golden Dragon in Boston follwed by a bit of a pub crawl (I was drinking coke - how I love driving on nights out :( )

Saturday - Wedding rehearsal for Neil and Tanya. I'm an usher. THen Jack's nursery's birthday party, celebrating the first year of opening. Jack calls it 'Sarah's School'. Crashed out in the evening.

Sunday - fairly normal. Seeing Jack in the morning followed by some quality time with Tamara. Then a barbeque at our neighbours house.

Today - Took mum to a garden centre with us. Lovely day out. Nice and relaxed. Then a bit of gardening and finally assembling Jack's new Bob the Builder trike.

And the holiday's only just started. I'm doing the big band rehearsal tmorrow night. So much for a relaxing holiday.

Butterwick Family Service with Graham Wright

Here's a picture from my Butterwick performance at a family service. It's a bit grainy because it's taken on a mobile phone. The joys of modern technology. It was a lovely service with a baptism as well. The theme was Jesus, the truth life and way. I sung Wingfold by my friend Nigel Halliday and God so loved the world by me. 

Pottys 'r' us

We've had the joy of looking after Jack again for a few days (Wednesday - Sunday) and as usual he's kept both busy and very amused. 2 1/2 years old going on 50. You know what they're like at that age. I always wondered what folk meant about the 'terrible twos'. Now I've got some idea. Willful, petulant, demanding, but incredibly loving and dependent upon your presence. Jack is truly a joy to have around and he brings out the best in Tamara and I.

So what about pottys! Jack isn't potty trained yet, so we thought we'd help out. He got his first pants yesterday (that's underwear to anyone from the states). Thomas and friends. Jack loves Thomas the Tank Engine. So his first time wearing them left us a nice present in his car seat. I'm still drying the cover out! This morning, however was one of those first moments we've had the priviledge of seeing. He sat on his potty through three episodes of Fireman Sam and emerged triumphant with a potty full of pee pee. We were so proud of him. I hope his mum and dad continue to be successful over the next few weeks.

Those of you who know me will know what a massive part of our lives Jack is and why. I won't go into the details now. Maybe some other day.

Hooray for pottys

My Tamara

Say hello to my wife Tamara. As you can see she's a mad Boston United fan. Hardly ever misses a match.

Jack

This is my nephew Jack. Do you think he looks cool in his shades?

Inspection Report

Apparently our school was lucky to escape special measures! That's a joke. 10 out 32 lessons observed were deemed unsatisfactory. Not surprising since nearly 30% of our staff are rookie teachers, of which some of those don't have English as a first language. Please understand, I am not racist. Far from it. It's just that some of our students have enough difficulty reading english without having to assimilate to strong accents. Lincolnshire is very backward on the cultural intergration happening in the rest of the country. So, we have demonstrated the capacity for improvement, but have achieved only a limited amount. There will be another inspection before Christmas. Joy of joys. I would guess that'll be a full inspection with teacher working themselves up into a nervous breakdown. What a fabulous education system we have. Never teaching children - the important job is keeping the government happy.

Watchful

Watchful
Until I find time to create a blog list I'll post a few here then move them later.
This one is TJ Drapers blog. It's thanks to him that I'm writing this now.

These blogs are a little addictive. LOL

Inspection/Review update

Well it's over now! The music department wasn't visited at all, which wasn't really a suprise. On reflection, the extra wroting out of lesson plans realy proved to be ineffectual for me personally, because I didn't look at them once whilst I was teaching. I wonder about the merits of such a time wasting exercise. Does it really benefit teaching and learning? Or does it hinder teachers from exploring new ideas and responding to situations as they arise. Afterall, you can't plan for students individual moods and baggage. Or, for that matter, the teachers'! End of gripe. It'll be interesting to see what the findings were. Maybe I'll post the main findings here.

School inspection/review

Our school is experiencing a short notice ofsted review. The school was the first of it's kind in September when it became Englands first Collaborative Restart School. It is therefore constantly under scrutiny. It's quite amusing to watch the management jump through hoops to satisfy the inspectors. I'm afraid my attitude is rather cavalier. I firmly believe that I would rather them see me as I am and make suggestions of how or what to improve based on their findings, rather than do back flips trying to cover all the bases, just in case. So far I have not been observed. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Just me

Sorry, I couldn't figure out any other way to get an image on my profile!

No new job for me

The title says it all. I could write loads, but don't feel like it.

Job interview

Last Friday (6th May) I went for an interview at Branston Community College near Lincoln. Many friends gave much prayer support for which I am very grateful. Throughout the whole interview process I felt calm and relaxed. They couldn't decide there and then and I have been patiently waiting for a decision since then. They were supposed to let us know Wednesday, but I received a phonecall at 7:15 saying that they hadn't arrived at a decision and would let us know tomorrow. The suspense is getting to me now, but I know that God is in control.

The Blog Begins

This is all very new to me. A visiting preacher once said to me, 'Keep a journal of all your experiences. You never know when you will be able to help someone else from your own personal trials and successes.'

It's all too easy to remember the good time and all too difficult to forget the bad times, Maybe it was good advice. There have certainly been many things that I could celebrate or cry over. But I'll save them for another time.

So, here it is! I will try to use this blog as a journal of my experiences - good or bad. So if you're reading this hello and welcome to my world.