Local news - got to love it

I was particularly amused by this article in the local newspaper this week... leads me to think "Only in St Anne's".
On first reading I thought hmm.. Old man driver... and lo and behold.

Whoop whoop whoop!

I have a job! Cest tres exciting!! It is at Goosnargh CE School in Preston and I am bouncy bouncy bouncing!!

The Great Adventure's Great Speaking Tour

The speaking tour got off to a start today, I have been into St. George's High School in Blackpool to talk to their CU about Kenya and the great adventure. I was really nervous about it, I was never quite sure whether I would have enough to talk about (though I was more confident after the success of the Guide evening last week) or indeed whether a bunch of teenagers I had never met before would care enough to listen. Again, I needn't have worried and I really enjoyed myself. I didn't manage to get through all my photos and the kids were responding really well to it and asking questions etc and so I'm probably going to go back again after half term and they might even consider sponsoring! So all in all it was a most positive experience! My next speaking engagement (teehee!) was going to be Ripley, but interview has meant it has had to be postponed. Excitement abounds!

Sunny disposition

Whilst I'm scanning, there might as well be evidence of my year 7 sunniness!!

Mousey evidence

I have been looking through my photos trying to find one that shows my pre-brace teeth at their best. I found one when I was a brownie but it is too small to show well when scanned into the computer. I did, however, come across evidence of the 2 Mouseys debarcle... note noses (also grey fur, they look distinctly pink nowadays) and matching dresses.

School report

I was greatly amused by this comment in my Year 5 school report that I came across today:

"Emma is a very able girl, but she can be resentful of criticism and does like to have her own way."!!

Also:

"Emma sings confidently and usually maintains the pitch accurately" Eek, I hope I've improved!

Sorting out and throwing away

Why is it so hard to throw things away? Whilst I was in Kenya my dad decorated my bedroom and so all my stuff was moved out and then back in again. Well, most of it was moved back in again but some stuff was left in my brother's room for me to sort through on my return. It was great actually, I went away and came back to a tidyer, newly decorated, clutter-free room and I hadn't had to do anything about it!! Today is sorting out day, though, and what junk I have kept! When I moved out of halls and into a house at college I boxed a lot of stuff up into shoe boxes that never actually found their way out of the shoe boxes into new homes. When I graduated and moved back home the shoe boxes came with me and found a new home on the top of my wardrobe. Going through them now I wonder why on earth I have carted so much junk around from house to house! Some things I can't throw away though, like the teeth I had extracted before I had my brace put on (fantastic roots, I'll have to get them out in school some day!), or cards from various classes that I have been on placement in. Other things I'm thinking, will I ever actually need this again? Probably not, throw it away. And yet more things distract me from my sorting out process, like school reports from when I was still at primary school... always fun to read!

Kenyan evening

I'm just back from doing a Kenyan evening at Guides. I have been a bit worried about it because I did not have an activity for the girls to do and I thought that I wouldn't have enough to fill an hour. I didn't need to worry. I spent most of the afternoon preparing Kenyan food, chipatis, sukuma wiki, beans and maize, ugali and a nameless tomato soup thing. I couldn't stand the sight of them by the time we actually got to Guides and I didn't think anyone would actually try anything, but it went down a treat. The girls were all crowded around the table having a try of each of the foods, including the ugali (even after my quite less than encouraging note about the ugali which even I wouldn't try because it looked so disgusting). I showed them the new Education for Life dvd and my photos and talked about my experiences in Kenya. I showed them unsorted beans and they passed it around, two girls sorted them for me :) and then I unsorted them again :D then I showed them how they tie babies on their backs with kangas and some of the girls came up and had a go at tying a doll on their backs. It was quite amusing!! I got through everything but there was no time for questions at the end because it was already time for taps. A fun evening, an informative evening, and another tick towards my Queen's Guide :)

Facebook and other musings.

It is taking over my life. I do seem to go through these phases... the only problem is that I don't ever lose the old phases, it just means that I have more websites to check and thus waste many hours of the day perusing them. Sad I know.

I have also been reading through my inbox today, some emails make me laugh so much :) I was intending on tidying up my inbox, particularly in Outlook which I no longer use and has over 1900 items in the inbox... failed miserably though and I still have 1955 items. I am sure I can probably happily delete 900 of them, but it will take forever and for really rather little purpose.

I took something off my shelf today and came across the cards for when I left Stanley last year. I really smiled at the card from the second naughtiest boy in my class and probably the most troublesome (though utterly lovable), he wrote "Miss you lots. To Miss Swarbrick I will miss your voice and your face. From Aaron". Bless. I've been to see the Boyds this weekend and it seems that it's still not a happy place to work - the farcicle permanent/temporary contract applications begin for them again. I saw the job advertised on the internet and had to remind myself that I'm not a masochist before I was tempted to apply. No, Emma, just no.

Look, I can teach :)

Dog eat dog

I miss Kenya. I have started the job search again and today went to visit a school. It was a quick reminder to me of what it is like to work in England, and all that I think is wrong with the way things are done.

Before I went to the school I already had the application pack, I was quite looking forward to visiting what looked like a nice school to work in. I wasn't disappointed when I arrived, the staff were all friendly and smiling and welcoming even though they have probably already had lots of prospective applicants come looking around. As we went on our tour of the school we stopped off in one of the infant classes and there teaching was one of the girls from my year in college! I said hello and she asked how I was and it was all very brief because she was in the middle of teaching a lesson and I was in the middle of a tour. Then as we stepped back out of the classroom the head teacher said how that teacher (the one that I knew) was on a temporary contract and the job that was advertised was for possibly that class, though if the best teacher that they interview is key stage 2 then there would be a move around and they would go into the juniors and someone else would move down to fill the key stage 1 class. Immediately I went from feeling happy about the place to feeling decidedly uneasy. Who deserves the job? The girl who has been teaching there all year already and is probably very good at what she does, or another teacher to be chosen on the basis of an interview?

The problem as I see it is that there are too many teachers for schools to choose from, as a result, they are able to give a temporary contract one year and then the next year hedge their bets and advertise externally again instead of making permanent the teacher they already have. I lost my job as a result of this way of doing things last year, and I'm reluctant to be party to another school doing the same to someone else this year, particularly when I know the teacher they are doing it to. Is that the kind of school I want to work in? The problem lies in that all schools do it, and that I need a job. Somewhere along the line am I going to be the one that steals a job from someone else who probably should have it over me just because I perform better on interview day? I don't like it.

Is it the best way of employing people? I doubt it. Surely such an approach only serves to keep your workforce unsure of their jobs and forever fretting about losing it to someone more qualified/cheaper/more outgoing/with music skills/with sports skills/add in another level of expertise here.

Will I apply to the school now? Probably not. Will it make the blindest bit of difference to the chances of the girl that I know getting a job that I think she deserves? Probably not.

Productivity

Much to my own shame I have made a list. I hate lists. Lists make me think of all those things I haven't done that I should have. Or when I've ticked everything off a list and feel good that I've done everything I need to do I think of something that I didn't put on it that really needed doing and I haven't done and I stop feeling good about my efficiency. But nevertheless I have made a list. I decided in the end, that not writing a list would only perpetuate the endless procrastination by way of the internet under the illusion that I did not know exactly what needed doing so I could get away without doing it. As a result of my list I feel I have been adequately productive today, I have managed to tick 4 and a half things off it. Sorting out Kenya photos really needs to go higher up the list though, I am avoiding it because I know it is going to be a mammoth task and will only constitute one tick when it is finished. But without it I won't really be able to start the Great Adventure's Great Speaking Tour as planned. Best get on with it then. Another picture to whet your appetite for when I have actually completed the photo audit and you can see me for the whole schebang!

Cleaning the relatively small pot - Nelly didn't take the picture of me cleaning the big black one on a digital camera unfortunately :(

The adventurer returns

I am now back from my adventuring in Kenya! I had an absolutely wonderful time, am missing them all already, and Hannah, me wee flattie. I didn't have the most enjoyable of flights home and am still feeling the after effects of no sleep on the return journey. Over the next few days I plan on sorting through all my photographs and putting together some kind of slide show for showing in school and at the Ladies Evening Guild at church. I'll put some more pics on here too, but not yet, I haven't unpacked yet!