And Then The House Was Silent Once More

..And all the children went back to school.

YES!

Littlest has finally left the building, well between the usual school hours most kids his age would be out the house anyway.

Thank Goodness.

Seriously, before I get any mean trolls suggest I'm not very nice saying that about my son, I love him dearly, I do a lot for the child and I don't begrudge it in anyway. I'm his Mum, and I always will do anything for him.

However, from the perspective of needing space from each other, and finding Home Ed a very hard slog to get used to, I am happy he is back at school were he should be.

From his point of view too, moving house was hard for him and Mini too, but for Mini, who straight away went into a school, and Brownies, and afterschool clubs, it was very difficult for Littlest to be stuck at home all day and hard for him to settle and make friends to replace the old ones.

I am glad I stuck to my guns and got him into the same school as his sister as I feel if we'd sent him to the not very good catchment school, he wouldn't have been a priority for them to move.

He popped in and met his new class and teacher (who is a joy after the last one the kids had), and bless them, they were as excited to meet him as he was to meet them. They'd even made him a card to welcome him.

He has gone in today, a little nervous but mostly happy to be back at proper school.

The Home Ed cupboard has shut for business. I don't advise anyone to not have a try at Home Ed, but it can be different depending on the child. It can also be hard to get them used to something when they are used to a school environment.

For us, it just didn't suit.

Its very strange having no children in the house. I went off to the town centre earlier to search out school blue shirts (£20 from John Lewis for 4 as no supermarket has any left now- ouch) and kept thinking I'd left him behind.

It shall be lovely to get back to blogging and baking and I can finally sort out where everything needs to go in the new house too.

Happy at last. All as we should be.

And Just As Everything Looks to be Going Well, Something Comes and Kicks It In The Nads

I would actually have liked to end that title with "as fucking usual". But it wouldn't fit.

So, we've been in the new house since the end of May and all is well with it. We have halved our bills (having a boiler that isn't as old as me clearly helps), we have settled in nicely and we even found a very nice local pub just one street away.

Mini started school. Littlest didn't. However, considering, we thought, that we put in his appeal on July 8th, it must be coming soon to sort it all out.

Kick in the nads alert.

The law states that, all appeals must be done and dusted, from the parent's handing the forms in to request one, to the hearing, and the decision, within 30 school days. Which, by our 8th July, should mean it all being sorted by 25th September.

Yes, that was a bit pesky but it's those blasted school days they state. The whole, entire August did not count down to the holidays. But, that was fine. It would be sorted out sharpish after that.

The thing is, I don't really get the school days and how the holidays has such an impact. Its not the school that deals with the appeal. Its the council, or in our case, Diocese, as the school we feel is best for Littlest, and where Mini already goes, is Voluntary Aided. So, its not for the council to step in.

But the diocese is part of the church, right? And, I may not be a church goer save for weddings and christenings, but I'm pretty sure they don't also naff off during the summer holidays.

Except, the school admins decided, for reasons only known to themselves, to not send anything, at all. Not our appeal request, not our supporting evidence, nothing.

When they sent an acknowledgement on receipt, it took them 2 weeks. At which point, I gave them a polite call and asked when we would get an appeal date. I was told, by someone who really sounded like they didn't like being questioned about matters of a secretarial nature, (standard school/GP secretary behavior in my experience), that the date would be forwarded in the future as "its the school holidays in a week". Yes, but I asked, has the paperwork we gave in several weeks back been forwarded to the relevant people. You know, so as to not hold it up after their summer jollies?  I was told it had. So that was fine then.

On the first week back, I popped in and spoke to the same lady in person who looked really like she wanted me to piss off for asking about the appeal. I was told she'd phone later.

Not wanting to piss her off further, though not quite understanding how a polite and simple question could have pissed her off in the first place, I went home, and sat by the phone.

No phone call came.

Now, I don't like being fobbed off. Especially when I have a 6 year old, wanting to go to school, upset because his sister has gone off in her uniform. I felt, school days or no school days, we had waited long enough.

So, me being me, and not being that bothered about pissing anyone off (you might have noticed that readers?) I went in again.

To be told she had sent the paperwork that afternoon and was waiting to hear back.

Hold the freaking phone, people.

Those following will notice the deliberate cock up there. The paperwork, which I was told in July had already been sent, had now, suddenly not been sent until the 3rd September.

I was told I should hear by Friday.

Except, I still didn't.

So I went in again. I spoke to someone else this time. I would have preferred to phone, except despite there being 3 secretaries in that office, no one seems ever to answer a phone.

Lo and behold, I was told- you guessed it, she was sending the statements that day, so I should hear soon.

Again, hold the freaking phone.

So, this paperwork has now been sent on or around  the 8th July, the 3rd September and now the 5th September. That is one busy set of paperwork. No wonder they can't answer a phone eh?

This Secretary, not a dragon like the other one, even told me about the 30 day rule and agreed it was all taking far too long.

We finally got a date yesterday for the appeal hearing.

Is it prompt?

Is it bollocks.

Its for the 8th October, in Oxford (2 hours away by train).

39 SCHOOL DAYS AFTER THE HANDING IN OF THE PAPERWORK.

That, that, is against the fucking law of appeals.

You can't bring the kids, so how they expect me to not just get all the way to Oxford, for 3 hours, at 2.30pm with one child with no school at all, and one child who will need picking up from the school at 3.20, I have no idea. Perhaps I should lock them in the shed for the afternoon?

The report from the Governors is laughable.

They still expect us to stump up what would be £300 a week to travel to school by taxi and train 5 days a week twice a day, to Maidenhead. And how I'm meant to also get Mini to school is anyone's guess. They make no mention of Littlest's illness, which I find bloody rude considering the amount of Consultant letters I sent with the appeal.

All they care about is that there wont be room for him down to the uptake of free school meals. How very dare we ask for one extra child to sit and have an education- I'll bring him home for lunch if it offends them that much.

We have no end in sight to this, no school for Littlest at all. What the hell are we meant to do? I have no doubt this appeal is a total waste of time on our part, they simply aren't interested. They go on about catchment, but we live 0.2 miles from the school, and there is only one school in the entire part of Earley we  live in that falls under the catchment. And there's no space there either. The ridiculous thing is they mention this 0.2 miles in their evidence as if that's a long way- the last house in their catchment at the furthest point from the school is 7.3 miles!

They also say they have too many in classes already, but the national accepted top amount for schools is 30. Not one of the three classes at the school in Year 2 has more than 25.

Reader, I leave you baffled, pissed off, and on the point of kicking off royally. I asked for advice on the previously very friendly school Facebook network and got properly told off for daring to even mention the school in a negative light (I didn't. I just said it was upsetting him not to be going anywhere at all).

As usual, there is always a fly in the ointment. I'm starting to think I'm fucking cursed.

The Leaving Book: Update

For those asking on Twitter and Facebook, the book did indeed get signed.

Elder had a chat to the Head, who was baffled, and who over ruled the tit who had an issue with me and my family being not middle class enough for them  it (although the fact they were too lazy to do a book themselves, heard about it, then moaned says it all for their intelligence level frankly).

It did exactly what I wanted it to do, the book. It stopped Mini being as upset as she would have been had she not had some, absolutely lovely, messages from her closest mates to distract her. 

What I found sad was how few of anyone grown up actually said good bye or good luck, bar the few who have always just been damn normal human beings who chatted to us regardless. The type who don't look over your shoulder while they chat to you. The type who don't foist their opinions on you about stuff that has nothing to do with them.

The thing is, with that school, Mini has had it leave two types of mark on her. The first is very happy memories of her close pals, who she will undoubtedly miss, and who, via the medium of giving out our number to a chosen few, she and Littlest will hopefully still keep in contact with. She has passed exams, she is a clever kid, as is Littlest, despite being written off by a few who failed to look beyond his illnesses and his time off school. 

To be fair, exams don't fuss me at this age. They are hardly likely to go for an interview one day and have someone say that down to not passing an exam when they are six they can't follow their dreams. Exams, by design are more to see how good the teachers are teaching, not how clever my children are.

However, that said, the fact Littlest passed his phonics screening felt like a massive achievement for him, bearing in mind how at the beginning of the year, down to him being kept behind for months and thus being half a year behind his peers,(something we felt bullied into)  he was written off straight away and given books with no words despite being more than able to read and write at home.

The sad, and second mark Mini has is of being bullied and it falling on deaf ears.

This one child made not just her life hell but most of her class and a few in the other classes too. No matter how many times I tried to get others to go as a group to complain, no one else could be bothered. They were quick enough to sign up for making cakes and helping with trips, something which no doubt made them look good. It made me mad and baffled that women who would berate each other, and who were so competitive when it came to their kids, so forceful of them doing educational stuff, would happily allow one kid to make their lives appalling. Are their kids nothing but show off material to them?

I was thus on my own when it came to the battle to stop Mini coming home with bruises and scrapes and the damage it caused to her confidence. Even when not at school, she would bring the child involved up. And woe betide telling the school you wanted to speak to his dead behind the eyes Mother, apparently that was deemed unacceptable too.

I doubt its all schools, in fact I know its not, but sometimes I think certain parent's and their wishes outweigh others. Its such an outdated way to run things, were X child gets preferential treatment due to his Mum's involvement in the PTA, and Y child is over looked time and time again. It was the same with the Leavers assembly yesterday, same old faces doing the readings, rest of the kids may as well not exist. Maybe its a church school thing? I don't know!

It should be a case that each child and parent is treated on an equal footing, and I hope (and from spending time with the new school and the welcoming attitude received on Facebook on asking a local group what the school is like) that that is the new schools way.

It certainly wasn't that way at their old school, and I was far from the only, ignored by the staff and the snobs who felt they run things there, parent to voice anger at the running of the school.

That said, not everyone in our old town is a snotty idiot with too much time on their hands. We have some great mates we made over our time there. These are the people that made life bearable, the like minded people who liked us for who we were, not what they thought we were. 

You cannot at any point favour one over others, and I was never in the position of asking for that to happen. It was a sodding book, with about 8 pictures in, that made a 7 year old leaving everything she knows behind, happy.

And at the end of the day, what type of individual would deny that? 

***And in a rare move for me, comments are closed down to a persistent troll. Who will be reported to the necessary online people if need be **** 

The (Not So) Dreaded Parents Evening, 2014 Edition

Tonight, we had to stand around in the cold even longer than usual after school, as it was that time of year again where you are herded into a classroom which comfortably fits 25 5-6 or 6-7 year olds but is slightly tight for space when filled with parents.

Yes, the group Parents Evening.

I think, despite the claustrophobia, that I prefer the mass Parents Evening to the scarier individual one. You can generally get away with a glance at the books, a few positive nods for a certain drawing or piece of maths and a quick chat with the teacher and be done and dusted in under 5 minutes per child. 

I also have to admit, that, now both Brats seems to be doing very well, and Mini's teacher this year gets her and her, shall we say "artistic temperament" (and encourages her), and we are no longer the parent's everyone listens out for, I can now assume the position of eavesdropping on other parent's teacher conversations.

And before you all pour scorn on me, don't say you've never actively tuned in to the discussions between the harassed teacher and the parent's of that kid who you know is always being told off (and in the case of our school, habitually pulled aside outside of the classroom where it is far too loud to listen in on).

 Being nosy aside, I have to say both The Brats are doing pretty well. Littlest is catching up considering he is half a year behind and has time off sporadically due to his ill health. He is far outreaching other's in Maths. They do some new challenge where they ask the kids to pick what maths they do (I'm assuming that there isn't a "not for me, I'd rather read comics or surf the net" option), and how hard the maths in, and he always picks the hardest level. He clearly does not get this maths skill from me. I can barely add up with the aid of a calculator.

Mini is still not interested at all in maths- my fault entirely as to be fair I was exactly the same. However, her handwriting is much improved, and when they all get together to make up a story, she is by far the one who gets into it, and would carry on for double the time the rest do before they get bored or go onto doing something else.

It's nice to see two kids who are mine doing well at a mixture of things. As I said to a disappointed Mini, if you're great at everything without trying, life would be pretty boring. It's much nicer to have something to work towards, and, in the same way she read Green Eggs and Ham over and over for a month before she could read it without stumbling, so she will eventually do the same with maths.

As for Littlest, he appears to be much more able to keep up than previously, and has gone from someone who could barely hold a pencil to writing and problem solving for fun. 

Safe to say that regardless at this age it's all relative, I'm happy if they are happy, and at this age they are still so young and have plenty of time to progress.

I am still quite a proud Mummy this evening though.

Are you off to Parent's Evening? Do you dread them? Let me know below....

Keeping Up with School Work in the Holidays

It's not like the old days you know. 

In the holidays of old (or to be more exact when I was kid in the late eighties and nineties), we were quite happy to continue our education via the medium of watching Why Don't You. The very idea of school work- other than rushing through a diary two days before the beginning of term- filled us with indescribable horror. We simply didn't get given homework, and of course there were the keener lot who had tutors for the summer,  but the rest of us spent our six weeks letting all we'd learnt in the last year fade out in a battle of educational maths verses working out how far our holiday pocket money would go at the arcade (in my case- not far).

Mini and Littlest are different though.

The Post in Which I get Taught My First School Lesson Since 1998

OK, never let it be said that I don't know when to say sorry if I've upset someone when I'm peed off.

It seems my last post was read by the Brat's school, and in the heat of everything that has been going on for a while now between Mini and another kid in her class, it kind of got a little OTT.

The thing is, my children are my life. I love the very bones of them, despite the lack of sleep due to Littlest's illnesses, Mini being a bit of a diva from time to time and the other little things they do- like having a tantrum in the middle of a shop. 

Mini and the Shoes

By now, if you read this blog regularly, you'll have gathered I'm not the biggest fan of the Brat's school. Don't get me wrong, it's not a failing school, it's not falling apart, it's rated outstanding by those Ofsted lot.

No, I fear it's something that is becoming epidemic in schools who are proud of their outstanding status and who will do anything to protect it.

It's called "Head Up Own Arse" syndrome.

Jubilee Outfit: 50 Ways to Use A Union Jack

After my post bemoaning the Bratling's school and it's lack of notice about the need for Jubilee costumes, I thought I'd share my handiwork with you.


I can sum it up by saying that, should any publisher's need someone to write a book entitled "50 Ways to Use a £2 Union Jack and a String of Bunting," I'm the girl to ask.


The thing is, I'm a perfectionist, especially when it comes to my kids. I can't help it, I just want them to look great, whether that be by always buying them nice (but not necessarily designer) clothes, or by dressing them in a well made costume. 


It went well, I have to say. Although I am shattered from staying up late, my fingers ache from sewing and sticking pins in the tips of my fingers by accident, and I have super glue stuck on my nails (which wont come off), but the beeps from car horns and the smiles and "wows" made it all worth it. 


We've also decided to take the Brats to the Jubilee Pageant as part of Maidenhead Carnival this Sunday. 


So, here they are, Mini and Littlest in their costumes:

I'll take a few more later, so I can show the full length of Mini's skirt, which, in the end was hand stitched as my sister in law had given her sewing machine away! That worked out better though or I'd have probably blown myself up trying to plug it.

Jubilee Related Costume Issues

Schools. They're a helpful bunch, right? 


They'd never give you just 4 nights to run up not one, but two costumes for the Jubilee.


Yeah right!

SILENT SUNDAY

Reflections on School Week 1

After positively counting down the days, or even seconds, until The Bratlings went to nursery (Littlest) and Infants (Mini), it was excitement that we all left the house at 8.30am on Tuesday.