End of term fun

With half a day left I thought I would share the activity that caused most excitement in my class today. Not a DVD of the Simpsons or my wonderful Christmas worksheets, but Penguin batting. Sounds inhumane I know, but the penguin does voluntarily drop itself from the cliff and survives the actual hitting.
Have a try and you'll find that it's quite addictive. My best score is 555.3 metres!

CHRISTmas or Xmas?

As a teacher you look forward to the end of term and so I began handing out my Christmas worksheets earlier on this week. With one particular class of 13 year olds I had a mixture of mathematical Christmas co-ordinates and Christmas wordsearches.
One student was working though the wordsearch and stopped suddenly. They looked at the sheet and called out, "Jesus, what's he doing there?"
Unbelievable! What is Christmas coming to?! It brought a fair bit of discussion for the remainder of the lesson but sent home the message that we must battle through the commercialism and busy-ness (?) of this time of year to push the real meaning of CHRISTmas.

Embrace

It's almost a whole month since I have been able to post something so I thought I would take the time to mention the Embrace concert JA and I attended last Friday. It was my first concert visit at the MEN Arena. An impressive venue but the sound quality was not as good as places like the Apollo.
Anyway, the boys were brilliant and were very humbled to be playing infront of ten and a half thousand people. They tend to get audiences in the region of 2 thousand so this was a big step up for them. I realise now that in the last year I have been to see my five favourite bands and this was a great way to round off that year.
If you do want to try them out, check out their 'Out of Nothing' album and I'm sure you'll be hooked.

The end to a great show!

Silence is broken, the news is out!

Well, it really has been ages since I posted. Part of the reason has been that life has taken over, school has been so hectic with the run up to Christmas and also because I have been struggling to stay awake at night, ( once I get home from school!)
The reason for this you may be asking yourselves. Why does a healthy 27 year old teacher need a nap when she comes home from work, after tea, after the bath and then to the night sleep? Basically I have been napping, eating, sleeping and teaching for the past 8 weeks.

Well... I am pregnant!

Yes, the time has come again for my body to do strange things, only this time the pregnancy is progressing nicely and hopefully our family will increase by a small miracle by the end of June 2006. We have been very cautious with our feelings and emotions, as well as our plans as we are still recovering from our last failed pregnancy, but we are told by our midwife and all of the wonderful people who poke and prod me that things seem ok.

So for now ok is good enough.

We got to see him/her ( I think he is a boy) last Wednesday and he was moving his legs, I thought he would make a great replacement for Roy Keane, Jamie isn't so sure.

Now that I am passing past 12 weeks, I feel so much better with the random tiredness subsiding as well as the nausea. Bring on the Christmas shopping now I have the energy!!


Apart from that life has been pretty ordinary.

I took 41 children to the cinema to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I have subjected every class I have ever taught to the reading of this book and me ranting on about the great fiction that I read as a child. It was a joy to sit and watch their eyes as they twinkled with delight as Aslan appeared from the tent, they could only imagine what he looked like from the book, it was cool to chat over lunch, is the book better? Were their predictions of characters etc correct?
I remembered why I became a teacher, why it is amazing to work with children and why I get up and go to work every day.

Today as we were making Christmas decorations I was sitting with a group of 8 children. They were discussing Little Britain. It is often really interesting to listen in on their conversations but today it was fascinating.
S:I think Little Britain is racist, what do you think J?
J: Well, if it was it wouldn't be allowed on telly cause that's wrong.
S: But people are allowed to have their own opinions.
J: But on telly, they have to be fair and right.
P: I am not sure if they are racist but I think they make stereotypes.
S: Oh that thing we have been learning about when we say all women are weak and all nurses should be girls.
J: Oh I remember, yeah maybe they are not racist but they are definitely stereotyping.

Wow. What a conversation from eight 10 and 11 year olds. I think they may, when they are older, consider writing to points of view!

Well, that is all from me, no doubt we will keep you informed about how things are going, however this blog is not going to be a pregnancy journal, if it begins to sound like one let me know and I will rethink what is going on in my head!

Have a good week to you all, not long now until Christmas, a time when many of us can take extra time to spend with family and friends and enjoy all that this amazing Christian season has to offer.

A Little Story

As you can tell there has not really been much going on on this page for which we both apologise. However, I thought I would share a silly little story from my day at school:

During my bottom set Year 8 lesson, one pupil who has Special Needs (William) began crying as his support teacher left him and went and sat with someone else. I asked him if he was ok and through his sobs I heard him say, "Miss thinks I trumped!" I wasn't quite sure how to take this so left it until the end of the lesson.
When the class left, his support teacher came to speak to me about William. She said that he had recently been trumping a lot in lessons and that the smell is unbearable (like rotten eggs apparently). The Support Teachers had told him that when he needs to trump he is to go outside and relieve himself there! During today's lesson, she claimed, he had let one slip. When she confronted him about this he denied any wrong doing to the extent that he said she could have done it! As a result of the bad smell she had left him and this had caused him to start crying. I was truly thankful for now being in the know!
Two days later, when I had the same class again, I was standing at the front explaining what we were going to be doing. Mid-sentence, William's hand shot up. "Mr McCulloch, I have to go outside to trump." Sounding shocked I let him go. The whole class at this point fell completely silent as they wondered if they had heard correctly. We all watched William go outside, close the door, relieve himself and come back inside. At that point we all just burst out laughing at a very surreal moment. Thankfully William saw the funny side too.

Could it be?!

I have to say that I have just experienced a very surreal moment. Three lads were standing outside my door after break claiming they had seen me on the internet. I admitted that I did have a website but when they mentioned it was of a video clip I looked puzzled. They said I was in a small room dancing in front of the computer. How strange, but no it was not me.
So I moved on to my next lesson thinking no more of it. After the lesson the same three boys appeared. Sir, we have the web address do you want us to show you? Yeh, go for it.
Then, right in front of my eyes I appear, dancing, topless. Something here was not right! My form crowded around in disbelief at what they were seeing. Mr McCulloch, is that you? No it certainly is not but it LOOKS LIKE ME!!!!
So, after all of this, click here and see for yourself!

Weekends Away

We returned from a lovely weekend away yesterday determined to do this kind of thing more often. We just spent 2 great days with my parents and Dave and Nic in a lovely cottage in the Cotswalds.

JA and I left school as close to the bell as possible in order to shoot off down south on Friday night. Although it took us 4 hours to get there as a result of the traffic we all managed to catch up by the fire (see below) and play our first ever 6 player Settlers! It took a while to explain the rules but it was well worth it. Well done mum on winning your first ever Settlers game (even though I had to tell her that she had accumulated enough points to win!).

Saturday saw us visit Stow and Burton-on-the-water (a mini Venice apparently). Even though it was pretty wet we enjoyed checking out the beautiful buildings and mulling through the many craft shops. Oh, and stopping off for plenty of tea!

After a lovely afternoon enjoying the area we made it back to the cottage for a nap and a chance to sit by the fire (again) and read the paper. A quick visit to the fish and chip shop provided us with the necessary energy to begin our second Settlers game. This time I'm glad to say I was victorious!

Before bed JA managed to sample to tremendous roll-top bath in our room! (ooh, how the other half live!)

After a nice lie-in we all sat down for a wonderful Irish fry setting us up for the trip home. JA and I decided to call by Stratford-Upon-Avon on our way back but unfortunately we were rained out. We did however visit Shakespeare's birthplace and the Swan Theatre. We will definately have to make time to go back again soon.

So after getting home on Sunday at a decent time (and hearing United beat Chelsea!) we felt really relaxed and ready for the start of the week. So thanks mum and dad for inviting us on this lovely weekend but it is something JA and I must really try and do more often.

Happy Families!

My class really are ok.

Well just before half term some of you may have read my rant on my class.
I take it all back, yes they can be naughty and continnually push boundaries, but today, the day after Halloween I was showed with trick or treat goodies including wobbly jelly eyes and spiders legs.
It was also a girl's eleventh birthday, so she brought in some of her cake for me and when I was on playground duty I was showered with grapes, strawberries, riveta cheese and chives and other goodies. My class know the way to my heart must be through my mouth, that or when I am eating I am usually quieter.
Anyway, a postcard arrived from the Dominican Republic as one of my 10 year old sunseekers is currently there at the moment, and a child stayed behind at lunch to tell me that she is going to be an auntie and her sister is going to call the baby Kian. ( She thinks that is a good Irish name so I would like it)
Well apart from all that today I taught Literacy, Numeracy, Science, PSHE, P.E. amd visited the school library to change our books and talk about the book I am reading. ( The Penultimate Peril, latest in the Lemony Snickett series).

Today was a busy one, but I was reminded that my class are ok and that they do treat me well even if they want me to look like Miss Piggy with all the food that makes it on to m y desk by 3.30pm.

End of Half Term

Well, it's Sunday night at the end of another half term. Typically tonight JA and I won't sleep too well as our heads will be full of the things to come this week. I actually woke up this morning thinking about what I was going to teach tomorrow. Sad, but at least it has only happened once this week!
We've actually both had a great week off so I thought I would give a quick rundown of its highlights:
Saturday to Tuesday we were in Belfast visiting family and generally having a chance to relax.
A view across the loch/Irish Sea just up from the Patterson household.

Honey the family dog out on a late night walk.

The three lovely Patterson sisters.

Tuesday night of course saw us at the Athlete concert (see previous post) which was followed by a lazy Wednesday spent in Manchester city centre ending with a trip to the cinema to see The Legend of Zorro. Thursday was spent around the house catching up on cleaning/ironing etc before we made it to my parents to help out with the reception after the Didsbury Lectures. This gave me my chance to have a wee chat with N. T. Wright, or Tom as he introduced himself to me! I have to say he is a really nice bloke who was very easy to chat to and always had some little story to go along with the topic of conversation.

Friday approached quicker than expected so we finally got some school work done before making it out to the Jenkins for some curry and Settlers action. JA won and has insisted that I include this!

Saturday allowed us to do a little more work in order for us to enjoy our evening with the Brower-Latz's in Manchester along with their friends from the U.S. It was nice to get to meet them and show them our fair city but I have to say a Saturday night is probably not the best time to show it off (there's plenty more being shown off if you know what I mean!).

Anyway, here we are today after a visit to Emmanuel this morning, a viewing of The Interpreter this afternoon and a coffee with the Jenkins this evening.

So, all in all we have had a great week and enjoyed its variety of activities. We realise we are lucky in getting these breaks and won't take them for granted! And to finish, I have no idea why anybody would really be interested in hearing all of this but I suppose that whats blogs are for in a way. If this one wasn't so good maybe the next one might be!

All you teachers out there - enjoy the eight week run up to Christmas.

Disclaimer: Julie-Ann it should be said worked every day since Tuesday although this was not explicitly mentioned in the above post.

Regular Tourist

JA and I went to the Apollo last night to see Athlete in concert. We both thoroughly enjoyed it although JA wasn't too happy about the four hours of standing around!(Gregster, where are you my concert pal?!) It also didn't help that we had some big dude behind us that seemed to be able to sing as loudly as the boys without the use of any amplification. It was reminiscent of being in a football ground!
Well, Eif and Esther are there tonight and I'm sure they will also have a great evening.

Click here if you would like to hear a recording of one of Athlete's concerts earlier on this year.

Happy Birthday Sandra!!

You got one too?!?!?

Just an opportunity to wish our friend Sandra a Happy Birthday. She never appears to be in our geographical location when it comes to this particular day. So, we have decided to mark this day on the internet for all the world to see (not that we think that the whole world checks out our blog! Thanks to the four of you that do!)

Not quite sure about her age but let us concentrate on the celebration instead! Enjoy your first birthday as a mum and hopefully Lev's handwriting is legible in your card.

Don't eat too much cake!!!

Parents Evenings and Parenting

This week was my turn, yet again to fill my 34 sets or groups of parents in on how their children were doing now that they are in their last year of Primary education. The usual questions arise, do you think ...... needs a tutor? What level do you predict for Numeracy? What do you think of .... school? How can I make my child listen to me? I am trying the super nanny naughty chair what do you think? I can't seem to make.... listen to me can you help? I am getting the whole Kevin the teenager thing at home. What is he like at school? You know, just the usual.

But my last appointment at 7.25 on Wednesday was slightly different. It began with the usuals as I knew that this mum had just had her fourth daughter last year and I have taught her other three so we were discussing if I could last long enough in teaching to teach her last.
She then quickly remarked, "sure you will soon be teaching my grandchild!"
" What," I remarked, " you have a daughter older than C?"
" No, C is 20 weeks pregnant on Friday."

We then continued to chat, C is in Year 9 and 13 years old, she will be 14 by the time the baby is born in March. She is attending Stockport's pregnant girls school and has started her GCSEs early as she is so bright.
So what is so bright about getting pregnant at 13? ( especially as I have been trying for the past 14 months without success at 27 years old, but that is by the by)

Well, I have invited C and the new baby to come to school to talk about Sex Ed and life as a teenage mum, I await to hear if she wants to come.

It is amazing to think that 3 years ago C sat in my class and I taught her English, now she is learning about nappies, feeding and parenting. A real stark contrast and steep learning curve in such a short time.
Good luck C and all you teenage mums out there, your teachers still think of you and wonder what the future holds for you and your children.

Autumn

JA and I went out for a nice stroll yesterday afternoon in Fog Lane Park. It's amazing how much change you see at this time of year. These pictures don't compare however to the Edmonton version of 'Scattered Leaves' but it looked nice nonetheless!
It all looks good right now but I'm not looking forward to raking up thousands of mouldy leaves from our from lawn in a few weeks time!

I'll pay a tenner to anyone who would like to rake these up in a few weeks!

Grease is the Word.

Today, I took 41 children to a local theatre to see our feeder secondary school's production of Grease. I have to say when I as a child and teen I was never allowed to watch or listen to the music, and after today as I was squirming in my seat I now know why. One boy sitting next to me said, "what does, 'knocked up' mean? Mrs. McCulloch" another remarked as we were walking back to school that he thought it was wrong that the actors were pretending to smoke cigarettes. Well that was a moral lesson and a half.

The major thing that watching my ex pupils made me think was that, 'my goodness some of my pupils are in Year 10 now, singing and dancing their hearts out', and here I sit... their ex primary teacher remembering the feeling of being in my school productions. How weird!

Well I still think the music is great if the story line is a bit dodgy.

Saturday Afternoon Coffee and Chat

After Grad today Jamie and I had the chance to met up with two of our closet friends.
It seemed like weeks since we were able to catch up and check up on what we had been up to. They are so busy and we are inflexible with when we can meet, so today was a real treat (and a laugh!)
Jamie and I are really appreciative of our friends may the be near or far.
Know that you are thought of often and cared for.

Sleep well European friends, those of you who are further away, enjoy your day and all it holds.

Graduation

Mark Payne having his moment.

'Hallelujah' Mark! Guess what he said when receiving his certificate?!

The recessional.

Look at the ridiculous crest stuck below the organ pipes! What do you think?

Well, I have no idea how many Graduations I have now been to but I witnessed another one today in the lovely Whitworth Hall. Even though I didn't really know many of the graduands I still couldn't help but share in the joy of their achievements. The variety of people that made their way up the stairs to the platform will all share a different story as to their journey there today. It is emotional in a strange detached way.

I was also present for the fact I had been asked to play guitar for one of the choirs anthems. Nerves are always present before I play anywhere but today this was compounded by the fact I was the only instrumentalist for the song, I was standing on the podium and the rehersal had not gone as planned! When I learnt the song on Thursday night I continued to practice for the next two and a half days. The problem, however, was the tempo I had kept in my mind. The practice soon revealed I was playing very differently from the way the choir had prepared! I spent the next 15 minutes in the back hall going through my intro just to make sure we started at the right tempo!

I have to apologise to Julie-Ann as I was not great conversation for the next hour as I continued to run through the song in my head. Thankfully when my time came I remembered the timing and actually enjoyed the experience!!

Overall my Dad's first experience of leading Graduation ran relatively smoothly. I'm sure he's pretty relieved now and will hopefully sleep well tonight!

Second Open Evening of the week

Well tonight was the turn of Hazel Grove High School to show off their wares to me as I did the obligatory tour whilst Jamie was busy wooing the Year 6's to choose his school.
I have been in 2 secondary schools this week and I want to let you know this.
Despite what we see on our televisions or read in our newspapers, the young people who I have met this week do not strike me as unruly, disrespectful or out of control. Granted, these children were probably chosen to be ambassadors for their school for a reason; I did meet lots of other pupils who were not especially chosen, and I was amazed to see the interaction between past and current pupils with the staff. The positive relationships and banter was so apparent.
So what am I trying to say?
All of you parents out there...... I don't believe that secondary education in the 2 secondary schools I visited this week is that bad and I need to remind you not to believe all you hear or read in the media. Oh, and you secondary teachers out there... keep up the hard, invaluable work you do!

Got it?

Maybe you might want to check out HGHS's website! http://www.stockportmbc.gov.uk/secondary/hazelgrove/

It's an amazing blogging community

Yesterday I found out that more people I know are involved in this strange blogging phenomenon. People who at times seems to scoff and suggest that we bloggers have too much time on our hands!!
Well, I would like to, for the record, point out that it is nothing to do with having too much time, but a strange addiction to catch up. I find myself so bogged down with daily life and stuff, that I struggle to write that card or pick up the phone and call.

So, this may be a small way to keep all of you out there, who invest in me as family or friend or (family of a friend) informed on what I am up to, thinking about or whatever.
I will never be able to tell you about some great intellectual book I am reading as I seem to spend my life reading kids books. ( I am reading a great Ibbotson one right now called the Island of the Aunts, a great story full of strange animals and wacky old women) or join in on some philosophical question, ( as I rarely have time to think about what's for tea?) but I will fill you in on the what's going on in my life ( which is code for classroom, study or infront of my laptop!)


My amazing blogging community... keep on reading.


PS. Someone today suggested that I go part time at work. What a wise friend. I will think about it!! (wink wink)

Bizarre Evenings.

Well tonight was one of them.
After rushing out of school after a senior management meeting discussing mental maths targets ( I know not the most riveting) Jamie kindly went with me to our secondary feeder school open evening, the night when the school puts on their best performance to woo prospective pupils and their parents. Que the two young adults without children!! Yes I went along as a feeder primary teacher.
How scarey, what difficult decisions will have to be made for all you parents out there!
Actually, it was amazing to see how my class behaved and although with their parents they still came to me for reassurance and for answers. I suppose I realised how vunerable they are as 11 year old children and how I do actually make a difference.
So, between the two teaching McCullochs, today has been an 'ahh' day, 'ahh' we like our jobs!
Now bring on tomorrow!

oh...

and I won at 5 a side tonight for the first time in ages!

Feeling useful

School today was interesting for me (not often you hear me talking about school!). One of my former form group students turned up after school to see me!Her name is Helena Zuppinger (!) and she is currently in her second year at college. She had come to ask my advice about her choices when she left 6th form and in particular about Economics. She remembered that I had told them ages ago that I did an Economics degree even though I was a maths teacher. She was enjoying Economics and was considering taking this on at Uni.
We discussed Uni's to go to, the module break down and whether to have a gap year first or after. She even discussed the fact she wanted to do VSO as she was particularly interested in Developmental Economics as her dad had grown up in Argentina and she had been to visit a couple of times.
It was amazing how many parallels we seemed to share and I felt like I had plently to say and things for her to consider before making these choices. We spoke for about 40 minutes and it felt really good to think that I was being of some use to her in helping her shape her future decisions. It is not often in teaching that young people outwardly show if they are grateful for what you have done or can help them with. So today for me finished on a positive note that students DO hear what you have to say and on occasions DO ask you for advice!
Good luck Helena, you deserve it.

Still here but snowed under.

All I feel I have done recently is cook, clean, teach and do school work.
It's not as if I am the only one who does the cooking and cleaning cause actually Jamie is a real star and often takes command over all these duties, but we have been busy trying to catch up on the housework and bits and pieces.
School is snowballing but it will get better, I just need to get myself into a better routine.
So... I will try to blog soon, but I am still trying to clear the snow!

England are poor!

Julie-Ann supposedly captures an 'action' shot during today's England game. The cat was more entertaining to watch and she slept the whole time.

Just to add from JA's post which recently commented "anything for an easy life he says!" I would just like to say that if I did anything for an easy life I would not support England or United. Over the last 2 months I have spent plenty of time at home and in the pub watching the 'boys' and to be honest not much of it has been time well spent. I have even heard a certain Browler say that he hates watching England!

Anyway, here's hoping for Wednesday night when once again I shall be watching the BBC's coverage of our national team. You never know as Mr Rooney is back!

BANKS!! Who'd use them?

The world's local bank that is never open.

Sorry you can only come to see humans between the hours of 9.30am and 4.30pm, but in the meantime we will use the money we are looking after for you to buy and sell and make lots of profit.

Interest rates? Of course, low and crappy but keep using our machines they are happy to help and local to you.

Have a good day!

Crappy opening hours for Banks and Post Offices!

I am going to rant now and I apologise in advance if I offend anyone but banks and Post Offices really cheese me off!

Today we got up early this morning as Jamie had over £200 to deposit in the bank from his students who have recently joining the school fantasy football league. So we arrive at the bank nice and early to hand over the money to a smiling bank teller, only to be told, " we don't have any over the counter staff who work on Saturday mornings and it is like this in every branch of HSBC!"
"What?"
" You can deposit your money in that machine over there."

Did she think I had got up early to give this money to a machine?
I asked her when I would be able to smile and hand my money over to a human instead of a piece of metal and she relied, " Oh our opening hours are Monday to Friday 9.30 - 4.30pm"
9.30 to 4.30pm! I wonder what percentage of people can actually use a bank during these opening hours!
What has happened to dealing with humans instead of online this and electronic that? All I wanted to make sure was that the correct amount of money was going into the correct place and I am not sure if a machine can do that or me!

Post Offices... here's another example of the poor service that is being offered to people who work and cannot get to them during their shoddy opening hours. 9.00 to 4.30pm closed from 12 noon on a Wednesday and some even close for a lunch hour from 12 noon till 2pm. ( Their maths must be terrible as I make this 2 hours!!)

Well I suppose I should count myself lucky that the local Post Office near school is actually open over lunch, but when I spend 15+ minutes in a queue waiting to buy a stamp to post to Europe or North America, I don't feel so lucky!

Crappy services, bring back sensible opening hours and dealing with humans. Is that too much to ask?

JA
PS. Jamie thinks I totally over react in situations like this, anything for an easy life he says!
Oh and the machine ate our money. Here's hoping it was the right amount going to the right place.

Ahh. The glorious weekend.

Well I finally made it, 12 days on the bounce of teaching and working with children and tomorrow is my day off.

I never realised how tired I was until on Tuesday night I went to bed at 7 o'clock and woke up the next morning at 6.45 to the sound of Jamie telling me I had to get up for work! ( I slept well that night.) Where did the night go?

This week has been 'interesting' as my class have been grouchy; they have been tired and to be honest I have probably been that way too.

So.... it is the weekend, a time to reflect, catch up and recharge, ready for the week to come. It is Harvest festival this week and the following week it is Parents Evenings for 2 nights. I'm not complaining though, as it's half term the week after. ( Nothing like wishing your life away.)

Hopefully tomorrow we will get out in the garden or for a walk around Lyme Park or Dunham Massey. It is all dependant on the Manchester rain, we will keep you informed.

Vancouver does sound nice!! ( I'll look for jobs in the TES in BC).
JA

Poor JA

Poor JA eventually hit the sack at 7:15 tonight as her weekend excursions finally caught up with her. I am just back from football (where my team were just thrashed) and she is still sound asleep. Here's hoping she will feel on top form tomorrow. So apologies to anyone who was hoping for a blog from Jewels tonight. I am confident she will be back with renewed strength tomorrow. Sleep well JA.

Happy 30th Eif

Thank you to Eifion's co-workers who signed his birthday card wishing him a a warm welcome to his 4th decade! He should now be joining a few great others who celebrate(d) this event in 2005.

Eif, I apologise for the surprising photo opportunity. You have to say you are not looking too comfortable. However, escaping to the kitchen to 'pump' is a wonderful act of mercy on your guests.

Also, please do not attempt to comment on this by spouting some story that you were actually preparing the coffee or anything like that.

PS. Jenks is actually only a youthful 27. "Man I can't believe I've been taking advice from someone so young."

I'm back!

Well, I will fill you in on all the details of my weekend away with my class later, but I am back. I'm in one piece, with all my luggage ( all dirty, mud caked) and with a funny tummy ( the food was typical of school dinners!) But it is school again tomorrow.

This will be me, I hope my class are zombied too!

Well the bag is packed, and I am raring to go, well I am going not so sure about raring or not.
This week has been really hard at school; I am hoping that this weekend will be good, that it will help my fragmented class to work as a unit, watch this space and I will let you know on that one.
As for Jamie it is a life on his own for the next couple of days. He tells me it is fine but I know that life is pretty lonely ( especially at night time). He assures me that he is going to put his new guitar and recording equipment ( a 30th birthday gift) to good use, who knows maybe all of you you will be receiving Jamie's 1st album as a Christmas gift.

Jamie's new baby... it makes plenty of noise, but not quite the sounds we have been hearing from all the new additions around us!

To Russia with love

Today was another moment that was typical of our life here in Manchester. We had been enjoying the fact that Derek, Sandra and Leon had been round the corner enabling us to meet frequently and chat, eat and importantly, play Pro Evo. However, that moment was short lived as they have moved on to greater things awaiting them in St Petersburg.

As the last few years have shown, many good friends have been and gone leaving serious holes in our lives. We are totally grateful for the continuing friendships both here and beyond but it is becoming very difficult to see people go. So, you all know who you are...WE MISS YOU!!!!

To the Brower-Fachs, we really hope you have a great time over there and we would love to be able to come and visit. We hope you don't mind the picture we posted but we thought it reflected the good few weeks we shared whilst you were here in Manchester.

Hope Lev finds his monster...he has fluffy ears!

United are poor!

Eifion prepares for the match but is really looking forward to his half time coffee.

The boys prepare for kick off and another tepid display.

1-1 with 20 minutes to go. Not looking good.

Well, after just paying 26 quid to see United for the first time this season I have to agree with those worried about the future of the team. To watch a display which lacked the same passion and creative play that I have been used to enjoying was a huge disappointment.

To be fair we were several players short of full strength but I have resigned myself to a downturn of fortunes. The highlight of the night was sitting next to the away fans who created more noise than the other 63000 fans. I also think Jenks enjoyed listening to a demented Jamie screaming his way through the match joining in the few chants that came our way.

At least we got the result, I'm just not used to being in this place. We will wait and see.

Extra curricular activities

Well, for all of you out there who are wondering about the saga of my 5 boys and if my teaching career would stand the next day test.....
well.....
I am still here and today was a much better day. I really enjoyed myself, but it might have something to do with the 2 hours I had this afternoon to plan, prepare and assess (PPA).
No, it was better generally and the boys are learning boundaries, ( I think, hope and pray).

Tonight I am busy sorting myself out as on Friday at 8.30am I am off on the residential with 40 of the Year 6's. Most of my class and some of the other. I will fill you in when I get back, but for now, check out where I am going. Pretty impressive huh?

So glad the working day is over.

Today was one of the few days I have wondered why I bother teaching.
It was a struggle from the word go, but by 3.15 with only 15 minutes to go I looked out on the sea of 35 faces and just thought, " Why do I bother?"
I suppose I know the answer to my question but today was hard! I have 4 or 5 boys who just continually push boundaries and make wrong choices. I can't imagine them as 15 year olds. I look at them and hope that by Friday they realise the impact their behaviour has on me, their peers and their learning!
If I am a teacher then I teach. If they are learners, in my classroom they should learn.
Unfortunately I am not too sure if much learning went on today, but on a more positive note...
tomorrow is a new day and it is nearly the weekend! ( however it is the residential with them so there is no escaping them this Friday!) Roll on Christmas!

If you are interested in what they are supposed to be learning ( those 5 lovely boys who push me to every boundary possible,) check out my school website on...
http://www.st-marks.stockport.sch.uk/

Another end to the working day

Just about to go home to get ready for the match tonight (United vs Benfica) and thought I should post another link to some great songs. These make marking and planning that much easier at the end of school.
This time it's Stephen Fretwell providing the wind down music. Greg and I went to see Keane back in October and Fretwell was a well received supporting artist.
Hope you enjoy.

Working hard.

School is over for the day and I needed something to help me relax after a typical hectic Monday. I found this after a google search and know you Feeder fans would appreciate it. Some excellent acoustic examples from the boys.
Anyway, I should get back to planning my lessons.

Fish, Chips and Evangelism.

The world famous illuminations in Blackpool. Home of arcades, hen and stag parties, donkey rides on the beach, broken light bulbs and evangelism like I have never seen before. Do you think it works? Does it matter, if only one person takes note and thinks about what they see? Does it matter that it is ridiculed by passer bys as they compare this one to its neighbour, Fern and Phil from 'Good Morning'?





It was cold on the prom as we tucked into our cod and chips! Can you guess?

Blackpool!!!

Well, last night Jamie and I ventured out to the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. The idea was to have a stroll at the seaside and eat fish and chips on the prom. In reality it finished up like that but not without its drama before.
We were walking on the central pier, when we heard this terrible crying. We look around to see 4 children aged from 4 to 13 hanging on to their mother who was rolling around on the ground in a terrible way.
Eventually the 4 year old boy told me his daddy was a mean man and had kicked him in the mouth when he broke the door down to their house earlier in the day. His sister then went on to say that he was stalking them and they were all very scared to go home. The mother was terrified of Jamie and the male pier staff who came to try to help her, it took 20+ minutes to calm them all down so we could decide what to do. ( They had no coats, they hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was 9pm on a windy night on the coast!) Feeling helpless and unsure what to do I called the police who sent a team of 6 officers, ( and a female officer!) And off they went into the sunset, and off we went to get fish and chips!
What a wake up call!! What is beyond their sunset? How do they go about 'getting on'?
Life is so cruel for this family and for so many others... struggling to get on in life, dealing with crisis after crisis.
I suppose I realised, (yet again) that I am very fortunate, I have the life skills to interact with each other and to deal with 'stuff'.
When I moan about what life deals at me, maybe I should remember, Maria, Arlena, Nadine, Hayley and Jared, the family I met at Central Pier Blackpool.

2nd posting and counting!

It's been a long time since Bearwood! Another success for the 'Youth Group Dating Agency'.

It all started because of everyone else!

Not wanting to be left out we have decided to follow in the typing steps of our fellow friends. So here we go. We are not promising words of great meaning, in fact we are not even sure what we are going to post. However, keep your eye on this space as we may surprise you.

For all those wondering where such creativity came in the naming of this blog, "it all started at Bearwood" refers to the beginning of what you now know as the McCulloch family.