Duke of Edinburgh induction morning

great presentation on good practice when working with children who have special needs.

Mixed aged teaching

Classes 4 and 5 are researching famous people using the Internet in preparation for writing a biography. This class of mixed aged children have been grouped by ability and it is a wonderful example of how children in the future will no longer be grouped simply because they share a birthday in the same school year. Thinking about it now, it sounds like complete madness that grouping children by age is indeed sensible or helpful for learners, whom we know, learn at different rates. It was wonderful to observe the success of this initiative, and see children brimming with confidence amongst their peers.

Train line is back in service for the first time in 12 years.

Max, who IS the most wonderful person in the world, helped me put my model railway back into service after 12 years of disuse. Everything was found exactly how it was left, and after some gentle encouragement, we managed to get some of the trains moving again. The whole track was built around the perimeter of the loft space in the family home, making it quite an experience for a little boy of 3 years.

Max had great fun playing with the toy cars which can be placed on a transporter, which took me back to how I had modelled this on my experience of using the French Motorail. One day, I might tell you the whole story of how our car ended up in a completely different place to us, the family, on holiday to the south of France.