Double celebrations today, firstly this morning was the last time for at least 9 days that we will have to get up early for work. Normally, as I tend to teach in the afternoons, I can have a lie in if I've had a bad night but for the last few weeks it has been up early every morning. But now it is the half-term holiday and Peter has booked some holiday time too so we can relax.
At school it was a celebratory day too. All the staff were looking forward to the holiday but also we had a whole day of Jubilee celebrations. The children came to school dressed either as kings and queens or in red, white and blue. This got them all terribly excited so the morning was spent on fun activities and my class had quite a long quiz all about Queen Elizabeth with jelly babies as prizes. (Everyone got one each and the winning team had 2 each which they were quite happy with.) In the afternoon we had a coronation pageant on the junior school playing field. This involved a procession of; foreign dignitaries, the Lord Chamberlain, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the King & Queen and Ladies-in-waiting walking to the accompaniment of the recorder players and the juniors' choir. They all looked so sweet dressed up.
We did have a special visitor come to watch the proceedings.
After the coronation and more singing all the children joined by their families had a picnic on the field. It was a bit nerve-wracking for us teachers as some children were whizzing about all over the place while others were crying from over excitement. Our biggest worry was that children might go off with their parents but our strict instructions to the children that they must come back to the classrooms with us before being signed out by their parents worked and nobody got mislaid. I know it may be different in other countries but here children are only allowed out of our care if their adult has been seen and identified. I find it hard to match every child in all the classes with their family members but with the year 1 & 2 children (5-7 yrs) so long as each child tells me who they can see waiting for them outside the classroom I am happy to let them leave. Even so we sometimes have children who run off to play after they have been collected and then fail to get back to their parents which can result in all of us searching the school and playgrounds before they are found once more. Very occasionally they take it into their heads to walk home which is far more worrying in these days of heavy traffic. Oh for those happy days of our childhoods when it was perfectly safe for us to play out in the streets all day or roam around the countryside. Nowadays increased traffic and the exaggerated fear of 'stranger danger' (sadly that threat usually comes from family members or friends), mean that children are supervised at all times which is good in terms of safety but not so good in terms of independence. I can remember watching from around a corner as I allowed 2 of my boys to cross a pedestrian crossing and walk up the pedestrianised High Street when they were nearly teenagers. At least our move to the country gave them the freedom to roam the fields without my worrying. What will it be like for the next generation I wonder?
At school it was a celebratory day too. All the staff were looking forward to the holiday but also we had a whole day of Jubilee celebrations. The children came to school dressed either as kings and queens or in red, white and blue. This got them all terribly excited so the morning was spent on fun activities and my class had quite a long quiz all about Queen Elizabeth with jelly babies as prizes. (Everyone got one each and the winning team had 2 each which they were quite happy with.) In the afternoon we had a coronation pageant on the junior school playing field. This involved a procession of; foreign dignitaries, the Lord Chamberlain, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the King & Queen and Ladies-in-waiting walking to the accompaniment of the recorder players and the juniors' choir. They all looked so sweet dressed up.
We did have a special visitor come to watch the proceedings.
After the coronation and more singing all the children joined by their families had a picnic on the field. It was a bit nerve-wracking for us teachers as some children were whizzing about all over the place while others were crying from over excitement. Our biggest worry was that children might go off with their parents but our strict instructions to the children that they must come back to the classrooms with us before being signed out by their parents worked and nobody got mislaid. I know it may be different in other countries but here children are only allowed out of our care if their adult has been seen and identified. I find it hard to match every child in all the classes with their family members but with the year 1 & 2 children (5-7 yrs) so long as each child tells me who they can see waiting for them outside the classroom I am happy to let them leave. Even so we sometimes have children who run off to play after they have been collected and then fail to get back to their parents which can result in all of us searching the school and playgrounds before they are found once more. Very occasionally they take it into their heads to walk home which is far more worrying in these days of heavy traffic. Oh for those happy days of our childhoods when it was perfectly safe for us to play out in the streets all day or roam around the countryside. Nowadays increased traffic and the exaggerated fear of 'stranger danger' (sadly that threat usually comes from family members or friends), mean that children are supervised at all times which is good in terms of safety but not so good in terms of independence. I can remember watching from around a corner as I allowed 2 of my boys to cross a pedestrian crossing and walk up the pedestrianised High Street when they were nearly teenagers. At least our move to the country gave them the freedom to roam the fields without my worrying. What will it be like for the next generation I wonder?
1 comment:
Ruta, I didn't know you were still reading my blog. Thanks so much for your comment about the price of fuel. While I do like it when the price goes down, I'd prefer to pay more in taxes if we also got the services and benefits you enjoy, particularly health care! The documentaries I've watched comparing other countries' systems to ours have been enlightening. Your photos, as always, are lovely. Oh, and my granddaughter's school also requires parents be seen to collect their youngsters. Security and safety are Big Deals all over the world, apparently! Thanks for reading and commenting!
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