Beach Day.

The weather didn't look too good when I first got up and driving to work through thick cloud/rain with the lights on and the windscreen wipers going didn't bode well for our school trip to the beach. However things cleared up and Saunton's micro-climate gave us a dry and warm day on the beach. 

Even though Peter wasn't going to work he had to wake up early to open his birthday presents and card. I also got him a dictionary of etymology as he's forever wonder how certain words came about. 

I didn't take my camera to the beach as I was worried about sand getting in it not to mention the possibility of a child falling over/onto my bag. I planned to take my baby Nikon but it's been such a long time I used it that the batteries wouldn't re-charge. Anyway I was already loaded right up. I took the beach shelter tent, a tarpaulin and bin bags in case of rain along with a first aid kit plus epipens,  a small sick bucket, cones to mark out an area for the children to stay in, paperwork including a 6 page risk assessment, towel, lunch, coffee and a raincoat. The idea of marking out an area for each class worked really well in terms of keeping an eye on all your class. We had enough mums helping that each of us had only 3 or 4 children to keep an eye on. The children spent most of the time digging holes and building sandcastles and of course there was paddling in the sea. One little boy was adamant that he didn't want to paddle but after a few minutes he was in nearly up to his knees jumping the waves with great abandon. There was a strip of washed up jellyfish on the beach which the children carefully tiptoed in between, not that those jelly fish sting but I'm sure it would feel unpleasant to step on one. We got back to school at 3.00 with sandy tired children who had had a wonderful day. They only live a few miles from the beach but some parents find it difficult to make beach trips. My best 'child' comment as we walked onto the beach was "there's such a lot of sand here".

Once all the children had been collected from school I tidied around the classroom as the regular teacher returns on Monday, hooray no more early starts for me. I collected Peter's car from the garage where I'd taken it for its MOT then came home for a welcome shower and cup of tea.