Wet.

I woke this  morning to the same dull grey low clouds. If anything the drizzle was heavier but not so bad that I couldn't clear another section of the path by the bog garden. My whole drive to work was through the clouds again with the world beyond the hedges on either side of the road a wall of white. Coming home this evening in the dark the rain was heavier and the fog made seeing anything quite difficult. At one point, when I was driving through Shirwell the visibility was so poor I had to slow right down just to stay on the road.

At school I taught the reception children and for once decided that they wouldn't go out to play as not only was it raining quite heavily but the playground was covered with puddles. As every teacher takes their own class out in the afternoon it's your own decision if you want to stay in instead. Normally I would take them out as there are some covered areas and children don't melt in the rain but it was too wet today. The sickness bug continues on and today the school administrator and a student teacher were both unwell and had to go home as well as a number of children who were still off sick. We have a 48 hours staying at home rule to try and cut the spread of these bugs but I expect this will linger on for a while yet.

Our staff meeting was about marking maths, feedback and assessment. The maths curriculum was changed a couple of years ago and as yet there are no set ways of showing levels and progress so we're just working on getting continuity across the school. I say we but really it's the class teachers who have to get to grips with this. I was very happy to hear at the meeting that I no longer have to teach on Fridays. Not because the teacher is returning (she's been signed off for a while yet) but things have been changed around so that the children have more continuity rather than a number of different teachers each week. I was pleased because not only do I not have to get up before dawn on Fridays but I was also finding that I was so worn out that Saturdays were written off too.