The summer holidays are here. The past school year seems to have simply flown by and it doesn't seem possible that the long break is upon us once more.
I always slightly dread the summer holidays, to be honest; I like the fact that we don't have the daily mad rush to get to school and that my day isn't determined by school pick up times, but at the same time it is very daunting to have a whole six weeks stretching out in front of us with nothing in them.
Usually we go away for our family holiday in the summer break - I accept the higher prices as a trade off for breaking up the six weeks with a fortnight in the sun. But not this year. We decided to stay-cation and do some camping, which is quite possibly the worst decision ever, considering how bad the weather has been. After the first three days of the hols were beautiful we looked at campsites for next weekend only to find that the wet weather is forecast to return with a vengeance.
So far, I've managed to arrange one thing to do every weekday of the holidays for the first fortnight - and thanks to the Council and School, these things have been either free or subsidised. We have a trip to watch the Olympic football at the beginning of August and then I'm taking the boys to stay with my parents for a few days. And then...... nothing. The free school/council-arranged activities peter out and we shall be left to our own devices.
Obviously, there is always the library, the swimming pool, the parks, the soft play areas and the stately homes with their large gardens. And I'm sure we'll do the lot, many times over. In the meanwhile, let me just have a look at last minute deals for a fortnight in Menorca.......
Monday, 23 July 2012
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Sports Day
At the beginning of the week, the weather forecast was so dreadful it looked like neither of the boys' sports days were going to take place. As it was, the weather gods smiled on them, and they both went ahead.
Not so much fun for the parents, alas. The Infants sports day is pretty tedious - they take a very long time to get all the kids to do their running races, followed by skipping or egg and spoon, and then an obstacle course or sack race. It takes hours, even when they have separate sessions for Reception/Nursery and Years 1 and 2. Last year I was unfortunate enough to have to sit through both sessions.
It wasn't too bad this time - Jacob had a doctors appointment and was then told not to go into school that day, so we missed Sam's running race, but did see him compete in the skipping race. He was last by a country mile. We're pretty sure that Sam is dyspraxic, so anything requiring the co-ordination needed for skipping is a bit too much to ask of him. That said, bless him, he persevered and skipped all along the course - if extremely slowly and badly.
At this point, Jacob decided he was bored, so we didn't stay to watch the obstacle race - it was going to take about 45 minutes to get round to Sam's group - so we went home.
The Juniors Sport day was much better organised. Rather than taking it in turns for small groups to compete and everyone watch, they competed in their classes where they were divided into school houses. They moved from area to area, doing a race or activity, and the parents moved with them. It was v well organised, and the kids didn't get bored at all.
Jacob was always a bit rubbish at sports day at the Infants, but he seems to have blossomed at Juniors. He was last in the 100m out of his class, but he didn't care and, more importantly, had a good time running. He was great at things like skipping and the sack race and because each race only had a small number of observers, it wasn't quite so intimidating as the Infants races with the entire crowd watching everyone.
I'll give Junior Sports Day the thumbs up and be genuinely disappointed if it gets cancelled for bad weather in future years.
Not so much fun for the parents, alas. The Infants sports day is pretty tedious - they take a very long time to get all the kids to do their running races, followed by skipping or egg and spoon, and then an obstacle course or sack race. It takes hours, even when they have separate sessions for Reception/Nursery and Years 1 and 2. Last year I was unfortunate enough to have to sit through both sessions.
It wasn't too bad this time - Jacob had a doctors appointment and was then told not to go into school that day, so we missed Sam's running race, but did see him compete in the skipping race. He was last by a country mile. We're pretty sure that Sam is dyspraxic, so anything requiring the co-ordination needed for skipping is a bit too much to ask of him. That said, bless him, he persevered and skipped all along the course - if extremely slowly and badly.
At this point, Jacob decided he was bored, so we didn't stay to watch the obstacle race - it was going to take about 45 minutes to get round to Sam's group - so we went home.
The Juniors Sport day was much better organised. Rather than taking it in turns for small groups to compete and everyone watch, they competed in their classes where they were divided into school houses. They moved from area to area, doing a race or activity, and the parents moved with them. It was v well organised, and the kids didn't get bored at all.
Jacob was always a bit rubbish at sports day at the Infants, but he seems to have blossomed at Juniors. He was last in the 100m out of his class, but he didn't care and, more importantly, had a good time running. He was great at things like skipping and the sack race and because each race only had a small number of observers, it wasn't quite so intimidating as the Infants races with the entire crowd watching everyone.
I'll give Junior Sports Day the thumbs up and be genuinely disappointed if it gets cancelled for bad weather in future years.
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