Our First Family Holiday

Seven years in the making, but eventually the Norbury's are rolling out. Bags packed, car crammed, kids excited and parents knackered. Sounds like the perfect recipe for a holiday. 

As we approach Preston we encounter another first for our family. As our speed drops down from 70 to 0 mph, we realise that we are now in our first traffic jam. Fast forward 2 hours and about 40 miles and the traffic jam is now behind us. Just 1 hour to go and we'll be there, but that still doesn't stop those childhood cries from behind "Are we nearly there yet?".

Eventually we arrive and Wow! What a beautiful site. The caravan is situated in an amazing setting with chicken, hens, rabbits and even some cows wandering freely around the site. For the kids, within throwing distance and within sight is a set of swings and slides. 

At the end of our first day here it started to rain heavily. This was the first time the children had heard the bombardment of heavy raindrops against the metal roof of a caravan. Niamh, Aoife, Jacq and I found the sounds very calming, almost therapeutic. However, for Seán the loud constant irregularity of the noise caused great discomfort. 

The evening came and passed. In the morning we were woken by the call of the cockerel. An unusual yet familiar sound. After, cereal, toast, and eggs for breakfast (not all on one plate), it was time for a small walk. 

What a walk of nature, with cows, chickens, rabbits, bees, ladybirds and loads of wild flowers to pick, poke and persue. Fun was had by all. This is only the morning of our first day! Hopefully the start of lots of childhood memories for our children.

The following day we decide to venture away from the campsite, partly due to the fact that after a visit from Stuart and Emma, our car now has enough diesel to move. First port of call, Kirby Steven, followed by Appleby, Kendal, Bowness and then finally Bowness-on-Windermere. 

The final step of our journey brought back a deluge of memories of my own childhood. Many summers spent at 'Fallbarrow Park Campsite' taking evening walks along the the lake. Today, was no different. We parked up by the pitch and putt and walked alongside the church grounds until we were at the lake. 

Seeing all the swans, boats and ice cream parlours proved to me that this lovely tourist spot hasn't changed much. The only differences that I noticed was the large number of Chinese tourists and a lack of glass! As I child I recall every shop selling glass hand-made by the glass factory, but alas that factory/museum has changed and is now a restaurant. 

Sod the kids, even if they didn't enjoy the ice-cream, rock or picnic, today I had an amazing time!

Timetabelling

So I finally finished my first timetable and today we ran a transition day. The purpose of the day was not just to check that all pupils, teachers and rooms were allocated correctly, but because our school is going through some rapid growth and now requires a shift from 1 hour long lessons down to 50minute lessons.

Very quickly in the day it was clear that there were not going to be any major errors. For this I have to thank Keith Johnson and his amazing TimeTabler piece of software. 

However, the day did allow for sometime of reflection by myself. I was able to get feedback from pupils and staff, because of this I thought to write down my ramblings so that I may look back on them next year and ensure that I can prepare with hindsight. 

1. Ensure at option time that any subjects that may require double lessons are paired for ease on the timetable.

2. Ensure that all part-time staffing are correct and percentages calculated and clear to all in advance. 

3. With having years 5 through to 11 and the 6th form coming online in 2015, allocation of year 5 & 6 teachers is critical. However, the tendency is to use them as a filler. Consider how this can be avoided. Realising that this may be hard to do, as the 6th form timetable will probably take priority.