One week down

It's always difficult going back to school after the summer break for
a number of reasons. Anxiety about what the year will bring,
apprehension about what your classes will be like and the realisation
that you've got the toughest half term of the school year coming up.
For me it was a good feeling in a way as I now felt part of the school
despite being there since January. Starting a fresh year here felt
good and the two training days left me feeling really positive.

The teaching began soon enough and familiar faces started flooding
into ICT03. My first treat was my form, I am now the proud form tutor
of 12E, a really nice bunch of the new 6th form.

A strange feeling was knowing business was NOT on my timetabe, really
pleased about that. Instead I have Y12 & Y13 Media which is great, I
also have a Welsh Bac lesson with Y12 delivering the enterprise module
initially which is superb as it's on the same lines as Liverpool
Curriculum I did with 13N at Eirias.

All this packed into a busy week that saw Mary and I celebrate our
5th wedding anniversary. How time flies. Upon reflection you really
don't have any idea about whats waiting for you around the corner, I
still can't believe what we have achieved in the last half decade.

Moved to London, worked in the City for 18 months, done a PGCE each,
started careers in teaching, moved back to Wales, had a baby, changed
schools, Mary left teaching and started her own baby music classes
business and here we are. In the famous words of Ferris Bueller "Life
moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once in a while,
you could miss it."

Here's to whatever life throws at me next cos I sure as he'll can't
plan for it!!

Also, congratulations to Craig who got his computing degree this week,
lots of hard work paid off, well done!

It's Bank Holiday Monday!

The sun is shining, there's not a cloud in the sky! Bloody typical
seeing as school starts this week. Although I'm pleased about the
weather as we are going to the famous BBQ at Joey's. The last one was
a belter!

Can't believe the holidays are almost over, still, I managed to spend
lots of time with Lincoln, get loads of jobs done.

Anyway, better go get ready for the BBQ!

London fo the second time in less than a week!

Decorated some of the flat today, typical the first bedroom needed
FOUR coats! Looks superb now though. Got some minor general
maintenance jobs done and Dot finished the kitchen, it looks brand
new!!!

Unfortunately the new bed didn't arrive as promised but will be there
in time for our nice new shiny tenants. I hope they appreciate the
blood and sweat that has been shed this week.

Also had the pleasure of demolishing some old furniture in the drive
as some mental Scottish woman was about to go 'Glasgie' on me!

Drive home was fairly uneventful if you count torrential rain and road
accidents uneventful. Finally arrived home and had a shower, I'm now
paint free (well almost!)

As we set off at 4am I've now been up almost 19 hours, I've got a
cuppa coffee and chocolate biscuits in front of me with my name ALL
over them!!!

Night :-/

All the way to London....to clean!

Just about recovered from a mad busy day in London yesterday. Had to go there to sort our flat out as the last tenants had left it in a state according to the estate agents. When we got there it was much worse than expected. The place looked like it had not been cleaned in years and some of the furniture had been trashed. So we set about putting it right and after a full day scrubbing, mopping and cleaning, its almost back to normal. Another visit on Thursday of this week to paint all the bedrooms and sort some lighting issues out and it will be in tip top condition ready for the new tenants on Saturday.

Set off from London at 16:30 and got to the Indian in Dyserth at 20:28, one chicken vindaloo later and I hit the sack. I feel much more refreshed today and cant wait to get back there to finish the job later this week. Before you know it i'll be back at school.

.........and these are meant to be the holidays!

All tidy and clean

Had a mad busy day today, done both of the gardens today including the horrible weeding bit between the cracks of the slabs.

Then I moved onto cleaning both the vehicles, Mary's first (what a mess), then mine (an even bigger mess after transporting loads of wood to the recycling centre!)

Played a bit of football with Lincoln in the (newly cut) garden and pushed him on his swing for a bit, he seemed so chilled in his swing.

Finished off the day with a nice meal with B. Just sorted a few old cd's out, why do we keep cd's ages when we know we don't need them? That old phrase "You never know when you might need that" is responsible for loads of junk, well this holiday I have got rid of loads of old tat and feel great for doing it, my head is clear now. Probably me just being a little OCD, or should I say CDO, it's the same as OCD but in the right order!!

Summer Holidays

Right, I have been really bad at updating my blog lately so from now on I am really going to try and make an effort to "blog" whenever I can! Obviously with a 13 month old rascal literally running around the house it can be a little tricky to grab five minutes to document my thoughts but I really am going to try.

I've also changed the theme a little too, got bored with the other one. I toyed with the idea of 0s and 1as but thought better of that. Don't want to be predictable/stereotypical. Fancied a change.

So yes, Lincoln is walking/running, need eyes in the back of our heads, he crawls up to something he can climb up on and away he goes. Very very cute though; doesn't seem like two minutes ago since he was born and now I'm ALWAYS on edge waiting for the next bump or fall as he toddles along at break-neck speeds!

2 weeks left of the summer holidays, where did they go? Although we have had lots of fun, Chester Zoo was great and Lincolns favourite animal is without doubt the Elephant, now he's hooked on watching them in Jungle Book, up, 2, 3, 4 etc etc (if you've seen the film you'll know what I mean.

Spent a couple of days in Hull sorting my Mum's garden which was fun, lots of frog rescuing which was unexpected and bizarre!!!!

Just watching the Matrix, (Revolutions, I think) it's just come on, it must be cuppa time too as the cat is staring at me for some treats.

Oh and the best news is the machines at school are all installed and up and running, all with shiny Windows 7 and Office 2010, very swish, cant wait to work with those everyday!

I am determined to blog again soon, maybe even tomorrow, but don't hold your breath, I am doing this post on my school Vaio as my Acer has gone off for a repair. Damn thing keeps overheating so I thought I best book it in before the warranty runs out.

Anyway, better go, B will be sticking her hand up soon or giving me evils to make a cuppa. I've got no choccy biscuits left either, bad times :-(

Chinese tat

You know what's really annoying? When you buy an item off eBay in good
faith and all you get is a poorly made piece of Chinese tat! A garbage
charger that doesn't fit in the socket in the car (it falls out as
soon as you start driving, USEFUL!), it's meant to be handsfree and
makes the radio crackle and to top it off it fell apart, don't buy
from ZIMPLEXUK it's not UK it China and the quality is VV POOR!

The World Cup is almost here!

Yes the global phenomenon of football fever is about take hold of the nation once again, and thankfully Stevie G is there to lead the lions out! YBE fantasy world cup I well and truly underway, just a few latecomers to include tomorrow prior to kick off between South Africa and Mexico.

On another note, I didn't manage to get into the Big Brother house, not that I tried but it was superb fun on Twitter pretending I was, had lots of people from Bryn Elian and Eirias going! PUNKED! My sides
still hurt from laughing!

Anyhow, great news today, found out my form next year is 12E, not 100% on who is in that form right now but can't wait!

Bad news is I am stressing about my impending essay, although I do have abfew people to speak to about it to get some information and it will probably involve a visit to Eirias once again.

On the home life front, the wife and I are shattered after chasing a walking (but wobbly) Lincoln around the house, he is fast and loves keys! He has now got over his tonsilitis and passed on the residual sore throat to me and his mummy. To top it off he gets up every morning at half five!

So if you will excuse my, I will bid you goodnight as I go to crash out, Friday tomorrow, lots of Y7 classes
but it's all irrelevant, you know why? The World Cup people, COME ON ENGLAND!

;-)

Weird

It would appear when I sent my last post it chopped loads off, so here it is.

Since my last post a lot has happened, Y11 have left, ROA is over, the mini has gone and we now have a more practical people carrirer, my BlackBerry is history and i now have an iPhone, Rafa left Liverpool today and there was a crazy shooting in Whitehaven yesterday. I also visited Eirias on Friday for the Year 13 leaving assembly, it was really nice to see the pupils and staff again, mostly! (some were a little funny but I dont give a hoot!) Had a really good time there.

God knows what will have happened by the time I post again, maybe I will be the new Liverpool manager?! England may have won the World Cup??!?!?

Whatever happens, I will either blog it, twitter it or whatever.

;-)

Half term

So half term arrived again and apart from Bank holiday Monday which
was a washout, it's been wall to wall sunshine! I've managed to get
the gardening done and the cars washed, had a visit from my dad on the
Sunday which was nice.

We did have a scare with Lincoln on Wednesday when he had a
temperature of 39.4, went to the doctors and they sent us straight to
the hospital! Poor thing has tonsilitis really bad and has lost his
voice.

It's been a while....

My last post seems so long ago, Lincoln was ill, it was the middle of term and I'd just been on a course. Since then we've seen all key skills pupils pass which is great news, then we had a mad skills day the last week of term, the clean up was a nightmare!

The Easter holidays arrived and I got to spend lots of time with my family, I had lots of fun with Lincoln, he is really responsive now at nine months old. My Mum and my Brother arrived on the second Monday of the holiday, my mum spoiled Lincoln with a huge Train that has loads of buttons and sounds. Craig and I enjoyed the football watching Liverpool beat Benfica 4-1 while Mrs H played Mario on the Wii with Catherine. I managed to get hooked on bowling on Wii Sports too, jeez that hurts your arm after a while!

Yesterday Mrs H and I took Lincoln to the beach, he loved it his little feet looked so cute sticking out of the sand, I have never seen him so focused as when he was playing with the sand.

So now its Sunday evening before school starts again tomorrow, why do we never want to go back after a holiday? I'm sat here blogging and watching Righteous Kill  with the legendary De Niro and Pacino.

You never know, on my next installment I might be raving about my new phone, don't quite know which one to get yet but the decision is almost made.

Its that time again!

Half nine at night, cuppa and chocolate! Been on a course today at the Beaufort Park Hotel in Mold, all about the new Essential Skills for Wales which replace the key skills from September 1st 2010.

Lincoln has been ill for almost a week now, he's all bunged up and drippy, didn't stop the lil' fella from grabbing my face to give me a kiss when I came home from school, he then turned and giggled at Mrs H, very funny!

Anyway, cuppa is gettin cold!
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Snack

Nothing beats a cup of coffee and a Boost while chilling watching the telly
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KFC? Oh ok then!

Today was not the best of days, tough day at school mainly due to 2 classes, although my year 9 class period 4 made it for it. Just had a KFC to make myself feel better, if you haven't tried the Spicy Texas Wrap you are missing out!!

Start of a new half term

Well half term is over and i've been back at school two days. Half term was awesome, got to spend loads of time with B and Lincoln. He really enjoyed sign and sign, shame I cant go to that every week. Lincoln also went swimming for the first time and really liked it, although he did spend a lot of time watching all the other children splashing about.

What now? Well this Saturday I am at the school doing some VLE training (I know, on a Saturday!) and then after that I am looking to start redeveloping the VLE from the staff side of things, up to now I have been uploading courses left right and centre. Now it's time to develop a staff area as the one at the moment is confusing and for that reason, unused.

I have now finished uploading all my year 8 reports so thats a big job out of the way. Only issue now is a year 10 class that need to realise how important it is to complete coursework, but we'll get there i'm sure (i'm competitive like that and won't lose or let them lose either!).

Really settled at good old YBE now, loving it, and the pupils are superb for the most part.

Anyway, best crack on!

Blog soon! ;-)

Evenin'

Currently watching Liverpool v Tottenham and Kuyt has just scored so I am a happy chappy right now. Had a busy day today getting Business Studies class in some kind of order after the mess that was left, feel sorry for the ones who have done things twice or more, there's really no need!

Also working on getting ALL Y10 and Y11 ICT key skills completed in the next few weeks so that's a challenge too.

On the upside I have had lots of positive feedback after putting YBE on Twitter, let the Tweeting commence. @YsgolBrynElian

Sunday Morning

Mornin'

Not long had my fave breakfast of scrambled eggs, beans and toast obviously with a bit of HP and a nice strong cuppa coffee.

This morning I have been converting one of my HD videos of Lincoln feeding himself sweet potato. Very funny! Used a program called Handbrake, which, if you havent used is fantastic for converting/compressing videos with no loss of quality.

Staying in today as its freezing outside, although its -1 which I suppose is warm compared to two days ago, almost summer temperatures!

Bryn Elian

Well its Thursday and only one more day left of my first week at Bryn Elian. I must say its been the most difficult week of my teaching career so far (including TP)!

Starting a new school after being at Eirias for two years proved to be like leaving home, found myself wanting to go back during the first training day.

The Tuesday was even worse as the weather was terrible, snow snow and more snow made my settling in very unsettled! then a snow day followed so I took time out to get some school prep done, felt better after that.

Full day of lessons today, met lots of new pupils, finally starting to get to grips with where they are up to, I think some are just as confused as me but all will be fine, we're on the case big time now!

So friday tomorrow, looking forward to getting a bigger grip on my classes work and setting them on the right track.

Mine (and their) future starts now!
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