Ok, ok. So the page has been blank for a few days. I assure you it is not for a lack of things to say, on the contrary. Life has been pretty hectic over the last few weeks and I have found neither time nor energy to write. On the agenda have been things that have been building up for a while...

1. The Ofsted phone call arrived. Which meant four days of extremely hard work ensuring everything was as it should be along with bringing forward for completion things that were not due until the end of term. Ofsted itself was an 'experience' the new so called 'Soft-touch' inspection meaning only 5 hours to make decisions that used to take a week. I can not say I am at all impressed with the system to be honest. Never thought I would be wishing for a week long inspection like the old days!

2. The wedding of the year took place. Therefore the inevitable hen night (half of which was missed due to Ofsted), running around picking people up, hair appointments, taxi services, wedding, reception following day, house guests etc. I do not think I actually breathed at all that weekend and still paying the oxygen debt now. There was however a very pleasant morning spent on the beach eating fresh French bread, with gorgeous fat olives and goats cheese from the continental market on the sea front with our guests.

3. Interviews. I have never been part of the interview process other than to be on the receiving end. Two governors, the Head and I convened last week to interview 5 NQT's to replace our retiring Year 1/2 teacher (she will be greatly missed) Sifting through 25 applications (most we have ever had for a position here) made me realise how judgemental I am. I always thought I was the 'give everyone a go' type before this experience. Note to self...ensure that application forms are accurate and personal statement is strong, correctly formatted and answers the question! We finally decided on 5 and invited them in for interview. It was very interesting watching how the candidates did as the day progressed, analysing everything and finally settling (unanimously) on who we think is a very strong candidate. It was a very tiring day for us, let alone for them!

I think I am now starting to de-stress and relax after all this. Nik has been my angel as usual, looking after me through it all and even rewarding my efforts with the original Heidi on DVD! You know the old dubbed one? "Peter Peter!" I don't think I have been so stressed, worried and emotional over so many things in such a short space of time for quite a while.

On a positive note, our end of Key Stage SATs results are starting to come in and the kids have done extremely well. Well done on all their hard work this year!

So, although I have not the energy or time to elaborated on much here. It has been a very hard couple of weeks for me. I am not the most confident of people despite how I am often perceived and I have had to work hard on two of the things that matter most of all to me.

Now just the school play, leavers service, summer carnival, reports, Teacher Assessments etc before I can breathe again.

:(

By the way... St Peter's Summer Carnival at Aylesford Village, this Saturday (1st July)11am - 3pm. Not just the school but a whole village event...come along!