Saturday, June 28, 2008

PGCE Final placement - Week 8 of 9


Well it's a funny time. Most of my PGCE colleagues have finished their placements now and had all their files and standards signed off and I have another week to go. This week has been quite nice really. I was doing a few more fun things with the kids and the good Lord has smiled on me a bit, too. Tuesday we had an African drumming workshop in the morning. I have this strange compulsion to get myself a djembe now. In the afternoon, about 10 of the class were out playing in a football tournament, so we did some more fun activities. Wednesday was my planning day so no contact with kids all day. Thursday I had to go into college in the afternoon for the final meeting and Friday was INSET and all the staff were doing tasks at home so school wasn't open. This was wonderful for me, not only because it was an unexpected oasis of peace before the final push, but also because I had my daughter's confirmation on Thursday night and it was my 27th Wedding Anniversary on Friday. Thank you God - it is so wonderful that you can operate outside of linear time and organise things like that!

The confirmation was lovely, actually. I may sound surprised at that but it is because it was done on a pastoral area basis. For administrative purposes we now have to do things with two neighbouring parishes which means it can lack the intimacy that doing stuff in your own church has. We had to trek out to St Winefride's in Neston. It's a lovely sandstone church - very picturesque but with the weirdest layout on the inside. We were OK as we were facing the altar. But a large section looks sideways on so it is not the most inclusive layout I've seen. The big downside of this pastoral area arrangement is that you can't invite your family as there is no room. As his Lordship was with us, he had to sit in the cheap seats at the side and didn't really see that much. The church was full so there was no chance of inviting grandparents. The pianist was excellent which assisted greatly in encouraging a bit of singing. We didn't hang around to say hello to the bishop as St Winefride's church hall was straining a bit to cope with the numbers and I was getting claustrophobic. We escaped to the calmer ambience of Pizza Express in Heswall.

Friday morning meant a much deserved lie-in and lunch at the Hinderton Arms in Neston. His Lordship and I then went to Ness Gardens to walk off the worst excesses of lunch before replacing them with a slice of home baked cake. Even Ness is not a safe haven from the recent infestation of superlambananas. Now, just time to replenish my energies, do a bit of planning and into the final push for week 9 of 9!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope your last week goes really Carole. sonia

AnneDroid said...

Happy anniversary. What a long time! Well done.

Holy Famoley said...

Thanks Sonia. I've a feeling this week will be a bit of a blur. I feel I should go on the mother of all benders on Friday night. The truth will probably be closer to opening a bottle of wine, 2 sips and asleep for the night on the sofa!

Thanks Anne. It truly doesn't feel like a long time. It's a bit scary when I stop and think, though!

Anonymous said...

I am presuming you have finished Carole, hope all went well at the end and you did celebrate!.sonia

Holy Famoley said...

Sonia, I really am a pathetic wet lettuce. I keep on falling asleep which is what stress does to me (after the event!). I haven't really had the energy for celebration so I shall wait until graduation on 17th. And what about your success? Have you graduated yet?

Anonymous said...

I am, with you on that, I have found myself really tired since finishing ( which was weeks ago now!) still having to work in my job but can not be bothered to do anything else. Am running a venue at greenbelt this year ( with sanctuary) and the organisation which is my job to sort is just not happening!.

I don't graduate until december- very weird!. Enjoy your summer off!. sonia

Anonymous said...

I have a djembe!! They're cool. I picked it up in Uganda, wrapped it in clingfilm and threw it into the luggage hold on the basis of "well it only cost me a fiver". £150 in the UK!!

Happy anniversary!