Category: Uncategorized

This morning we went to collect Little Miss’ bike from the bike repair shop in town.  This is not a bike parked outside the shop but a stunning piece of wall art.  A fantastic, personal touch which always make me smile when we pass and its not only me who enjoys it,  Little Man always pretends to ride it too!

Given the pretty awful weather on this first week of the holiday, I decided to use our time inside productively and to tackle the play room.  I think my enthusiasm may have been greater than the children’s but as old toys were unearthed and rediscovered they did become more helpful and involved.  I’m pleased with the job we’ve done, I’ve rearranged the furniture and toys and we have a quiet area for drawing and writing, a creative corner with lots of Lego, an imagination zone with dressing up and a castle and a book corner.  The teacher in me really wants to design and laminate pretty labels for each area but I do have to remind myself its a playroom not a classroom.

Whilst we are pretty good at recycling toys, our book shelves were bulging and needed a good sort.  I love books and still have some of my favourite children’s books from my own childhood, so sorting books for donation to our local charity shop is difficult.  To me the book is a memory, the times reading out loud stories to the children, their reactions, the beautiful illustrations, rhyming language, even the touch of a book is special to me.  However I tried to be ruthless, the first to go were television and film tie ins, unless they had a strong story, as too often these books are designed as merchandise for the character and little thought is given to the story.  I also donated the very basic stories we had for babies and some given as prizes and presents which were a little dull.  To be honest, I haven’t made that much room on the shelves but I can squeeze a few new books in now!

There were some books which I just couldn’t take from the bookshelf, they mean so much to me and eventually when the children no longer let me keep them on their book shelves I’ll transfer them to mine so I always have them to read to little visitors.

1.  Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson

This is a well illustrated book with the dark colours of night making the little owls’ worries seem more scary, it has a simple message that even if Mummy Owl has to leave her little ones she will always come back.  We used to read this a lot when the children were young and it was useful to teach the children that even if I left them at pre school I would always be back for them.  At the start of the placement, we were always giving the message that we would be their forever family and always there for them so this story reinforced that theme.  Little Miss had the Owl Babies story sack from school one week in Year 1 and we had lots of fun acting out the story with the owls and sticks.  Like so many of the stories on this list, its one I know the words off by heart.

2. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

I had never heard of this book before a very good friend sent it through as a present.  A recommendation from her is always a winner.  At first I wasn’t sure of the garish illustrations and repetitive phrases but they really grew on me, it is the perfect last book at bed time and is dreamily soporific and relaxing.  The illustrations are wonderful for getting the children to find things and comment, those garish colours have become part of the book’s appeal now.  I love this book so much now that when I took it out of the book case, I actually gave it a hug!

3.  We’re Going On a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

Is there a parent who doesn’t know the words of this book by heart? Long walks with weary legs normally include a few verses of this to keep everyone jolly and as a SEN teacher this is just the perfect book for some sensory fun.  I think I have acted out this story more times than I have read it from the book, what a marvellous way to know a story.

4.  The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler

These are not the only books by this dream team on my list, their books are just magic.  I discovered the Gruffalo as a teacher, as it was first published in 1999, well past my own childhood!  I have read these stories at work and done the most amazing activities with them, the children love them.  I was so proud when I was able to take my class to the theatre to see the Gruffalo.  We put so much work into the trip and I’m sure it was only so successful because the children loved the story and wanted to see it come alive.  Whilst I’ve not taken my little ones to see it at the theatre they adore the animated stories.  The Gruffalo is another character we often use on our walks in the forest, I may spot a purple prickle or an orange eye hiding in the trees and create a story of what he’s doing.

5.  Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffer

I do love to read aloud and add a few actions, silly voices and this book is perfect for my dramatics.  Its also the book that both Little Miss and Little Man have chosen to take into school to share with their friends on book events at school.  Of all the books I have kept its the most battered, which shows how much its been read and loved.

6.  How to Catch a Star and the Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

Another brilliant recommendation from a friend, simple stories, beautiful pictures but so much extra weaved into the words and pictures that its hard to describe.  There’s a tinge of sadness and hope to each story that makes you wonder about it a little bit longer after you have finished the story.

7. The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr

This book is a classic and I loved rediscovering it with the children, such a unique idea delightfully played out.  I saw a documentary about Judith Kerr and she was just amazing, still writing and drawing at 90 and with a real joie de vivre.

8.  One Night in the Zoo by Judith Kerr

I chose this simply for its pencil drawings which are so beautiful.  Its lovely for counting and identifying animals with lovely rhymes but its the colours and detail which make this book a favourite.

9. Duck and Goose : How are you Feeling? by Tad Hills

There are ten words in this book, but the illustrations tell a story so much more detailed and personal.  This book really helped the children learn about feelings and duck and goose are endearing characters.

So these are my favourite early years books, there are so many others I love too, which have now retired to the book shelf.  Our books are getting longer now and its time to revisit old favourites such as the Mr Men, Mrs Pepperpot and discover new characters like Judy Moody and Katie Morag.

Today, was one of my favourite days of the school year, our annual day out courtesy of the charity, the Rotary Club. It is an initiative which pays for under privileged and special needs children to have a day out. It seems such a simple concept but for some of our children with complex needs, a trip to a busy, noisy and different environment is difficult. Fortunately on Kids Day Out, special needs children are in the majority at the park and there is an atmosphere of acceptance, tolerance and respect.

The Rotary Club organise different venues all over the country and our nearest is Paultons Park, aka Peppa Pig World. They always are amazing in making us feel welcome and there always seems staff everywhere to help the children enjoy the day out. Coupled with the Rotary volunteers they create a very special atmosphere. Sunglasses are essential on Kids Day Out to hide a few happy tears, it is one of those days which reinforces your faith in humanity and the kindness and care shown to the children is over whelming.

Today has been no different to previous Days Out, the pleasure and happiness on our students’ faces is heart-warming. Some of our most challenging and anxious students have been enjoying the rides and we have seen smiles and giggles. It’s an exhausting day (2^nd highest ever Fitbit step score) but its one of the most important and rewarding days of the year. Our staffroom was buzzing with excitement at the start of the day as we all met up, it means so much to us too.

I cannot thank the Rotary Club enough for the pleasure they give to our students and staff in organising Kids Day Out. I’m not sure that they appreciate the amazing experiences they offer to our students, they are a stunning group of volunteers who make a powerful difference to our students’ lives.

I love this picture of a glass fountain in the garden.  Paultons Park is one of the most beautiful theme parks.

I am a private and quiet person yet I have decided to write a blog and publish it on the Web making it accessible to an unimaginable audience. This may seem an unusual decision but in this post I wanted to explain why I have done this and why my blog will always remain anonymous.

At home, I am quiet and shy, preferring the company of close family and good friends. This is rather at odds from the personality I display at work, where I am assertive (ok possibly bossy), positive and confident. Professionally I can take a leading role, comfortably leading whole school assemblies or delivering training to a group of a hundred staff without fear or anxiety. However home is my haven and where I feel most relaxed and creative. My relationships are developed by being with my family and friends and I use little social media, it may be hard to believe in these days but I do not have a Facebook account!

At present, my blog remains a secret from my family, for no other reason than because I’m a bit shy even with those closest to me! This blog is simply a personal project, my opportunity to record my memories. I’ve written diaries throughout my life, so this is just a digital diary.

My blog is anonymous firstly because I don’t like to court attention and I feel more comfortable under a pseudonym but also to protect the identity of my two children who are adopted. This means that birthday posts will be published randomly so as not to reveal birth dates, there will never be a picture of the children on my site and they will only be ever referred to as Little Miss and Little Man. This can be hard as I am such a proud mum but it is essential to ensure that the children are not found by their birth family until the legally permitted age of eighteen. I do think this will become more difficult as the children get older, the web has made it far easier to find people but I hope all parties will respect the rules created to support everyone. I do send a letter and photos every year to the birth family so I hope this is suffice until the children are young adults and able to make their own decisions on their relationship with their birth family. Mr S and I will always respect and support them in whatever decision they make.

I’ve been writing this blog for nine months now and am loving this project, it’s a perfect creative release for me and its really rather lovely to read back on the things we have been doing. To answer the question who is Seaside Sparkles, I am a Mum, wife, daughter and friend who loves to be creative and add the little sparkles to the lives of all those I love x

So its here, Election Day and I am excited!  This morning I took the children to our local polling station to watch me vote.  I explained the process and they even got to help me post the ballot papers into the box.  To me its so important that the children play an active role as citizens and the simplest way they can do this is to vote.  Now my vote is cast its a quiet time, I’m pottering around, trying to catch a few hours sleep until 10pm when the whole craziness starts and I sit glued to the TV, radio and Internet analysing all the results.  As the media continue to point out , this is the most unpredictable election, so I thought I would make my own prediction.  Personally I think the Conservatives will do better than expected (the shy Tories of 1992!) not sufficient numbers for a majority but will lead the next government.  Labour will perform steadily, make some gains from last time but not the seats needed to win the election, the SNP will stop this with many seats in Scotland,  UKIP will take a few seats but not the gains expected.  I also expect the Liberal Democrats to have an awful election and not to be the power brokers in the talks to form a new government. I also think the high profile losses will be theirs.  It will be interesting to see how accurate my prediction is during the night.  In the UK we still have the old fashioned drama of election night and the results announced in the early hours through to breakfast.  I do wonder how long this will continue, it can’t be long before digital voting will give the results just minutes after polls close and a little bit of the magic will have been lost.

I wrote before about the hustings and mainly positive local campaign here.  Sadly the national campaigns are regarded as having being highly stage managed, bland and dull.  The media have been particularly awful too and vitriolic in their attacking of the leaders, Ed Milliband in particular.  Constructive criticism against policies and programs are expected and should be encouraged its the personal attacks which damage our civic society.  One national positive has been the higher profile of female leaders in the election with the SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru led by women, perhaps a new direction and political approach will emerge.

Its nearly time for the school run now and then the countdown begins,  I am already buzzing with excitement and anticipation!

 A POSTSCRIPT TO THE BLOG

Whilst there was general disbelief and shock at the exit poll released at 10pm, I felt it summed up my thoughts on the direction of the General Election and the result has generally reflected the poll.  Personally I am disappointed by the result but it does suggest a shift in British politics, there will be real change in leadership, ethos and policies.  The success of the SNP does show that an involved, interested and determined electorate can enliven politics, the momentum of the independence referendum has continued and the voters are demanding more decision making powers.  The failure of the Liberal Democrats seemed so obvious, they used to have clear policies which they believed, promoted and were easily identifiable.  In coalition these were discarded at alarming speed and now its difficult to determine what they stand for.  What is surprising is that the party still doesn’t recognise this, Paddy Ashdown’s much parodied comment that the poll was rubbish and that he would eat his hat if it were true only emphasises this. Whilst I don’t have sympathy for any policies of UKIP their result does show the inequality of the First past the Post system, gaining 1 seat for their 3.9 million votes, whilst the SNP has 56 seats from 1.5 million votes.  However I doubt that electoral reform will feature prominently in future manifestos of the main political parties.

Finally, I would like to post one final image from the General Election, a timely reminder of the importance of our democratic society.  Yesterday afternoon, shortly after Clegg and Milliband resigned, they both took part in their final duties as leaders of their parties by laying wreaths at the Cenotaph in remembrance of VE day 70 years ago and all those who lost their lives fighting for democracy and freedom.  A poignant image to end the General Election of 2015.

Hustings seems a quaint, old fashioned feature of elections in the past and until I moved to our town, I had never seem them advertised. Therefore, I was delighted in the last general election when I realised that the practice is alive and well and political debate is encouraged in our constituency.  I really enjoyed the hustings of 2010 so was keen to attend this campaign’s event which took place last night.

In the media there has been much comment about the levels of participation and interest in politics and a picture of apathy and disinterest has been presented.  However, last night’s event was hugely popular, played to a full house with an audience really representing our town’s population.  Sixty five questions had been submitted in advance and five themes were chosen, Wind Farms, not such an odd choice give there is a Wind farm proposed for our coastline, Poverty, Affordable Housing, Overseas Aid and Defence spending and the NHS.  Five political parties were represented, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Green party.  Two other candidates were given five minutes each to present their manifestos.  Our current MP is Conservative having taken the seat from Labour in the last election with a 9% swing.  This election is difficult to call, the Tory MP has a decent majority, however UKIP do appear to be popular in the area which may lower the Tory vote and allow the Labour candidate to do well.  The Labour candidate was the strongest performer at the Hustings, the Green Party representative was well informed and earnest but not really a realistic vote winner, the Liberal Democrat a loose cannon, again well informed and knowledgeable about party policy but when asked his own opinion did go a bit ‘off message’, he was quite funny to listen to when he really doesn’t have a hope of scoring well.  Our sitting MP did not perform well, the most often used word was ‘regrettably’  and he did suggest that a caravan was appropriate for affordable housing.  There was an amusing heckle when the lack of land for house building was mentioned with a member of the audience shouting out well you own it.  Our MP’s family does own an awful lot of land in this constituency, hence the proliferation of his posters in the fields.  The clever player last night was the UKIP candidate, I was expecting him to repeat the national themes of immigration, EU etc..  However, he played it locally and didn’t give the headlines expected, his arguments were clear, a bit dull but he played to his audience.  I am interested to see how this translates into votes.

It is now two weeks until Voting day and whilst my vote had never been in doubt, last night’s hustings reinforced my political beliefs.  The nicest thing about the hustings was the proof that people are passionate about politics and keen to engage in considered and respectful debate.

Over the past year we have begun to get more confident and enthusiastic about weekends away.  When the children were younger, there was a certain level of anxiety about sleeping in a new bed and nights away from home were long and exhausting.  However things have improved and with planned sleeping arrangements we are able to enjoy our time away.  This weekend we went to my sister-in-law’s in Exeter.  Its quite an easy journey so after an early start we were there for mid Saturday morning.  It was not only us at the house as my Father-in-law was staying too, celebrating his birthday with all his family.  It was lovely to be able to give him such a special family day, birthdays are not about expensive presents but giving time and enjoying each others’ company.

As the fantastic weather has continued, we went to Exeter quay to take a boat down the river to a pub for lunch.  It was one of the most remarkable pubs I have visited, not easily accessible by car , so patrons tend to row, paddle or sail to it or use the adjacent cycle path.  It had the biggest pub garden I have ever seen, a field filled with outdoor activities, an adventure playground, volleyball court and table tennis perfect for its clientele.  Despite being busy, our lunch was served very quickly and the mezze platter was delicious.  After lunch we pottered along the tow path and returned home for a play in the garden, cake and a lazy night of relaxed chat.

Its been an exciting time in British politics with the Scottish referendum this week.  Whilst the no vote has meant we remain a United Kingdom, the constitutional consequences will change the politics and culture of our government.  Whilst for some this will be of little interest, I am loving it all.  I have no idea what the correct term is but I will happily call myself a bit of a political geek.  I studied politics at University and have avidly followed it since without actively participating within a political party.  Despite hating the politician at the time, I was floored (as was Kinnock) by Margaret Thatcher when as part of a 6th form London trip I got to watch PMQ from the balcony of the Houses of Commons, this remains one of the highlights of my life.  I can still remember the poise and elegance of Margaret Thatcher, how she didn’t look like she was listening and then responded with razor quick wit and detailed answers, she was an incredible performer and whilst I could never agree with her politics, I will never forget her faultless performance.  Another highlight was election night in 1997, the election of New Labour, I will always cherish the night spent with my political ally at home my Dad, the disbelief at the scale of the landslide, the hope and belief that flooded the country, my first experience of ‘winning’ an election.  I still get emotional about that amazing night.  By a happy coincidence, I was at a conference near Buckingham Palace on the day Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair and so nipped out at lunchtime to see Tony Blair drive into the palace to resign and for Gordon Brown to arrive to be appointed Prime Minister, another brilliant experience.  its been interesting in this referendum for Gordon Brown to emerge as one of the heroes, to me he has always been a very skilled and passionate politician, but his discomfort at sound bites and media awkwardness appeared to make him a figure of ridicule in the press, he deserved a lot more recognition and respect.

Since leaving University I have missed the opportunities for political discussion and debate, I find it difficult to discuss politics with my husband whose views are very different to mine and conversations with friends and colleagues centre on other interests.  Consequently I listen to political analysis and comment on Radio 4, read the quality press and am appreciating the new medium of social media.  For me events like the Independence referendum are wonderful, a rare opportunity to immerse myself in politics, stay up all night to listen to results and then pore over analysis, can politics really be a guilty pleasure?   One of the highlights of the Indy ref has been the introduction of the vote for 16 and 17 year olds, I was informed and opinionated at that age and to see such levels of engagement and participation among the Scottish youth has been inspiring.  I hope to develop a strong set of values in our children which I hope will make them want to be active, thoughtful citizens.