Day 9 - Becoming part of the fabric

it's a beautiful sunny day and I have forgotten my suncream - not a good idea!

Today I chatted to some of the cake schoolgirls about things one girl's mom is in hospital having an eye operation another boy is about to become an uncle

One little girl (whose mother I know) keeps inviting me round "when are you coming round?" this today has moved to "i know, we'll come to yours!" - it is getting more awkward every week!

This particular girl also fancies a boy and asks me to "tell him you know my mum".  I do this but it is awkward and the other children mock her for it.  It is hard to straddle the ground between - the comment is ridiculous and i don't want to defend it it, but equally i certainly don't want to belittle the girl either.

0900
Make tea for teachers with lots of lovely "thank yous"
One boy is upset about something I go to help but the teacher asked me not to (I feel a little rejected!)

0930

Sat with children outside doing peer mediation lessons; this is the precursor lesson to get Yr5 volunteers to be trained for peer mediation.  The hope is that in the future, general scuffles and conflicts can be resolved by the children themselves.

I partnered with an initially shy girl who really came out of herself as the lesson went on and we practiced listening to each others stories.  It think I’ve made a new friend.

Lunchtime
There was another cake sale today and I spent my time with them since they needed a supervisor.

I met the yr 6 teachers to offer myself in a more definitive role to them, what with the apprehension of leaving schools coming up.  We agreed that after their holiday away I would make myself available from 11.45 to 12.15 (lunchtime) in a drop in room for any year 6 who fancied it.

1400

After lunch I chatted with a support teacher.  I confessed that I was feeling like the novelty of my presence had now worn off with the children and I was struggling to find a floating role in a well run system that depended on predictable staffing.  She suggested that perhaps the novelty hadn’t worn off so much, but more that the summer term is so packed with events (Jubilee, town festival, Olympics, school production etc) so I’m competing with more things.  Also there is much less structure and that is going to have an impact on the way which children interact with their environment.

1500

With time to spare I take a conference call for work and then write up this blog post in the library, always a good place to be amongst children :-)