7th July Weekly chat- school hols nearly here

[tink84]

Hi

Welcome to this weeks caht thread

[CraftyGal]

Morning Sarah!

You have a good weekend?

What is everyone up to this week?

Lisa x

[LeonieM]

It's piddling down here. So much for starting the doubles finals at 11am this morning ....

[Mandy Charlton Photography]

Morning everyone,

It's been a busy weekend with a thoroughly wet wedding on Saturday, luckily the hotel was gorgeous enough to do all the portraits there or I would have been stuck!!

You can see some of the photos on my blog (http://www.mandycharltonphotographyblog.com) as ever

[celfyddydau]

Happy Monday all.

As usual my boss isn't in yet!

[madcow]

Hello all,it's atopped raining here at last and we have some sunshine,not up to much today apart from some of that dreaded 'H' word.I hope you are all well xxxx

[loopylou]

HI Peeps,

Today it was raining this morning then cleared up thank goodness our skools over here in N.Ireland have been off for over aweek now & the weather hasnt been great typical.............

Hopefully it will get better..........

[celfyddydau]

Are you're schools on holiday already? When do they go back?

Having a little break as I've been working hard today and now I'm shattered.

[tink84]

They break up next wednesday as most of the schools are on strike

They go back begining of September

[mandijane55]

my kids dont finish until the 25th July and go back September 3rd...

[craftyfox]

over here we finish at the end of june and start back on 1st september so 2 months of bliss (not) :(

[LeonieM]

Emms is off from lunchtime on 22nd July and goes back Friday 5th Sept. Yeah, I know! Friday!!!! How stupid is that??!!!

[tink84]

They break up the 15/16th July and go back the 2/3rd Sept

[Bagpuss]

DD is off from 23 July until 2 September! Leonie guessing the day Emma goes back might have something to do with some teacher training happening a couple of days before?? Do not know how we would cope with having to do 2 solid months of childcare for DD - cannot believe they have that long Craftyfox as we think 6 weeks is too long over here!! For two of those DH and I are off, DH is working from home for 2 and then 2 will be a mix of childcare and DH at home. Not much notice this year with the new job but will be better organised for next hopefully!

[LorraineJ]

My daughter finishes on the 18th and then goes in from 11 am on the 3rd September and goes in for a full day on the 5th. This is because there will be a new school building and on the third, she will be given the new building induction and the Friday will be the first day of the whole school being in and moving round the school to a sort of timetable, getting their individual timetables etc.

[LorraineJ]

Have now found out a bit more about the specialist school her existing school have had the bright idea she should go to and there is NO WAY she is going there. Its future is uncertain, as its on the cards its merging with another specialist school closeby to us and the inmates there are young teenagers with severe psychological and behavioural problems.

Were her school not expecting me to do some research of my own? We have a meeting on Friday to discuss this and there is no way she is giving up the opportunity of being educated in a brand new building with a wide variety of GCSE choices for a 1960s unit with limited or zero choice GCSEs. I feel really angry they have even suggested it. The only difficulties my daughter has is being bullied almost continuously by one particular individual, IMHO he should be the one to go to a specialist unit to have HIS behavikour straightened out BORSTAL, as its not only my DD whose life is being made hell by this thing.

[kinglake]

afternoon everyone its pouring down here BUT that didnt stop me from getting out on my bike for an hours ride.I got drenched but felt good for going out xx jo xx

[loopylou]

Now thats what i call determination jo good for you well done.........

wish i had the same will power

Over here in N.ireland its cloudy but very clammy!

Just after doing a wee bit of house work& hanging washing out...... so thought id just pop in to say hi:)

[LorraineJ]

My OH and I are considering bringing in the police now, as the little bar steward assaulted Hannah this afternoon. The consummate bully threw a book at her face and its caught her in the corner of her eye and its bruising and may well close.

[LeonieM]

No, I totally agree. That really is the final straw. How the school can turn a blind eye is totally beyond me. It's got to stop before he ends up smuggling in a knife and taking the law into his own hands.

[LorraineJ]

We have taken Hannah to A&E this evening to get it officially documented (in and out in less than two hours). The nurse was horrified by the level of bruising and went off to make quite a few phone calls. Am I right in thinking that for minors the hospital have to inform the police by law?

[Bagpuss]

Lorraine don't be suprised to get a visit now from social services as I think they will want to look into this (Tinks will know more!) - hopefully you have set the ball rolling now and something will be done. After all if the school will not do anything then you have no choice - agree you should get the police involved - this is ABH!

[LorraineJ]

Questions were asked about social services and I have just spoken to the police, so the little barsteward has got a shock coming to him.

Poor Hannah's eye does not look that pretty its bruised from the side of the eye right down to top of the eye socket and it hurts her to blink, as her eye lashes hurt as she closes her eye.

[tink84]

Hi. Yes they are required to pass the information on to the police/social worker. It is our duty as nurses/childcare practitioners etc to ensure that children remain safe at all times. The police or a social worker may need to speak to you or Hannah to ensure that her story matches her injuries IYKWIM.

However I am shocked as the school has a duty to protect all children but to me they are failing to protect Hannah. If nothing happens ie no-one contacts you about her injuries than i would seriously consider taking legal action against those that did it. I would contact the police and expalin the situation, at least they'll have to keep it on record and contact the school

'Sorry don't know full story, seems the system is showing yesterday post as today and if i click back it only shows two pages grrrrrrrr

[tink84]

Good, the school should have him in detention but in my honest opinion they should exclude him

[LorraineJ]

Thanks for the info Tinks, will report back when I have something to tell.

[LeonieM]

Good for you! Let's hope something constructive comes out of this.

[LorraineJ]

Good result I think. The boy concerned was taken out of class and sent to the HoY's office and Hannah was also sent somewhere else to save her blushes. The class were then questioned about the alleged assault and at least six other children put their hands up and said they saw him do it and also that he had boasted earlier he was going to do it.

He has got himself two days seclusion with immediate effect. This means he has to study in silence or stare into space, he is not allowed to even go to the toilet without being accompanied, no lunch break (but a basic lunch will be brought to him). He has also been told that he has to face the governors next week and his father will go in before the Headteacher later on today.

[LeonieM]

At last, some common sense prevails! Let's hope they throw the bloody book at him - and his father!

[tink84]

Finally they have taken notice but why did your daughter have to suffer before action was taken. I would be taken this further with the Governors and I would be asking the school what measures THEY plan to take to prevent your daughter any more harm

[Bagpuss]

Thank goodness some action has FINALLY been taken! I would point out to the governers how you have got to this stage (just in case they are not already aware!) and point out that you are not just doing this for your DD (although you are of course) but also felt this needed to be brought to their attention in order that it does not happen to other pupils in the future (then go off and polish your halo!)

[madcow]

Good morning everyone i hope that you are all well.
We had a lovely day yesterday,me and Nick went to the seaside which was paid for by Car-gomm which is an organisation that helps people with mental health issues,the sun shone all day and i got a bit burnt,but it was nice to have a day out away from the everyday issues and with no kids,it's the first time i have been relaxed in ages.Today we are off on a landrover experiance which should be great fun,we get to drive on road then the fun part off road.
What do you have planned for the weekend.

[LeonieM]

Well, I had intended picking up my new car tomorrow - but by the time we got all the paperwork/documents together to get the application to the Police Federation sorted out and off to them yesterday, even though the PF processed the paperwork immediately, the garage say the car won't now be ready until at least Tuesday. :(

So, I can't pick it up until next Saturday. And I've run out of petrol again. I can't believe I'm using £5 a week - and going nowhere on it! I think my car must be faulty or something. Still, I won't have to put up with it for much longer.

[LorraineJ]

Good news everyone, we had a very useful meeting this morning and next year should be a lot happier for Hannah.

I do not need to go to the Governors over this child, the school have done what they are supposed to and have excluded him for two days and next week Hannah will be with her friends all the time, so she can't be got at and she will not be sat anywhere near this boy for any lesson they both have.

As for the boy himself, for the first time ever he showed some remorse for what he had been putting Hannah through, told the Head of Year that his behaviour had got totally out of hand and actually wants to change. That I'd say is a huge breakthrough. He will be constantly monitored and a TA will also be working with Hannah on a one to one basis for the rest of this term and ALL of next year.

I noticed bruising on Hannah's back this morning and told the school and it turns out this corroborates what another child had reported, therefore the school now know it wasn't a flight of fancy, he saw what he thought he did.

This I still find totally amazing, I thought that it was law that every child had to do PE upto and including Y11, Hannah is going to be giving this up effective immediately as it gives too many the chance to bully her. We have asked and the school have agreed that she will go into town with the others for bowling (as she did this year), as it will be good for social skills, but she is dropping the single one hour lesson.

Further she is going to be allowed to drop history, as she just cannot get into the interpretation side, takes things far too literally and her recent tests scores well we won't talk about them! Instead, depending on how the timetable works out, she will go in later if RE, PE or history are timetabled for P1 and if they are in the later half of the day, she will come home and work. Its a brand new scheme but they are currently loading on modular software so all lessons and homework will be accessible on line, so if school becomes intolerable, she can work from home and not miss out in a crucial year.

[Bagpuss]

Great news Lorraine! Glad you got it sorted.

[jakjak]

Great News wish Hannah all the best and hope things finally improve for her at least she will be able to concentrate on her lessons now and hopefully will be a lot happier

[samsq]

Morning all.

I'm back from a soggy camping trip:( Gale force winds and rain everyday doesn't make for a great holiday - so now I'm working my way through the mountain of washing:(

Lorraine - glad you got it resolved.

[Bagpuss]

Welcome back Sam - sounds like you are glad to be home again

[celfyddydau]

not the best holiday then Sam! Wouldn't it be nice if we could garantee the British Weather and know that we would have sun.

My sister had her car stolen the other night, it was a howling gale and we thought that maybe it was nicked by someone who was soaked and couldn't be bothered with walking home. It was found today burnt out in some woodland. She's not overly bothered as it's insured but it's going to put her premium up.

[LeonieM]

It's disgraceful, Olwen - whether she was insured or not, that's hardly the point. She'll still be out of pocket.

I got some great craft goodies today: we have a new cheapie shop in town, and it sells the same sort of range as The Works "Craft Work". I got 3 great organising containers, some great metal charms at only £1 for 6 (one is violins, guitars and pianos, and the other is hats, handbags and shoes); and some flipflops and handbags in a fake enameled metal finish. Finally, I got some faux metallic leather strips in a pack of gold, silver and bronze, and mint green, pink and magenta also £1 for each pack.

[samsq]

Leonie - sounds like a productive shopping trip to me:)

[CraftyGal]

So glad that everything is going to be a lot better for Hannah now Lorraine.

How was everyone's weekend? I've hardly got anything done that I was going to do. Do you have those days where you seem to be doing something all the time but when you look back you hardly achieved anything?!

Lisa x