School end

My eldest DD left school yesterday, sniff, where did the time go to? She's back in again this morning though for her physics GCSE exam. Last night I was at the school until after nine with Miss La for her parents evening. It's always an interesting experience hearing teachers describing a child you don't recognise - I think there are implants in the school gateposts that transform their personalities as they pass in and out. I have a summer cold that's driving me crazy as my ears are stopped up which makes my jaw ache.
I took my Mum to listen to Anna Jacobs talking at one of our local libraries - we had a great time. Dudley Library staff are fab and really try hard to put on great events with a virtually non existant budget. Their hard work is much appreciated.
The day job is crazy - I've given up trying to take any time back or even keep to my hours. I had three different staff members ask me yesterday if I'd gone full time! Oh well, it'll settle down in a couple of weeks and they've said I can be paid for some of the time so thats all good.
I need to pack the girls things for their holiday with their grandparents then I have to go order enough cake to feed 200 people, buy 150 tombola prizes and 70 lucky dip prizes. Then I need to write another one and a half chapters if I'm to stay on my schedule to finish this first draft of Me, You and Him by the end of June.

Community spirit

Last night I went to see my eldest two belles dance at a dance show at their high school. The belles do dance at weekends but this was something they had been doing on lunchtimes and after school for fun - street dance. The school had invited several of the local primary schools and a school for disabled children to take part too. The nicest thing about the Belle's school and one of the main reasons we were drawn to it as a choice was the inclusive spirit of the school. It's small by todays standards, less than 900 pupils. They have a considerable number of students from the hearing impaired unit and the pupils are from a wide variety of backgrounds. Unlike several other local schools they don't cherry pick their pupils on academic prowess. The atmosphere last night was wonderful. The pupils compered, managed the lights and curtains, sold tickets for Sports Relief and looked after their guests from other schools with minimal assistance from staff.
The dance covered everything from Street, to Ballroom, to classical ballet, tap and hip hop. All the performers were great.
The dancers ranged in age from year 4 primary up to age 16 school leavers. One performer was in a wheelchair, several had learning disabilities and some dancers were hearing impaired.
I don't think there was a single person in the sell-out audience who didn't enjoy the show.