Holiday Time!

Gidday,

Well, once again it is my favourite time to be a teacher... I've got 9 weeks stretching in front of me which is a lovely feeling.

The last couple of weeks have just flown by, Wednesday before last we had our touch rugby final. We had comfortably won the semi-final 13-3, & managed to take out the final 5-1. Every Wednesday after our match we tend to have a few drinks to toast our victories (we finished the season undefeated!) but that Wednesday was rather a big one... We went back to Rich's place to celebrate & the last people left at 4am!!! Needless to say, there were a few rather tired members of staff at our 8:40am chapel the next morning... Below are a few pics from the night...



So, that's touch over for another season. Our team, the 'Tryhards' is made up entirely of staff from school who all live on site, so it makes the post-match functions rather easy to organise... I'll miss our Wednesday night sessions, but my liver will probably thank me for it...

This weekend just been I spent on Dartmoor. We left Saturday morning & returned Tuesday night. We took a group of just under 30 students who were doing their silver & gold assessment expeditions for their Duke of Edinburgh award. Because it was their assessment us staff didn't have a huge amount to do, just a bit of check-pointing during the day. It was bit of an end of an era in a way, because it was Rich's last trip as he & his family are returning to NZ in September, & it was also the last expedition for Anne & Robin who have run the D of E for the last however many years at Bearwood, but have finally decided to give it up. I've had some great trips away with those guys over the last 3 years. This was a nice way to go out... The first night we stayed at a youth hostel in Okehampton. We enjoyed a bottle of wine with dinner, then managed to knock back a bottle of pimms & half a bottle of single-malt scotch whiskey between the 4 of us! The next 2 nights we camped at Princetown. The kids were camping at various farms in the area, but the staff basically camped in a field right next to a pub! Yes, very convenient I know... Once we had been around the various campsites & checked that all the groups of kids had actually made it after their day of walking, we were free to enjoy the rest of the evening...

The best thing about this trip was that we returned Tuesday night, then Wednesday was the last day of school! The staff farewell for Rich was that night, Scottie, our head of department had put together a powerpoint presentation of photos from the last 3 years. Last night was a BBQ at Robin's place to thank all the people who have helped out with D of E over the last few years.

So far I have enjoyed my first 2 days of holiday. The nicest thing has been not having to get out of bed in the morning! Today I drove Will to Heathrow airport, he is away in the States & Canada for the next 2 weeks, he has conferences in Seattle & Vancouver. Saturday is a big leaving party at Rich's place, then on Wednesday I'm off to the Isle of Skye in Scotland for 6 nights with Rich & Steve. We've got a little 4-bed bunkhouse booked & are planning on spending most days walking. The Cuillin range is meant to be some of the best walking in the whole of the UK & the scenery is meant to be stunning. No doubt lots of pics will appear on this blog in due course...

Well, I'd better wrap this up here as it has turned into bit of an epic... More on my plans for the rest of the holiday later... I hope everyone is well wherever in the world you are, & please please PLEASE keep in touch, it is always lovely to hear from you, no matter how exciting (or not) you think your news is...