Ups and downs...

It is a great feeling having all my reports finished... Things really are starting to wind down now. We've only got 2 & a half weeks of school left till the summer holidays, but I am away for a week in total on 2 DofE expeditions, one to Dartmoor, and the other to the South Downs. I also have 2 days in London with Ric on a first aid course we need to do for World Challenge. Add to that 4 days of College exams for everyone, & there isn't actually much teaching left to do!

Yesterday I passed my Life in the UK test, but things started to fall apart when I rang the Home office to try & sort my visa, which expires in 4 days time! It's all a bit complicated to go into detail here, but basically, due to having to reschedule my Life in the UK test by a week, I am unable to get my indefinite leave to remain in person (where you receive it on the day) like I had planned. The woman I talked to was very sympathetic, but said I would have no choice but to make a postal application, where they say the minimum clearing time is 4 weeks. This is bit of a problem as I leave on our World Challenge trip to Borneo with 13 students on July 10th! School was fantastic today, they covered all my afternoon lessons for me so I could rush around & gather all the documentation I needed, in order to get the application in the 4:30pm post. It was bit of a mission... You need bank statements, pay slips, a letter from my employer stating that they still require me, but the worse was having to document every time I have been out of the UK in the last 7 years! This was a nightmare, especially since I didn't have my old passport for reference (it 'disappeared' from our hotel room in Gambia). I did the best I could, & managed to get it sent away. All I can do now is wait, & hope that they appeal to reason & process my application as quickly as they can. If not, I might have to make alternate arrangements & perhaps meet the rest of the group in Borneo, when my passport is returned to me.

On the positive side, we won our touch game last night, & have booked a 2 V 3 semi-final, thus avoiding the top team who are pretty much unbeatable. We got a hiding in the pool match from the team we're playing in the semi, but it was half-term & lots of our team were away. At least we'll give it a good shot..