parent tour #5 and santa and the easter bunny

On Friday we did our final parent tour ;o)

Like school #3 we were shown around by the year 6 kids but with this school there were 2 kids per set of parents ;o)

The school was really nice and even has its own swimming pool.

As with all of the schools the EYFS have their own play area.

And I even know one of the teaching assistants (cant remember what year it was that she was working with) as she used to live around the corner from us in Ingatestone.

We have now put in our submission for our school choices

number 1 - school 5,
number 2 - school 4
number 3 - school 3
number 4 - school 1

We are in choice 3's catchment area but it isnt our nearest school, on the admission form (which has to be done online) you are able to put a reason for each school (upto 3000 characters long), I put a reason for choice 1 but only used 90 characters as I didnt want to go annoying anyone with a long sob story ;o)

With choice 2 we have to fill in a SIF so I shall pop it into the school before the deadline in Jamuary.

Yesterday we were in town and Chelmsford Rotary Club were in town with Santa and his sleigh...

...as Evie is now very much aware of Santa and the fact that he will be bring her Christmas presents she wanted to say hello to him (despite us telling her that we were in a hurry to get ready for her swimming lesson).

So we went over to say hello, and Santas helper asked me if I wanted to take a photo of Evie with Santa ;o)

Evie and the Easter Bunny saying hello to Santa

So I ended up getting Eve to put a coin in the charity box ;o)

does it mean we cant video it?

Yesterday morning when I dropped Evie off at pre school she ran off from me like she normally does (after letting me take off her coat) and was in the play kitchen with another little girl...

...as I was going to sign Evie in I could hear her shouting "bye Mummy" and the other little girl was shouting "bye" to me too ;o).

When I came to pick her up at the end of the day I was told that there was a letter in her drawer with the details of the nativity,

I noted what time it was (as its on a Monday we are having to move her Tumble Tots session too) and the pre school Christmas party is that day as well.

I also saw on the letter that it says "to ensure the safeguarding of the children no photography until after the play has finished" so does that mean that we cant video it?  James is going to ring the pre school to ask...

...as long as he doesnt annoy them in the process ;o)

bumps and bargains

On Friday (having dropped Evie off at pre school) I was happily watching IACGMOOH and my mobile starts ringing and I look at the screen and its Evies pre school...

...so I answered the phone and was told that Evie had an accident in the playground and has bumped her head and can I come and get her.

So I got to her pre school and looked through the door (waiting to be let it) and I could see Evie sitting with one of the ladies there and I could see the huge bump on her head.

I was let in and I said to Eve "thats a bump and a half isnt it" I half expected her to start crying when she saw me but she didnt and she was ok in herself and even asked me if I had some crisps for her to have on our way home (I did ;o)).

They told me that Evie was playing with another girl and their legs were entwined and Evie tripped and didnt put her hands out to stop herself from hitting the ground.

I was told that she was having lots of fun before that happened and she was very brave and didnt cry.

Before we left I had to sign the accident form.

a bump on the noggin

As my camera has a black spot on some of my photos (cant find any when I am looking for them typically) I am going to treat myself to a new one as my Christmas present ;o)

I have seen a bridge camera (does it mean that I have to take photos of bridges with it?) in Argos and saw in their Black Friday offers leaflet that the one I wanted had some more money off of it.

So we popped into Argos on our way home from doing the food shopping (we cant go on Sundays anymore as Evie does her tap dancing), I got the camera plus a new camera case and a couple of presents for Evie ;o)

school #4 revisit today

Today I am doing (with Evie) a revisit of school 4 so that I can have a see of it with the kids there ;o), it also gives me chance to see if he interacts with Evie at all, he might be more likely to in the day.

Evie is looking forward to seeing the chickens ;o)

I think that she is hoping that one will lay an egg ;o)

Im all ready

no not for Christmas, but for the start of Im a Celebrity Get me Out of Here! ;o)

I have downloaded the app ;o)

And it even says that I can do five votes from my phone for any contestant, its just a shame that I dont end up watching it live!

perfect for Sidney

Evie has been saying that she wants a banana christmas tree ornament for her toy Sidney...

I have looked in the shops for a banana ornament for I havent seen any yet...

..I then remembered that the Minions like bananas so I did a search for Minions christmas tree ornaments but again couldnt really find any.

So I looked in The Entertainer to see if they had anything suitable but couldnt see anything.

Then went into Tesco to look at the toys and found a Minions action figure holding a banana ;o)

I will glue some ribbon onto it so it can go onto the Christmas tree ;o)

parent tour #4 the church school

So last night I ended up going on the parent tour by myself.

The head teacher seemed nice (although he didnt engage with the only child there apart from bringing him out a box of wooden blocks to play with while he was doing his spiel)..  And we even got a cup of tea into the bargain ;o)

I am going to call the school today to arrange a daytime visit and will take Evie with me so that we can see the kids/school in action so to speak.

As its a church school there is religion stuff - but by the sounds of it the kids arent forced into being blessed and can shake their head to say they dont want to participate.

And the kids get taken to church once a week.

My two brothers and my sister all went to the church school in Ingatestone and (when we moved I was 12 so went to the senior school instead),

There are some nice touches with the school - such as a the buddy system where a reception year kid is teamed with a year 6 kid and the older kid kind of looks after te younger one and is a friend to them in that first year.

And they have chickens ;o)

christmas dvd & parent tour #4

The DVD bloke is coming to Tumble Tots today to film (what will be Evies last virtually seeing Santa DVD) tat reminds me I will make sure I bring her hat with us ;o).

And tonight I am seeing another school, Im not sure if its going to be just me or all 3 of us.

a chat

The other day me & Evie were having a chat ;o)

inevitable question

Today Evie has her flu spray...

...I have been told that its just a spray up each nostril.

As Evie wont blow her nose and doesnt like me wiping her nose, I have to ask the inevitable question....

does it penetrate through bogeys? ;o)

parent tour #3 my favourite so far

This morning I took Evie on another school tour, as it wasnt one of her pre school days.

We had to get there for 9.30 so I aimed for us to leave at 8.45ish we ended up leaving at 8.52 and we got to the school at least 10 minutes early but that was with me walking really fast and pushing the buggy with Evie in.

We got there and we were shown into the assemble hall where the head teacher told us about the school and addressed the ofsted situation (in the last report it was "needs improvements") and how since she has been there the kids achievements have improved loads.

The head children then showed us around the school.

Like school #2 the reception class or EYFS was in one room, but at  least with this one it was divided in 3 with 2 brickwalls with archways dividing it with a breakout area in the middle.

What really impressed me and Evie was the fact that the school has a woodland area for the kids to play in and a separate area as well which is more wild (not tigers and lions wild although I did say it was like a jungle ;o)) with a bug palace and a pond (the area is fenced off and the kids can only go in with there with a teacher with them).

When I asked Evie which school she preferred she said the one with the jungle ;o)

a great excuse for a "designer" handbag

I have not had much luck with handbags of late...

...the last few that I have bought the shoulder strap has been breaking on them!

So the last one I bought in Sainsburys I kept the label (just in case it happened again) and it broke this morning!

As it happened while we were in town I was looking in the shops to see if they had any bags that I liked.

I did see one that I liked on Roman but you cant view it on the website (how annoying is that?)

I then remembered that when I was in town earlier in the week with Evie I saw that Debenhams had a sale on, so I had a quick look in their window and sure enough it said that there was 20% off designer handbags...

...so I marched in there with James and Evie following in me and chose this one ;o)

hee hee I have again kept the label just in case it breaks ;o)

I will take my other one back to Sainsburys when we go there next.