In Sickness and in Health

I hate being ill. 

OK, I know no one actually likes it, but I hate that while my body sweats or vomits or aches or coughs, my brain speeds through 100 things that need sorting that instant due to my absence, AND the several knock on effects that being away from site causes.

This past week I was tired - big deal, who isn't!? As we hurtle towards the end of the school year there is no calm wind down... 

just the wind UP to the Summer Holidays!

  • There's the leavers production, 
  • the transition days, 
  • sports day, 
  • school fete, 
  • visits, 
  • the Yr6 water fight, 
  • visitors, 
  • and usual curriculum to squeeze in.

July = 3 weeks of school, that's 15 days IN school, throw in an inset and couple of strike days and there's a dozen days left! Now it's July 7th, we're down to nine!

In Forest School we are not immune to the pace or changes to the norm. The children who are anxious about moving up or moving on, or are just not coping with disrupted routines, bring their issues to basecamp. They usually use outside as an outlet for their pent up emotions, which is great, but alters sessions slightly. We fit in around the adaptations to class timetables when necessary, but have our own changes to arrange too!

We have a beautiful Wildlife Garden with a pond, and 'Pond Week' in the Summer Term allows the children to use a different space, see a different environment, pond dip, and meet some new wildlife. This involves transferring stuff from one site to another.

We also have celebration week. We end all 6 terms with a campfire and treats, the end of the school year is no different, in fact it's extra special. So we need to assess food stock and order in all that is needed to ensure to all 14 classes can celebrate completing this Forest School year. We can't hang on to biscuits and mallows etc until October, so we use up all we can, and buy in the shortfall along with wood for the fires as we do not use wood from our site. 

I havent had time to acknowledge that niggling feeling that this particular 'knackeredness' was a bit more than the usual 20000 step plus days, rush-around-like-a-lunatic, make-sure-everything-is-covered session prep.

In between, I'm still monitoring the training we're hosting in Autumn,

promoting the conference FSLI are having on site here, 

and liaising with local company,  Forager, to work with the school next year. 

There's an up-coming award ceremony to attend (sounds much more impressive than it is!), at the wonderful Kent Wildlife Trust as they acknowledge all the schools who have managed to meet the criteria for a Wilder Kent Award.

A demo session for the neighbouring Nursery's open day, and a celebration of Forest School for their leavers.

The usual admin, planning, Risk Assessments, and laminating doesnt do itself either!

AND the ongoing clearing of paths, cutting back of nettles (that seem to be vying for tallest in the world status), ensuring the pond is safe and healthy, planting out seedlings, feeding the wildlife...!

So, ploughing on, and ploughing through, along with all other exhausted school staff until my stomach called an abrupt halt to it all! 

I even ran sessions over the strike day, pond dipping for all, and now I can't complete the week.

How, when, where, do I squeeze in missed Pond Week experiences? Does it become a Pond Fortnight? Do I move sites just for those classes who missed out? How does that fit with with my FSL colleague who runs simultaneous sessions? 

I'm on the sofa, nursing a controllable headache and cramps, utterly fed up with the trips to the loo (is sleeping on the bathroom floor really out of the question?), wondering why I'm not at least 2 dress sizes smaller considering the 48 hours that just passed, and desperate for a cup of tea that doesn't result in a biology lesson as I can hear its progress gurgle through my body!

There are 8 Forest School days left in term 6.

Six classes plus eyfs to have sessions next week. 14 classes scheduled for the last week of term (thanks to the amazing juggling and timetabling skills of Mrs Crawley!), plus the Nursery next door. Always, the ongoing and accompanying paperwork, and site tidying. I'm trying to figure out what needs doing to fit it in! 

The laptop is open. My phone is on browser too. I keep napping. And in-between I'm composing emails and writing a blog...

I hate being ill!

Location: Canterbury, UK

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