A very proud daddy....

That's me that is <>

Laura has received her GCSE results today. She received seven A* and 4 A grades

Like WOW man!

Just wanted to say, very well done duckles, we's all proud of you

PS

Did you know

The first tongue-twister to be written down was discovered in Egypt. Translated, it roughly reads: "Stars and water, running through the desert, throwing handfuls of sand."

Been away...

And now we are back. Went to Spain for two weeks. Now, you know me, I not big on holidays abroad, but this was not too bad. It was very hot (in the 30's by 9. am then getting up to 50 in the middle afternoon - sheesh!). So because of the temperatures all we did was the sea, the pool, the caravan for the shade

We hired a car and only put about 200 km on it. They are the most expensive km's i have every driven !

Laura was a bit obsessed with the sun, and ended up with a touch of sunstroke which meant that on the couple of slightly overcast days we had to stay in c'os she was not well!

Still, we all came back a bit browner than we went, and now back in Sunny Cumbria (ha ha)

A thief..

Honestly Dad, I did NOT drink any of your full pint of beer when you went to the toilet (hic!)

A quickie Quote

Hi

An 'email friend' did the Race for life this weekend and raised £350 for cancer research. Very well done Carol

She has a wonderful quote at the bottom of her emails. it reads:


"Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be."

What a great quote to push us all onwards

The Master strikes again...

I have now become a Microsoft Office Specialist Master if Office 2003 (previously for Office 2000)

I have made an application to become a Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor for Office 2003 (again previously for 2000)

Yippee!!

Now to start all over again fro Office 2007 - I think that may be a bigger stretch

Return of the Matrix

From Joanne:

As you are aware, we have had David Smith from the MATRIX here at Harrington for the last 2 days assessing our learndirect provision against the MATRIX Standard. I have now had the official feedback (Which brought a tear to my eye).

He thinks we are fantastic and embrace all of the MATRIX principals.

We work as a team who listen to both learners and partners and are continuously improving the quality of our services.

There were lovely quotes from the learners such as "We helped achieve some ones dream"

He gave us a few suggestions on how we could improve such as putting up quotes from learners saving that they have gained confidence since starting learning with us.

My proudest point in the feedback was when he said that he thinks we have improved so much since the last time we were MATRIXed that he suggested we go for the MATRIX excellence awards. He has only suggested this to 3 other centres over the last 6 years which 1 of them went on to win the National award. We are now considering doing this but the closure date for this year is 31st July 2007!


Well done and congratulations to all involved

A fun day out in Beamish

Fiona persuaded me to accompany her and her class to Beamish today. Six adults and 33 kids (All about 10 years old, give or take).

We set off at 8.15 am. About 100 miles, two and a quarter hours and one child vomiting all over Fiona later we arrived.

A lovely sunny day thankfully because we have not had many of those recently. We split into groups . I was reliably informed that my group were 'hand picked' hmmmm

We visited the town via tram to see the bank, dentist, grocers, garage. And then the kids woke up when we got to the sweetshop Unfortunately they were not manufacturing, but the kids still bought plenty of sweets toe at before lunch.

Lunch was outside the old school, and then we went inside for an arranged '1897 lesson' Wow how strict. I was terrified. The teacher just about had total control over the class, there was hardly a murmur. Though the leather whip was prominent (but not used). The most amazing thing was the way the children reacted. They were very well behaved with hand going up, no shouting out, getting on with their work. After a while the teacher snapped her fingers and said "right, back to 2007", and blow me over, didn't the kids immediately snap back to 2007 behaviour? Unbelievable

Next into the cottages where the children had to do some cleaning (beat rugs, polish, scrub floors and empty bed pans. One or two grumbled and asked if they were to be paid!

Then down the coal mine to see the working conditions, closely followed by an ice cream and gift shop

When we arrived back at school the headteacher was rather alarmed because we had one less child! Honestly. There was one less that when we set off!

Actually, we took Hayden with us, and he stayed over there with his Aunt Janet so all was well.

A good day, and I got to find out who everyone fancies!