A terrible tragedy

On Monday night Ben lost one of his best friends from school. Reece Statham was killed with the rest of his family on the M6 motorway coming home from visiting his grandparents in Birmingham. It is such a terrible loss it has been headline news in the UK since. Four children and two adults lost due to the careless driving of a truck driver is the result of this tragedy. I hope the police throw the book on him. Understandably, Ben was distraught when the news was given to him on Wednesday, and he is still distraught as are many at the school. He has not been able to face going to school especially as poor Reece was in his form class as well as in many of his subject classes. Many will miss him as the tributes given and the flowers laid at his house in Llandudno show. Ben, together with a couple of friends and teachers, went to give flowers at Reece’s house this afternoon which was very brave of him, and it was good for him to confront the tragedy in his efforts to try and deal with his grief. Our thoughts are with his grandparents at this terrible time.

Tom's christening and that school!

Last week-end we went down to Suffolk to attend little Tom’s christening. It was held at the parish church of Copdock where Tracy and I were married in 1990. It was a bit weird going there again, first time since a little after the wedding, and it seemed a lot smaller inside now than I remember it then for some reason. Am I still growing! Surely not. Tom is the son of Tracy’s niece, Emma and her husband Keith. We had a great time, it was nice to meet up with family again, and Tom was a star through the whole thing. He seems to like Ben, smiling and laughing away whenever Ben was around him. Tracy’s other niece Jessica was also there with her fiancé, Alan, recently having announced their engagement. It was good to see her happy again and moving on with her life.
It was no surprise to us that our usual thorn in the side, the boys’ school, threatened the enjoyment of this happy occasion. Nothing surprises us with that place, continually getting things wrong and seemingly trying to make life difficult for us. In the past they have reported an Education Social Worker on us because I phoned the head to inform her that Ben was having a hard time going to school. I won’t reveal the specifics but it was about a month into his first year and he was having a hard time coming to terms with the situation that had developed at home. So, thinking it was the right thing to do, I informed the head teacher and said I need help as I didn’t know how to get him over this. Without any sympathy to our plight she forcibly told me that if I didn’t get him to school the following day the school would prosecute us!! This is a head teacher dealing with a parent who actually believes in education and has children who are polite and well behaved! Needless to say we took him in and he was worse than ever, despite the head of year reassuring us during the day. Ben later told us that the method he took to check on Ben was to go to his class and ask Ben in front of the whole class if he was ok! IDIOT. Of course he would say that! He didn’t go in the following day (understandably) and was reported to the ESW by the ever so helpful Mr Parry. He really showed himself up by being the head lap dog with this little incident, and I saw him in the head’s office as we were driving from the school. So much for me getting “help” from them! Luckily there was a school nurse there who helped us pull Ben through or God knows how Ben would have turned out. She was marvellous, but I won’t go to any teacher or member of the management at the school ever again. There are loads of things the boys have told us in the last 3 years of incidents that have happened which they have witnessed themselves, that would make any parent of a child in that school shudder, but perhaps all schools are like this, which if true is disturbing to say the least.
The week leading up to the trip is a typical example of the incompetence displayed on a regular basis. After writing letters to the form teachers of the boys at the beginning of the week to inform them that they had been invited to the christening, they were told to fill in a holiday form. Now bearing in mind that they were only going to be away for 2 school days, we did fill in the form anyway. We noticed that it said on the form that it was meant to be used for annual family holidays only, but hey, they know what they are doing, right? Sent it in and waited for a response. Got a letter from an assistant head to say that we need not have filled in the form and that a letter to the form teachers would be sufficient, and a reminder that it was not advisable to take pupils out of school during term time. HELLO! IT WAS FOR A CHRISTENING IN SUFFOLK! TAKES HALF A DAY TO EVEN GET THERE! What goes through these people’s minds? Do they expect us to leave the kids at home or with other relatives, while Tracy and I go down without them? Wouldn’t our relatives be wondering where they were and be upset that they were not there? So, after receiving the letter I phoned the school to sort the mess out, and that we had already written letters to the form teachers. I got told that everything would be sorted and that the boys would be registered as away due to family commitments. Finally, we can rest easy that the school knew and had recorded the correct information. Really? Too good to be true, I’m afraid! We went down by car, got booked in the hotel, and went to visit Tracy’s parents. Tracy checked her mobile and what do you know, a message from the school made at 2.50 enquiring that they were worried that Ben had not turned up to school! Ten to three they phoned! He had been missing since quarter to nine! And why were they phoning anyway? We had told them about the christening, remember?
So, I phoned again on the Monday morning to straighten things out again. When we got back they gave us more grief, regarding Simon’s EMA payments. The agony just goes on…! So, visit the blog next time to read the next hilarious chapter! What a Carry On… as

The end of a nightmare

Well, I finally did it! No, I didn’t strangle my next door neighbour, I finished my Brain Biology course with the Open University. Sent the offending last assignment yesterday and now awaiting the dreaded result. I sucked this year big time, couldn’t get anywhere near my usual standard. I think it was a combination of my head not being focused this year and the fact that I had a crappy tutor. I met him only the once, and that was enough for me. Only 2 of us turned up (same number as the one before that) and the first thing he told us was this war of words he was having with a student on another course he was tutoring. THEY LET HIM LOOSE ON 2 COURSES!I had a slight unpleasant exchange with him by e-mail when he refused to help me with re-sending an attached file I had lost. He kept going round the houses telling me to join a forum where all the files would be found, which I couldn’t get right at the time, and all I wanted was the file re-sent! So I went to the tutorial to see who this dick was, and found him to be prejudiced, to his own Liverpudlian roots (hated the people who are still in Liverpool) and ready to argue the toss with students. I told him I was experiencing health problems due to stress and this sort of thing does not help, especially as the piece of work was important as it contributed to all our 2nd assignment (an experiment). He told me ‘let me worry about things’! Great advice, pal, great advice! I haven’t heard from him since I got my 3rd assignment back in early August. I missed my 4th (I forgot!) and have just completed the End of Course Assignment. He obviously is not worried about me! For all he knows I may have left the course or even be dead! Anyway I hope I have passed this one as I sure don’t want to do it again, or have him as my tutor. Rebecca Pleasant (Child Psychology), now there was a good, caring tutor. Apparently, my next tutor is an ex-con with a quick temper so that should be interesting! Social Psychology is more up my street. Brain biology is interesting, don’t get me wrong, and I did learn a lot even though I found the assignments hard. And I did read all the course books, despite what my tutor says on my work. I made more notes on this course than on any, so there! So, my Social Psychology course starts in February next year, and I will have been on my counselling course at Llandrillo about 5 months. Yes, old glutton for punishment here has already undertaken another course! This is the follow up to the counselling course I took earlier in the year, but I am looking forward to it. Last week was the first and it served as an introduction for everybody. Seems like a nice crowd (again), and I could not help but think of the nice bunch I was with on the earlier course, and the fact that not any of them managed to get on this one. So, its time to forge new friendships again, and I’m sure it will be fun while it lasts.
I keep telling myself, there is a purpose for all this hard work, isn’t there!
I bet you’re wondering why I want to strangle my next door neighbour! And there’s three of them, so … which one?