On having a bookworm!

Family, LearnerMother, , , ,

My girl is a reader! I am so pleased!

I don’t mean that in the sense that ‘she has learnt to read at last’  – she has been able to read for probably the last nine months or so, I guess. She’s always been happy enough with her reading books, never really grumbling about doing them with me, but never really embracing them either, just seeming to accept them as part of the weekend.

But, I don’t know why, she suddenly seemed to decide around Easter time that she WANTED to read. And since then, I have not been able to stop her! It’s hard to put my finger on where it started, but the first time I noticed was when I’d been reading her The Worst Witch at bedtime, and a bit later on I found her under the covers with a torch trying to decipher the words. They were making no sense as the book is in English, and she was reading phonetically in Welsh, but she was having a really good go.

Over the next few days I noticed that she was trying to read road signs and bus posters, and getting quite upset when she couldn’t figure them out. Next thing, she began literally inhaling her school reading books on the way home from school on a Friday, not even waiting till we got into the house, and THEN she started trying to read her big brother’s books, and I have to say doing really, really well with them. It has been amazing, quite amazing to watch – she has jumped 4 reading stages since Easter and I’d say will probably have jumped another couple by the end of the holidays if she chooses to carry on the way she is going. She has also taught herself to read in English (technically, her second language for educational purposes) and again, is not far off reading at her brother’s level.

I’m really excited by this development. Firstly I am so proud of my girl for deciding that she wants to do something, and then sticking at it until she has mastered it. I think that’s a trait that will stand her in good stead in life, though the Husband thinks a bit differently – his comment on the matter was ‘clearly she is going to grow up as pig headed as her Mother when she has her mind set on something’. I do not know WHAT he is talking about.

But what I am most pleased about is that I can dust off my collection of childhood books and begin to enjoy them all over again, with my little girl! I am thinking Five Children and It, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Ballet Shoes, Anne of Green Gables, all seven Narnia books,  the Chalet School series, Harriet the Spy, Tom Sawyer, Swallows and Amazons…and that’s just for starters. I am literally bubbling over with excitement about this!

Looking at the above list, well, lets just say it shows my age somewhat. While a good book is never out of date, I wonder what other books are out there that a sparkly six year old would like?  I would love to hear your recommendations and suggestions, for English and Welsh books that she can read herself, as well as books that I can read to her. You know the drill – tweet me, or comment below – and I’ll let you know how we get on!

Thank you/ Diolch!

 

ps I would like to say thank you to @mrboosmum for this lovely post, which inspired me to write about my lovely daughter and her reading milestone.

 

On bigger being better – or not?

Family, LearnerMother, School, ,

It’s the last day of school today. In some ways it was much like the last day of every Summer term – over excited kids, Year 6’s full of swagger on the yard with their autographed shirts, an after-school picnic in the park across the road, reflections on another year of their precious childhood having flown by. But this year things had an extra layer of poignancy – today was the last day that our kids will go to school at their current site. When they go back in September, they’ll be moving to a brand spanking new, purpose built school – a school with adventure play equipment on the yard, built in whiteboard/computer screens in every class, and – get this – targets in the urinals, which change colour upon being hit accurately! (I may just consider one of those for when we get our house done next year…)

The kids are pretty chilled about the big move now. What had been worrying them most was the fact that their classes would be split and mixed with the equivalent year group from their sister school, which is also moving to the new site. Once they’d found out which of their friends would be in their new classes, and which teachers they’d be having, they seemed reassured and, apart from grumbling about the whole seven minutes longer it’ll take us to walk, haven’t really mentioned the move since.

There are so many positive things about this move. The new building will be amazing, compared to the current tiny, overcrowded site. There’ll be all sorts of opportunities for the kids – my biggest boy is excited that he might be able to take drumming lessons which would have been an absolute no-go where they are now, because there wasn’t any room for a drum kit, and certainly nowhere that it could go without being heard in every single classroom! The school dinners will be prepared on site rather than shipped in; the kids won’t have to be bussed elsewhere for sports; there’ll be a breakfast club and after school activities on site. Best of all for us, there’ll be a new nursery unit which my littlest boy will be going to in the mornings – in practical terms alone that makes our mornings a lot easier.

All this good stuff, and yet I can’t help feeling really, really sad about the change, because despite all the new facilities and opportunities, I feel like much of the stuff that I value as a parent will be disappearing.

Mostly, it’s to do with size. I love the fact that the school is one form entry. It means all the kids know each other, all the teachers know all the kids, and it’s easy to find and get to know the parents of the kids’ friends. Everyone congregates on the tiny yard before and after school, where we can catch up, arrange playdates, find out all the stuff our own kids don’t tell us, and also speak to the class teachers informally and easily. At the end of the day it’s not unusual to see kids still playing on the yard while their parents gossip, even half an hour or so after school has finished. This feels to me like a primary school should be – a sort of small, safe stepping stone to the big wide world.

The new school will be a different story completely – with a three form entry, it’s billed to be the biggest primary school in Wales. The logistics of such a large school dictate a very different beginning and end to the school day – we’ll be dropping our kids off at one of three gates (according to their age) rather than all in one place; though there is a lovely playground, it’s not clear whether parents and younger kids will have access to it after school or whether we’ll be encouraged to simply pick up and leave; and also I imagine it is going to be much more difficult to touch base with teachers informally. It just feels as if the small, family atmosphere, that admittedly can be a bit stifling at times but is generally, I think, A Good Thing for a primary school, will be extremely hard to replicate at the new site.

I am sure that tomorrow I will wake up feeling less melancholy about all this. And I do have to keep reminding myself that none of these things which are bothering me are worrying the kids in the slightest. It’s just going to be a new way of doing things, that’ll take a bit of getting used to. I guess, as a community of parents, we can simply regroup in a different way – we might need to be a bit more creative (monthly pub night, anyone?) And I am sure there are advantages to being in a large school that aren’t yet apparent. It’s just that right now, at this very moment, I am not 100% sure that bigger will necessarily be better.