Roman Hill Middle School, Lowestoft

Another return visit, this time for the third year running, back to Roman Hill Middle School in Lowestoft. Last time I was up at this wonderful school, I had got up a bit late and then hit horrendous traffic on the A12 and then found to my shock that roughly 99% of Lowestoft was being dug up. Luckily this time (and with the help of TWO - count 'em, TWO - alarm clocks) I managed to wake up in plenty of time, sail up the A12 AND discover that now only about 15% of Lowestoft is being dug up. What a difference a year makes.

I was warmly welcomed by Rebecca Haste as I have been for the previous visits. She was very busy this morning but still had time for me, which was wonderful. After I had got everything set up in some of the classrooms for the morning session, I wandered up to the staff room to make myself a cup of tea. As I entered the teachers and other staff were having a big meeting. Luckily the staff room at Roman Hill is the size of an aircraft hanger, so I whispered an apology and scuttled off to the far end of the said aircraft hanger to make myself some tea. I was doing this very quietly, and with the minimum of fuss when one of the ladies in the meeting, slipped out of her chair and wandered over to me. I was assuming by the way she was approaching me that she was going to tell me which milk to use or where the sugar was. Instead I was told to be quiet and keep still as I was distracting her from her meeting. So that told me. I was gobsmacked. So I did as I was told and stood like a statue, completely motionless until their meeting was finished. I reckon I should have run in and kicked a few tables over, rattled all the cutlery in their dishwasher and then stood naked on the table singing "On The Street Where You Live" in Serbo-Croat. Now that would have REALLY distracted her properly.

The day itself was a cracker. The kids were brilliant - very sparky and interested, some of them to the point of being TOO sparky! But that is OK, I would rather have interested excitable children than ones who sit like lobotomised haddocks all day. The afternoon stocks session was simply wonderful to behold, particularly for the reaction I got from the Teaching Assistants who were virtually falling off their chairs laughing at my silliness, which again is perfectly fine with me! The jousting was a rousing affair with the gents initially winning, but because of an illegal run by one of their jousters the ladies got a second chance with a one quoit race off - which the ladies duly snatched by half a whisker!

It was a fairly late finish for me today, but totally worth it at another school that I adore. It was nice that I was invited back for next year straight away. I stopped at my parents and had dinner with them sitting in their lovely garden, then headed for Somerset at about 8pm. Here I am home safe and sound.

An interesting query from a school up in Yorkshire has just come in! New horizons, anyone?