Abbeywatch: 18th September, 2016....Motivation Madness, Belted Galloways and Grammar School!

Well...we've all settled back into the school way of life...Frankie has had the toe operation and survived, and the Hillman Camera is finally catching up, so we've had time enough today for a Furness Abbey walk. The weather has been stifling this week, but it was flat and cool today....

...and a few signs of the changing season around.......

I am suffering with terrible heel pain at the moment, which is a disaster for me because I love walking so much...! I've tried every sort of shoe, but the only comfortable ones are Sketchers trainers with memory foam, so I've been wearing these every afternoon at work, despite some funny looks!! If you know me, you know I'm never happier then when I'm 'rocking the boat' so I'm quite liking 'trainergate'! So, we thought we'd shake the new cohort of year six children up a bit too, and gave them some 'Motivational' workshops this week, delivered by Tim Hall of BeGo Coaching....and after telling the children he could teach them to juggle in 30 minutes, he did just that!! It was great fun and it did get me thinking about a few things too.....

.....I'm never lacking in motivation, but sometimes I can't get rid of other peoples negativity out of my head....he gave me (and the kids) some great ideas for that too! It's worth booking him for your school!

There's a lot of fuss going on about 'Grammar Schools' at the moment...are they devisive.....do they stop social mobility? I went to Barrow Grammar School for Girls, coming from a council estate and a big family, and socio-economic position had nothing to do with how you got on there. Some of the girls in my year from more affluent backgrounds behaved appallingly and were certainly not the most intelligent or dignified or kind, but I guess that's the same in any school. BGGS girls were a very mixed bag, and where we've ended up had nothing to do with affluent families and everything to do with hard graft. One of my work colleagues was a few years above me at BGGS and she says exactly the same! And the literacy consultant we now use at school was also a BGGS girl, from Barrow. I'm not against school excellence.....I hope Furness Academy continues along that path as far as it can.

My desk at the moment says it all!! Nice coaster from my mum when she visited Canterbury Cathedral in the hols (without ME!!)

A new breed of cow down at Furness Abbey today...three little Belted Galloways have appeared in amongst the Fresians in the meadow....very cute and 'teddy bear' like!

Funny what you bump into in the town centre on a Sunday...we had no idea this parade was happening today....we just happened to be passing.....it was the Battle of Britain commemorative parade I think.....