Jubilation

Hooray.  It's half term and we have a non-pupil day for report writing (which I've finished) so today I'm blogging from my bed, the dog curled up on the end, resigned to a late walk.  It has been a long and tiring half term.  In the week I hosted a rehearsal for 8 Primary School choirs, in a hall that was so hot you could barely breathe.  I am now quite excited for the Sparks Will Fly event on the 16th June and the two day Olympic Festival but I really do mean it when I say that I NEVER want to do anything like it again.  Call me picky but to have a member of staff from another school come up to you and say that the whole thing has been very badly organised is something I can live without!

Marina the Mightier

I am going to clean the oven today.  That might not sound like reason for celebration but in our house being able to cook, without filling the kitchen with black smoke will be almost as exciting as having been on the throne for 60 years.

Our school band had a letter from Buckingham Palace last week.

We had sent a DVD of us playing anthems of the UK, which we play in Friday assemblies.  It was very exciting (for me as much as the kids - who knew I was a Royalist?)  Lady-in-waiting, Jennifer Gordon Lennox, was brilliantly diplomatic, not saying whether they had watched the DVD or whether they liked it but thanking us for our gift and kind wishes.  She said that the Queen was touched.  It must be awful to be a queen, I hate being touched and she must regularly have to be touched by the great unwashed!  I sent an e-mail to the paper about it with a photo of the band.  I thought they'd like it.  Unfortunately, he rang me up and now I am quite worried.  Obviously, I will deny that I said any of what they print.  "I was mis-quoted, you know what the local press is like?"  But I could have said anything.  He asked me if all Primary Schools have a school band.  I wanted to say, "how do I know, why don't you do some research and ring them up and ask them?" but I didn't.  He asked me what our band thought about the Queen.  I know I said, "oh, we love her she's cute!"  What a stupid thing to say.

She is quite cute.

We had an assembly with the Queen and the Royal family in attendance (Morrison's have a great set of masks!) and sang the National Anthem.  I said to the girl doing the computer, "don't put words up, we've been singing it for long enough - we all know the words."   She looked horrified, "all 5 verses?"

My last lessons of half term were Jubilee music with year 1/2. We sang songs, talked about the Jubilee, street parties, parades, soldiers and the Queen.  We marched like soldiers and composed a drum and recorder Jubilee piece.

It was a very funny afternoon.

Me: Some people will go to street parties.

Child:  I'm going to a party, my mummy is getting married.

Another child:  I like parties

Another child:  Me too, I'm going to go bowling for my brothers birthday

(This carried on for a while)

Me: There will be a parade in London and the Queen will be in a Golden Coach

Child:  What happens to all her Bentleys?

Me:  The soldiers have to work very hard to learn how to march in time.

Child:  They should come here, we could show them how to do it.

Child:  My recorder went squeaky.  Do you think the Queen would like it?

Me:  I'm sure she loves squeaky recorders

Me:  The Queen has been our queen for 60 years, that's a very long time.

Child:  It's Queen Victoria

Me: Our Queen is called Elizabeth

Different Child:  It's Elizabeth too.  Elizabeth and Victoria

Child:  You know the Queen?  Well I know her husband.

Me:  Do you?

Child:  Yes it's George and he lives in our road.

When the reporter asked me what we thought of the Queen I should have said, they have absolutely no idea who she is but they like parties.