JustPickOneUK

Teaching Assistants (TAs) are in important part of the machine that is the modern day education system. Teachers are trained in providing the academic side of the learning and the TA supports the Teacher in many different ways. When I applied for the role I had no idea there would be so much more to it then assisting the teacher in the classroom and helping pupils with their learning. In a primary school like mine the children are aged between 4 and 11. This is a massive age gap when thinking developmentally. 4 year old are still prone to tantrums like toddlers and are not all proficient in using the toilet. 8 year olds are in a middling stage where they feel more grown up, they are developing more as a person with their own feelings and emotions but are still aware of rules and tend to follow them for the most part. 11 year olds feel like they are in charge of the world. Pre-teens are growing quickly, developing emotionally and beginning puberty with all of the hormone, emotional and ...

 I am not a stranger to being overweight. I am fat. There is no two ways about it. I have more fat on me than I should to be healthy. I am not trying to body shame anyone or to suggest that people can't do their own thing. You do you. I am not healthy and in getting there I now have too much fat getting in my way.  I have tried Slimming World which did work for me. I did lose weight, even during my pregnancy I was losing weight. It was about half a pound a week and I was being checked by medical professionals and I had more scans of my child because I was considered to be a high risk pregnancy. I felt safe losing weight while pregnant. I actually wanted to lose weight in order to get pregnant. Its actually the first piece of advice I read when trying. If you are overweight then try to lose some and things may change. When I got my 10% certificate (the award at Slimming World for losing 10% of your starting body weight) I concieved my son. So I can attest to that piece of advic...

Do you have comfort TV? You know the kind of TV that you like to watch on Sunday afternoon to pass time if the weather is shocking or if you are sick. Something to make you feel comfortable and so you can be entertained but your brain has almost no work to do?  One of my colleagues just sent us a WhatsApp message saying she won't be in because she's caught the sickness bug that's going around at the moment. Then another of my team members replied with the best phrase ever. "Find Your Columbo". This is the exact phrase for comfort TV.   For her Columbo the fictional detective TV series from the 1960s and 70s starring Peter Falk is her show. It's easy watching, from a time fairly long since past and everything is explained in the end and so you don't have to work hard to get to the crux of any issues.  For me Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is one of these. We've watched and re-watched this show so many times. It doesn't take us long to hear the...

 The Easter holidays are an opportunity for adventure. With a young family foreign holidays are very expensive during the school holidays so many are choosing to stay home. We did the same during the last 3 days this year. It has been so wet recently but the forecast for the weekend was due to be lovely and so we packed up the car and took a punt. I'm so glad we did.  We chose to stay in Ashurst in the New Forest at the Ashurst campsite. Here is a link to the booking page if you are interested yourself.  https://www.campinginthenewforest.com/campsites/ashurst/  I like the idea of wild camping but I am not ready yet. So I do require sites with showers and toilets as a minimum. There is no WiFi, no electric hookups and no charging points at this site. But as our stay was a short one our power packs were just fine for our phones etc. The site has pitches for tents and hard standing ones for caravans and campervans alike and they also offer seasonal pitches too.  I ...

If you are like me a walk feels like a bit of a waste of time. I can walk I just don't like to go for a walk. Its boring, where am I going?, am I trying to get there in a certain time frame? So no, I don't want to go or a walk. Geocaching however, sign me up. (Phonetically Jee-Oh-Cashing). Geocaching is a global free activity you can do, even in your local area. Its like a treasure hunt using your phone or a gps device you can look up the locations of hidden in plain sight caches. Each one is put there and recorded by members of the public, so anyone can place a cache. Across the country there are caches at local churches, war memorials and historical places of interest.  They can even be dotted along your local dog walking area in trees, under bushes, clipped or dangled from fences, sign posts and under fallen leaves. They can be made of anything, a clip lock box, a small screw top tube, a bottle, a magnetic bolt, even a key safe. Our most unusual one was a key safe made to ...

 As is the way these days with streaming services, we can re-watch many of our favourite shows of the past. We call these comfort food tv. Something that is easy, simple, safe and is a welcome back to something your brain has no trouble digesting.  A go to comfort food type show for us is Star Trek - The Next Generation (TNG). As the title of this will suggest to any Trekkies out there we have seen this a few times and this is one of the more famous quotes. I am sure that any Trekkie will understand you if you should these four words at them, and instead of shouting "What are you on about?" They will agree with you (unless they are dressed as a Cardassian at the time) give a smile and maybe a high five.  Fandoms can be such a lovely thing to be a part of. Thousands if not millions of people connected through someone's art form. Appreciating the same things and agreeing to like the same stuff. Just a simple quote four words long is enough to join millions of people togethe...

I don't know about you but my brain goes blank sometimes. Usually when I get asked a question. Something like, what's your favourite film? What's your favourite song? My brain shuts off in those moments like I've never seen a film ever before and no music exists in the world.  The worst is at bed time when your child says Tell Me a Story. I am certain he doesn't want to hear one  that goes "There once was a boy, he went to sleep, The End."  But I now have a strategy for telling a story. It doesn't take too long and as long as you follow the 5 steps I'm going to detail below then you can have a story quiet easily without too much brain fade. You can also get your listener to give you some of the information as well which makes for a tailored story for them.   In school the teachers had a training session regarding story telling and it now seems so easy. It may not be new to some of you but it provided clarity for me. There are a variety of different...

 2020 brought the world to a standstill. Changed many lives and brought many people to change many things about their lives. This isn't a doom and gloom post, I just wanted to write about the possibility to use time wisely. I was (and still am) in an incredibly fortunate circumstance and I was able to actually enjoy time to spend as a family, to learn new things and to contemplate the situation around us.  I decided to learn a new skill as we had time, so I turned my hand to sewing. I hadn't used a sewing machine in 20 years but I knew I wanted something practical, useful to life going forward and something creative ans sewing seemed to fit the bill perfectly.  1st problem.....no sewing machine. Right off to google and YouTube to find a good, simple to use model as this is a new field for me. I spent a few hours reading reviews, yes thats right, HOURS, I found Janome as a good brand for beginners then I was off to Facebook marketplace. Within 3 days I found my now Janome ...

 I have just returned from visiting London with my sister for a couple of days. Usually we would meet up at about the same time and stay together for the most of any visit but this time I had a lot of time to myself and I admit....I loved it.  When you are with someone else there is a sense that you need to keep in with them and some of the travel has to be what they want to do. "Shall we eat here?", "No thanks I'm not keen on burgers". (I'm fairly sure I would drop anyone who thought that but it was an example). "Let's go down here it looks interesting!", "No, my feet hurt and I don't want to walk any more" When you are alone, it's all about what you want. , "Ooh what's down there, let's find out." I'm hungry, I'll eat. I'm tired, I'll pause. Not what someone else wants, not where someone else wants to go or eat. I get to choose everything for myself. I walked my legs off roaming around from ...