Last week I worked every day. This week just the one - and I am the only Museum Education Assistant to work at all this week as we had just the one booking. It is usually like this either side of school holidays - even half-term - which I find rather odd. No school bookings in December I understand perfectly - there is much too much going on in school to have someone invading the school hall for half a day at a time, and the parents have enough calls on their money to be asked to fork out for another outing when taking the children to the local pantomime has already cost everyone a small fortume. But why the lull just before half-term?
Anyway, it was a lovely school - a church school in a biggish village where the caring atmosphere practically jumps out at you as you go through the door, and at playtime and lunchtime all the talk in the staffroom was about the children. I was doing the Egyptian workshop which went down very well as always.
On my way home I went shopping at Tesco in Market Rasen which is not my idea of the perfect end to a day, especially as I was coming home to a bit of a mess as we had a powercut last night so the dishwasher hadn't dishwashed and I seemed to have missed a good deal of the wiping down of kitchen surfaces etc. I caught up with what I could before setting out for work and, having added my breakfast things to the load in the machine, had left it washing away. Well, we have now eaten and I have put away most of the shopping, so I'd best empty the dishwasher before putting the supper things in, and wiping down where it shows. What was it someone said about a woman's work? I could be watching the footie, but it's only Fulham so I'm not really bothered.
lizdavies
I think it's because when you've gone to the expense of having a trip to support the curriculum, a teacher wants time to follow up on it in class before the freshness has worn off in the children's minds. Most schools will timetable a trip fairly early on in a topic, to trigger off interest - if that's not possible, they still don't really want it as the finale, or just before a holiday, when all the excitement might be wasted in terms of firing the imagination for literacy etc., because of other things happening in between.