Finn has a taste of P1

It was Finn's P1 Induction Evening on Thursday at which we found out who his teacher would be and who would be in his P1 class. Mrs. Henry will be his teacher. "She shouts sometimes," was Sean's only remark on her. Finn's class has most of the children from his nursery class that he plays with, principally Zoe and Rory and also Evan and Ethan and Patrick and Rosie. We're quite pleased with the allocation but they'll have to re-do them all at the end of P1 as the three P1 classes will be amalgamated into two P2 classes.

On Friday, Finn had his P1 taster morning. He lined up in the dining hall and trotted off quite the thing with his classmates and new teacher to spend the morning in the P1 classroom. His class, comprising mostly pre-schoolers, were used to the routine and the surroundings of the school but some of the non-pre-school children were a little tearful, without there being any great dramas. Finn enjoyed his morning and made a butterfly. He also received his pre-school report in which he is described as quiet but a good contributor to discussions who uses good vocabulary. He is able to recognise numbers up to 20 and count up to 35, knows his letter sounds and likes to choose books to look at. Finn has an enquiring mind, which I'd say is true, preferring to observe things and try to work out why they are happening. Maybe he is a scientist in the making, although he told me when we were chatting at Seven Acre Park near Alnwickhill at the weekend that he wanted to be a hairdresser. Hair By Finn. He might have to sort his own out first!

Sean had his report too and it is generally very good, comprising "skilled" ratings in his reading, writing and maths (and art & design, though I may challenge that - his creativity and speed aren't quite matched by his execution!) and "competent" ratings in other disciplines. His effort was rated as "very good" for everything and he is cited as being excellent at working and playing with others in his class.

I wonder how Rowan and Angus will match up? Rowan will start pre-school after Christmas. It hit me the other day that by the time Angus is Sean's age, I'll be pushing fifty! Better not think too far ahead - it's not good for me!

My achievement for my week off work, apart from welcoming Angus into the world and keeping the rest fed and watered, was to get the back hedges cut and the clippings (branches, boughs and prickly leaves more like) to the dump. It's always a chore and I'm glad when the first, big cut of the season is behind me.