Goodbye Danesmore…

So Jordan has just finished school for the last time. The school is closing, well technically it’s ‘federating’ and then ‘merging’ with another school, but to all intensive purposes it’s closing – many of the pupils and staff are leaving, and while everyone has been celebrating the good the school has done, there’s a distinct bad taste left in everyone’s mouth after the way Wolverhampton City Council have dealt with matter and treated not only pupils and parents, but also their employees – the staff.

The last few days have been very emotional for a lot of people, what with all the end of year events now being end of..forever events. We went to see the production of ‘Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat’ which was really good, and a lot of fun – the following night was the leavers disco (normally only for the top year who are going to secondary school – but this year open to all), where a few of the parents sipped the vodka and coke they’d snuck in while the kids ran riot ;-)

Overall the last week has been really good fun, if a little sad – Steph has been pretty upset, but I think she’ll be ok…it’s just going to take some time for it all to sink in after having fought to stop this happening for so long. Jordan has been on edge today, so I’m fully expecting tears before bed time – or shortly after!

Looking to the future, we’ve been able to secure Jord a place at another school (of our choice) which is *almost* as near as Danesmore, and having met the head teacher we’re hopeful he’ll settle in there relatively quickly after the summer holiday, our first impression was a good one. He seems quite happy to be going to a new school (even though “Danesmore is the best school in the world ever”), we were worried he’d be distraught about leaving, but ironically the one good thing to come out of the prolonged process that was the closure/merger debacle is that he’s had a long time to get used to the idea that he may have to change school – so hopefully it’s affected him less because of this.

So now the ‘6 weeks’ holiday begins – Jord is away for the first 3, then he’s back here and we’re planning a big BBQ for all his friends, and maybe even a teacher or two!

I think in a week or two the tears over the school will subside and people will be looking back with smiles, and to the future…

[tags]Danesmore Park,Wolverhampton,Education,School Closure,Wolverhampton City Council[/tags]

Saturday 14th July, 2007

Today has been a very relaxed and laid back Saturday. I woke up to find Steph already out of bed and downstairs, and before long Jordan woke up and joined me in bed while I tried to wake up properly. I eventually dragged myself out of bed as Steph’s Mom and Dave arrived for breakfast. We drank tea and ate Bacon sandwiches while they read Jordan’s school report (he aced pretty much everything).

After one set of grandparents left we walked down to see another set, as Steph wanted to give her Grandad as unused digital camera we had after he lost his on holiday. The camera was gratefully received, and we were plied with more tea and talk for the next hour and a half. Elderly people (not that I’d call them that to their faces) amuse me at times – conversation with any of Steph’s family usually consists of a good deal of sarcasm, piss taking and general joking – so it’s always fun. Steph and I exchanged a few grinning glances as the Grandparents showed us their ‘ghost’ photos taken on holiday; these were really just poor quality camera-phone photos where the light appeared to take on what could be described as the human form…especially if you’re 70+ and not wearing your glasses ;-)

We walked home via the shops and Steph purchased some more gardening paraphernalia (she’s on a mission) – Jordan and I opted for ice cream and a comic (his, not mine). By the time we got home the lack of sleep during the night had caught up with Steph so she went for a lie down while I did the dishes – the culmination of a BBQ and us all being out for two days meant the kitchen resembled a bomb site. By the time I’d finished listening to Biffy Clyro’s latest album ‘Puzzle’ in it’s entirety the kitchen was pretty much restored to it’s formed glory, but as I type Steph is destroying it again!

Before long the door was being knocked and Jordan’s crew came round – he currently has a gang of friends who live locally and they all like coming to our house for some reason, not that it’s a problem – it reminds me of growing up in my parents house…now I know how they felt!

Steph has spent all afternoon and evening in the kitchen baking bread, biscuits and flapjack, mmm! I’m currently sitting on the bench in the garden, beer in hand, cat beside me, blogging while Steph plays with her new green house…set to the dulcet tones of Weezer’s ‘Blue’ album!

[tags]Saturday,Blogging,Relaxing,Family,Friends,Relaxing,Baking[/tags]