Ofsted

 BigA and I had a splendid Saturday, a proper date day, a delicious lunch followed by a comedy show, podcast thing and then drinks, where we hobnobbed with the stars. I have the selfies to prove it. Then home at a reasonable hour in time for me to fall asleep on the sofa. 

The next day, despite intending to do almost nothing, we both set off to Enfield to watch Adam (Sal and Si's son) play a bit of rugby and have a cup of tea with Sally. And then home for some much needed sofa time and a nap and out again to celebrate Ebony's birthday that evening. I was extremely sensible and just had orange and lemonade. Ready for a working week. It's sad in some ways that I'm already counting down the days until I leave. Working out how many times I have to teach that class and work out if I will need to be there many evenings. Happily only 2 from what I can tell. And with the other news of the week, it should be even fewer. I know this isn't a great sign. And many of my lessons are fine now. More than when I began, but I really dislike not loving my lessons. 

Then on Tuesday it felt like the strangest 10 minutes - finding out that I had an appointment about my kidney the next day and that Ofsted would be in my current school the following day too. You can guess which I felt was the most important. I was off school as I was doing day one of my 4th cycle of the NPQH. I read the necessary emails and watched the video the Head sent out. And frankly I wasn't remotely bothered by the Ofsted news. I didn't get seen by either of the inspectors and now no one wanted to talk to me, so I simply benefitted from the students being a little better behaved than normal and the lack of any other focus that week. From what we have been told, the inspection went well and the school will most likely remain 'good' which further tells me that Ofsted is a waste of time and the judgements are, at best, misleading for parents. Many of the girls told me that the other teachers were acting weird. Some commenting that they have never seen some of their teachers being so nice. It's not that I would wish going into a 'category' on any school. I don't think it makes anything better as you don't get much in the way of support, but it all feels like a waste of money and time. At least the school leadership can now relax a little and stop the panic that pervaded each decision they seemed to be making. Perhaps now they will be willing to be more strategic and plan for the long term and not for the fear of an Ofsted visit next week. 

The appointment at Guys about my kidney was good too, not quite what I was led to believe was the plan, a few days in hospital and an odd sounding procedure, with them blowing me up like a balloon to create the space for the robot to do its thing. The surgeon we spoke to explained that with almost any operation they say 4 to 6 weeks recovery. But certainly week one I need to take things very easy and then week 2 gentle exercise and no lifting. The oddest likely symptom is shoulder tip pain, caused by the gas they puff me up with. I'll end up with 6 scars, the biggest having to be the size of the tumour, about 3cm, they have to get it out whole. He said they don't want any cancer cells seeding on the way out. I agreed. Now the wait for an MRI and then the date, they said they are aiming for mid December. 

Despite the external factors I had a lovely week, most likely because I wasn't working Tuesday or Friday. I saw my old work husband, Phil, where we watched the delayed fireworks from the school over the road from him and had popcorn and decaf coffee. And it's M's birthday and we have insisted she stay this morning to open presents before she heads off to be with her aunty, cousins and gran for the rest of the weekend. She is feeling very special and very much part of the family, thanks to the cards and gifts. We agreed to wake her up and do gifts, as has become a family tradition. She was delighted with them all.

We went out for sushi last night for her birthday meal, one of her favourite types of food. It was really lovely food wise but the atmosphere in the restaurant itself was eager strange and cold. But very nice to eat something I would never make and rarely eat. M loved it, such was the point. 

This was after the girls had their first volleyball tryout. BigA and I are very keen for them both to get involved in some team sports, we very much miss the ease of this access in Malawi. They loved it and I've agreed to be a adult supervisor in the new year. 

We heard too that the Kwacha devalued by 44% this week. It will have a huge negative impact on everyone there. I worry about that and what it means for the longer term future of the country and of course my heart hurts for the impact on my old school. It will be almost impossible to attract staff who will not see the wages as worth the trials and tribulations that come with living in Malawi. I suspect many staff will have to think very hard about if it makes sense to stay.