The evening news.

First, the main stories this evening:

• Rose completes her first school placement in the NE
• Glasgow: the ideal city break.
  
• Snow causes disruptions to the train service
• An uncertain future: Will the trip to France take place after all?
  

Good evening. Last Friday marked the end of a 6 week placement working alongside KS1 staff and pupils, in which Rose passed her 33 standards and received her first reference. She succeeded in teaching despite many challenges, not least the challenge of manning the fort when the normal class teacher could not make it, due to snow and icy conditions on the roads. The arrival of snow led to an excitable end to the placement, and the unfortunate cancellation of a planned trip to the toy museum. It is not over completely, however, as Rosemary is due back into the school on Wednesday to teach the year 1 Christmas songs during PPA cover. It was going to happen.

This weekend involved the most breathtaking train journey from Newcastle up to Glasgow, via Edinburgh. The landscapes were amazing, the complementary tea and orange juice in first class equally so. Oh tea in the warmth of the carriage whilst the blizzards and waves hurl themselves against the racing earth.
The city break was a welcome change after the hectic few weeks of planning, preparing resources, planning some more, filling out forms and standards, setting up, teaching, disciplining, marking, modifying plans again... (sleep and eating were fitted around these things as and when time allowed).

The sheer amount of snow did cause a set back to the weekend however, and national rail and bus services suffered delays of up to several hours. Journey times were also extended by the need to assist those foolish enough to take to the roads in their cars by pushing them up some slippery slopes!

Finally, it would appear that the trip to France (originally planned for the first week in January) is to go ahead, despite claims that the recent changes to French teacher-training programmes leave no room for Anglophone students. As yet, there is no confirmation of the exact destination for the 10 students concerned, but we hope to find out more within the next week.

Now it's over to the weather.

outlook in the NE: snow, cold, snow, cold.

The weather in pictures: