More hills, peaks and valleys?

Looked out of the window this morning and there was today's blip. It needed capturing quickly as I knew it wouldn't last very long.

Back to regular things again today after the epic visit to the Lake District. At the primary school, where I'm a governor, for most of the day for two meetings in preparation for the up coming governors' meeting. We're awaiting to be tipped the Ofsted black spot which has been hanging over us for months now. Surely it is wrong to have the threat of Ofsted, and it is a threat, hanging over a school for months? It is counter productive, people focus on the impending visit, perhaps to the detriment of more important stuff that needs to be done.

The school, has accumulated barrowloads of data which will be used to defend its position, but this too is counter-productive as we all flounder trying to understand and interpret yet another method of weighing a pig. To me Ofsted is based too much on a data rich diet and is intellectually bankrupt and oppressive. What other profession would stand for such a regime?

It is the schools' 100th anniversary this year and yet one teacher was overheard saying that she hoped the preparation time involved with planning for this event didn't get in the way of learning time. Now I know this could be intergrated into the teaching plans anyway but it seems to me that this singleminded focus on achievement and Ofsted's malignancy dulls the mind and strangles creativity.

But apart from that, the day was good. Went for a run when I got back. Walking muscles don't help the muscles used for running as I felt leaden from early on in the run.  We did go for a 5  mile walk in the evening and those muscles felt great.