What a shambles the evening down at Dean Court was but at least we know a bit more about the set up. Glen has made it to the development centre attached to Bournemouth which acts as a halfway house between the local clubs and the centre of excellence. Over the next months he will be coached on a Friday evening at the David English pitches with a view to either being kept on after a review of released depending on what progress is made. It costs us £25 a month which isn't too bad I guess when it isn't much different for Rossgarth but it does mean he's playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The team will play games on a Saturday very occasionally with the more likely situation of fixtures during school holidays. That will mean trips to Southampton, Ipswich, Charlton and Plymouth amongst others.

How long did it take you to read that? That's how long the meeting needed to last but it went on for an hour and a half!!!! It was so hot and stuffy and boring. Must be what the kids at school put up with.

And we went shopping at Asda afterwards. What has gone wrong with the world?

Glen gets through!!

We got a letter from The Cherries this morning by which I really mean Glen got a letter.
'Congratulations , we are pleased to be able to offer you a place in the under 14 age group within the AFC Bournemouth/Elite Development Centre following completion of your trial period.'
Great news which means we're off to Dean Court on Thursday for an introduction evening. That'll almost count as a crowd for Bournemouth at the moment and he may be playing for the first team by New Year. Who knows, he may get really lucky and get selected for Iscape one day.

Maria's first trip to hospital

Not having been to a hospital for a few weeks we managed to squeeze a visit in this afternoon as she's been referred to a consultant due to initially slow weight gain. However, that seems to be changing now and she's feeding well. It was a good excuse to get her in the car for a ride and I took a few photos including proof that she is smiling properly now. Must have heard Sturrock's back.

Bridie and Maria

We had a lovely weekend with Bridie coming home for a party and she had time to catch up with Maria. There was a party for Jordan's 18th this weekend which we couldn't make with Glen doing his final training session with Elite which could lead to games against Torquay and Plymouth! We should hear during the week.

Oh dear

The final game of the 7 a side season came and went in a distinctly ordinary performance that saw Iscape crushed 6 - 0. That being said, the 11 games have seen us much more organised and difficult to beat with an eventual record of 2 wins, 6 draws and 3 defeats. We were comfortably off the bottom this time round having been one defeat away from the very bottom last time round.

It was a cold (gloves were worn) evening with rain falling steadily as we lined up against a side below us but with more wins. In the end we got thumped. There were some enjoyable moments though with Dave getting an ear bashing from Kev who had crossed at pace for him in the second half when I had mistakenly thought he was shooting for the far corner, whacking the ball hard and fast for a throw. I'm not convinced Kev!

Even more amusing though was the performance of big Doug in goal who lives and dies by his motto of going down early normally but claimed to have forgotten he was in goal when beaten at the near post for the opener. The move was repeated from the other side of the pitch later in the first half leaving Dougie to decide he really would use his hands next time. That being said, he did try and hoof the ball clear later but the ball simply fizzed over his foot and into the net before the striker, if he could be called such, flicked the ball casually to one side in a moment of attempted showboating and the ball trickled into the net. Somehow the keeper claimed to have anticipated the flick.

I can be as harsh on the keeper as I like for the simple reason that in this same week a far worse error was commited at Wembley. There was a time when Scottish keepers were ridiculed but Paul Robinson and Scott Carson have acted bravely to put that to rest forever. They might be out of the tournament but they have helped improve Anglo - Scots relationships through their selfless diplomacy. They are the real heroes. Steve Mclaren, living up to the Mc part, deserves praise too for deciding to give us quiet summer although Russia still nearly managed to mess qualification up.

There is nothing I can say about Ian Holloway though.

Final Skills Assessment

It has been an incredibly busy time with Maria to look after but with work to contend with as well. Thursday was the date for my final assessment for the NPQH Headteacher qualification. I won't know the outcome until after Christmas as there is regional and national moderation to go through but I felt it went well enough. It was certainly an intense day with a number of activities to complete but the location was fantastic. The Haven Hotel is right next to the Sandbanks ferry and the sun was out in a clear blue sky with the sea completely flat.

The day was divided into four parts: -

• group discussion based on information provided in which we had to make a presentation followed by agreed course of action
• written exercise which was an hour long and very difficult to complete in the time available
• role play with a professional actor
• personal interview

It's nice to have it out of the way.

That was followed by a trip back to Southampton for a KS4 celebration evening at Ordnance Survey with exam certificates and prizes awarded. Last night was the third week of Glen's football trials down in Bournemouth. All in all a busy time.

Kingston Lacy again

Just a few photos of the gardens at Kingston Lacy including the house itself, Alison, Andy, Julie and Maria as well as the sunshine.

Kingston Lacy

Alison and I had a visit from Julie and Andy last weekend and took a trip out to Kingston Lacy on Sunday to make the most of the fine weather of late. The Japanese Garden is lovely and the place is looking spectacular with autumn colour resplendent following the lack of rain in recent weeks.
The Sunday lunch at the National Trust restaurant was great too. I'd highly recommend a visit. Reasonably priced too.

Back to school

It's been quite a wrench coming back to work after three weeks off and leaving the family at home. It's also meant an early start to fit in the various jobs before leaving for school. Up at 5.30 to walk the dogs in the dark (and yet still met someone walking their dog!) and getting fire and ashes sorted before leaving to get to school for 7. I've only been back two days and am already knackered.

School has been quite settled while I was away with few developments in the setting up of the new school. I have a meeting this afternoon/evening which is likely to go on for hours to discuss with the other closing school, how we are going to bring the two communities together before the opening of the new school. That follows a meeting with two representatives from the new school providers but I haven't got a clue what they want to talk about.

There are 6 students in inclusion right now, 2 Year 11 who missed a detention last night, a Year 7 who swore at her teacher and 3 from Year 8 for varying reasons. They are working in silence while we listen to the teacher next door shout at her class. It was more fun at home!

Maria has hiccoughs

Last day of paternity leave coming up and back to school tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Maria on my knee and a short video of her waving her arms about and hiccoughing. That is a strange word to spell. Why not just call them hiccups?

Just wanted to post a few photos as a reminder of what the weather's been doing lately. The start of November and it is still shirt sleeves for walking the dogs. We went miles on Saturday and ended up towards Horton again where the skies looked pretty spectacular although all round the rest of the sky was clear blue.

Draw specialists do it again

Iscape pulled off draw number 6 from 10 games in an engrossing encounter last night against the side in second place. A good result which leaves us our usual stumbling block, a final game against a team rooted to the bottom of the division which will probably see us under perform in a time honoured fashion.

Welcoming Dougie and Murph back and missing Matt I, currently celebrating freedom as his case came to a close, we started in what is becoming our standard formation with myself, Dom and Simon at the back, Matt and Dave in the middle and Kev up front, not forgetting Hen in goal. There is no doubt the opposition are a good team and they passed the ball well throughout the game although the final ball never quite came off such was the pressure exerted by the defence made up of everyone bar Kevin who had to toil on his own for much of the match.

Nevertheless one of the best chances came early to us with a through ball freeing Kev one on one with the keeper who blocked well, probably the only decent thing he did all night. A few more shots would not have gone amiss as he frequently looked dodgy. In fact we did take the lead with Murph throwing himself to the ground in the area from a free kick. With a Trill like yell he collapsed just inside the D and Kev smashed home looking as if he had never missed a penalty in his life (boy what a miss it was though!)

The lead held till the last kick of the half. Dom and Matt were left outnumbered on our left and the ball was eventually cut back and hit high into the net despite the despairing lunges of desperate defenders.

The second half followed a similar pattern although Dave seemed a little subdued after getting kicked several times. Clear chances were few and far between but it looked as if our efforts were going to be in vain when a precise passing move sliced us wide apart. Standing on the dead ball line next to the post, the attacker was all set to tap home when he inexplicably mistimed his contact and the ball ran through his legs and out of play. How he missed is beyond me when any contact would have taken the ball over the line.

That was that. Another draw, another match without defeat. We are playing within our limitations and playing well.