Hannah Goes To Brockington and Nat Goes to Lutterworth

Hannah today stated school at Brockington College 

Brockington College is a C of E secondary school located on Blaby Rd in Enderby, Leicestershire. It is in the district of Blaby. The school is a specialist Technology College

The school has been rebuilt for £20m under the Building Schools for the Future scheme. Building started in September 2006, and officially opened on November 5, 2007. It has given a big impact on the surrounding areas.

The school council is also a big part of the school.

The school now has a full size Artificial Grass Pitch. The pitch is sponsored by the FA and local sponsors. It was completed at around the end of 2009.

It admits ages 11–14, being a middle school. It has about 800 pupils. It is a technology specialist school.

The Head teacher is Chris Southall.

It is next to Enderby Leisure Centre, and Danemill Primary School. The M1 is 500 metres to the east, and it is near the B582 Enderby Road.

 Alumni Richard Armitage, actor.

Geoff Peters, broadcaster and DJ.

Nathaniel started at Lutterworth College

Lutterworth College is a large 14–19 non-selective Upper School with a fully comprehensive intake, situated in the rural market town of Lutterworth in district of Harborough in the South Leicestershire countryside. A Specialist Technology and Applied Learning College and Church of England Voluntary Controlled school.

There has been a school on the site since 1880. Lutterworth Grammar School grew from a small boys’ grammar eventually into a large mixed comprehensive school in 1967. In 2006, Governors agreed to change the school's name to Lutterworth College. As the school has grown in size (from around 750 in 1967 to over 2000 today) the site has grown, but remains in its original Lutterworth location.
There are around 2100 students on roll, with around 800 of these being in post-16 education (over 70% of Y11 currently stay on post-16). Numbers are projected to be stable (between 2000-2100) for the next five years, according to the Local Authority. There are two main feeder 11–14 high schools (Lutterworth High School and Brockington College) and also a substantial amount from a third school (Thomas Estley Community College). The intake is above national average attainment, mainly rural Leicestershire (but with increasing numbers of Leicester City suburbs children) The full range of ability is welcomed into the college. About 1400 students come to school by school buses.
The last full Ofsted inspection was in November 2008, under the 2009 framework as a pilot inspection. Overall, the college was judged to be good in all aspects with some outstanding features. Part of the moral purpose of the college is to be judged as “outstanding” in all aspects during the next inspection.

Controversy

An article published by the News of the World newspaper under the headline "It's St. Sinians", on April 29, 2007, revealed that for the four years up to 2007, it handed out 345 morning-after pills to girls at the school. This ranked it one of the highest distributors in the country. The article was followed widely, and covered in the following days by newspapers including the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. However the school defended itself in saying that it runs a "Strictly Confidential" service at the school, which allows students to meet a doctor in school time. The school faced especially strong opposition from pro-life groups, with the UK Life League even publishing the principal's home number and address and compelling people to protest outside it. They have since taken these down, citing that they had moved onto new projects. In the spirit of the school, the students maintained strong support for the head teacher, and the "Strictly Confidential" service.

It later came to light that the "Strictly Confidential" service offered by the school was in fact introduced two years before the current headmaster had begun working there. Furthermore, it was completely controlled by the local doctor's practice, not by the school. Students went on to form a Myspace page dedicated to supporting their headmaster, and hundreds of students signed up. This resulted in the anti-abortion groups' and newspapers' attempts to damage the school's reputation failing, particularly due to widespread local support.

In August 2008, Pat Schofield, an external examinations officer who works at the college, complained about Carol Ann Duffy's poem "Education For Leisure", describing it as "absolutely horrendous" due to its references to knife crime. Duffy responded by writing a poem entitled "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", highlighting the use of violence and stabbings in Shakespeare's plays. In response, Schofield said that she was "gobsmacked" and that she found the poem "a bit weird" as she found much of Duffy's poetry. Many of the school's students resented the decision to remove the poem (having the opinion that it was by far one of the most interesting to examine, and also one of the easiest to compare and contrast with) and felt that Mrs Schofield clearly had only a very basic understanding of poetry. The poem was then replaced.

Notable alumni

• Kid Acne, artist and musician
  
• Richard Armitage, actor
  
• Stephen Biesty, author
  
• Nick Cook, cricketer
  
• Kristyna Myles, musician
  
• Richard Neale, conservative MP
  
• Geoff Peters, broadcaster and DJ
  
• Anthony Thistlethwaite, musician
  
• John_Ashton_(guitarist), musician
  
• Alex Thomas, musician
  
• John_Cooper_(athlete), athlete
  
• Jonnie_Irwin, television presenter
  
• Dawn Bauling, poet, Publisher, Indigo Dreams Publishing Ltd

Tank Mania - Nat and I Go Riding In Some APV's; N8/iPhone Satnavs Go Mental; Nobody in Work, Hasmuhk's Birthday;

		Tank Mania VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This morning Nat and I attended a session at TANK MANIA which was, I'm afraid to say give the cost, somewhat disappointing. Things didn't get off to the best of starts when we arrived at 9:45 (satnav went weird on route too*) and after a painful lorry ride and kitting out then waited until 11:45 in the blazing sun for things to get under way. I managed during that time to make a complete prat out of myself when I climbed a grassy bank to take a photo of the course and when arse over elbow on the way back down when my feet slipped out from under me on the wet turf. Came down hard on right elbow and felt it jar my bad shoulder. luckily no harm down apart from my bruised ego.
There were two problems; 1. Part of the course was still too water logged to use (the APV's [armoured personnel vehicles which is what we were actually going to ride in] were getting bogged down in the mud ... WTF ... Yo UK Army no going to war when it's raining then) so we were going to be limited to where we would be able to ride and 2. One of the vehicles developed a fault which meant that one group (OURS!!!) were going to spend a very uncomfortable time in the back of a military lorry being driven back and forth along a very bumpy track (five times in all).
All that said it was an eye opener and I certainly wouldn't envy 12 soldiers inside one of those things with the hatches down, no seat belts and very limited lighting traversing rough terrain for any length of time. We were stood with hatches up and the ride only just finished in time before Nat chucked his guts. Was touch and go for a minute after we disembarked.
We had two rides ... one on the open road and the other over the assault course. To be bluntly honest I wouldn't go again nor would I recommend it to anyone.

N8/iPhone SatNav

things weren't helped this am when we were on route to Tank mania when both the N8 and the iPhone seemed determined to take us home. Don't know what the hell was going on as I'd planned one route on Nokia maps and downloaded to N8 and the other on Google and downloaded to iPhone. Something was amiss and iphone kept saying compass needed re-orientating so GPS glitch? Eventually aborted routes and found location on map on N8 marked and did the Drive to Here option from currently location. After that it was perfect and guided us to the entrance of the very field we wanted. Twas most strange most strange indeed and I blame the wee pixies ... innit.

Eventually made it home for 2PM rather than 12PM so I shot off to bed to grab a few hours sleep before work tonight. When I arrived our seats were once again occupied by another team (this begins to wear) and while I was in loo Hasmukh called to say he's be late and was in charge tonight and that it was his birthday ... fuck I knew it was 14 August I just didn't realise that today is the 14th!!! Most of our team turned out to be off tonight for various reasons and we were left with just the six of us including Hasmukh. Lets hope it turned out to be a quiet night!!! 

Julie's Sixth Birthday Party

Tonight we went to Abbey Sports and Leisure Club to celebrate Julie B's 60th birthday.

PHOTOS TO UPLOAD

Olympics, Di, San Francisco, Nat Ski Trip, Enders Game, Nat Kndle, iPhone chrome Browser, Orange Wednesday App,

London 2012 continues

UK Medals

Well I’d suggest, a little tongue in cheek it’s true, that the BBC be renamed the BOBC because, since it began last week, they’ve broadcast nothing other than the Olympics and, if I’m being honest, their coverage has been and continues to be amazingly good. As the host nation we have to broadcast everything and the BBC has established an additional 21 channels on which to show everything (21 std and 21 hd). Sports I’ve never even heard of are being covered on either one channel or another and even I, Mr Hate Sports (your fault Dad) , am finding myself being, a little, swept along with it all … plus, for reasons unknown, Deb appears to have set Olympic TV coverage as our default viewing mode.  We are 11 days in and the UK (pop 70 million) is third in the medal table behind USA (pop 300 million) and China (pop 1,500 million) so Team GB  are punching well above their weight at present.

Day 11 of 17 – 20.47 China  31 19 14 = 64  ... USA    28 14 19 = 61 ... UK      18  11 11 = 40

GO TEAM GB GO!!!! OK that’s enough enthusiasm back to good old reliable cynicism.  Whether this will continue is moot L.

Di gets back from San Francisco:

My BFF in the States Dianne has returned, exhausted, from her san Francisco adventure. Apparently the place was fantastic (see photos below) but her kids were something of a pain at times. She finally understands why I said one of my lottery fantasies was travelling ALONE. I’ve got my high tech travel kit all planned out and should be online wherever I find myself and able to speak to whomever I please whenever I want BUT alone; able to chose exactly where it is I want to go. To be able to stop and drink a beer and read a book in a bar somewhere for as long as I want, never to be rushed elsewhere by someone else desires to see something else or be somewhere else now! No, No, No, at my pace at my convenience in my sweet time.

Cannot believe, when I was explaining this to her, how much detail I went into about how I’d be kitted out. Clothes, hat rucksack covered in solar cells, spare batteries sawn into clothing so walking power source. Clothes would actually plug into any available electric outlets in order to recharge batteries while solar cells would endeavour to replenish cells whilst on the move. Loose baggy ventilated Kevlar trousers which seal to super comfortable but water proof fire proof bite proof boots so allowing no creepy crawlies to climb up my inside leg measurement. Waterproof sealed cargo pockets for Kindle and ePad. In fact might be one piece overall style outfit. Again built in batteries and solar cells and built in cell phone and GPS with attached irremovable emergency interfaces so that, in extremis, I’m always able to find out where I am and able to tell someone. A little like those emergency watches that cost about $20,000 and which you get fined for miss using. Basic premise always wearing what one can’t risk losing. Would also make clothes look scruffy in order to blend in and not attract the attention of predators. The one piece could be designed to look like a shirt and pants but a one piece construction, especially if made of protective materials would provide more protection in accidents or dangerous situations. Coat would also be stab/bullet proof and my umbrella (attached to rucksack like the map man) would be one of those special fighting ones () that cost about £200. Wide brimmed sun hat would contain inner lining of Ribcap protection. My very own Earl Dummarest (Dumarest looks like a human wolf. And he wears nondescript, gray clothes, a tunic and pants with steel mesh buried in the fabric of the tunic.) travelling outfit for the modern day.

I’ve just realised Nat went to France skiing in January of this year and he’s still to tell me what he did while he was away … anything to avoid writing, and his friend Brandon still hasn’t remembered to give me a copy of his photos because Nat took about 20 photos, in total, of which over half are blurred (given he was using the Nokia 700 with EDF camera … which should make blurred pictures impossible … how he managed that is anybody’s guess). Not told me anything about holiday at all; think he told Deb but when I was working so asleep during the day. I must ask him before he forgets all about it. Talking of forgetting we must get old vidios transferred off tapes and onto disc and uploaded before they degrade (if haven’t already) beyond saving. These have all the early films of Nat and Hannah and a even some footage of my Daddy shortly before he died.

The other day I was trawling through and trying to organise the thousands of ebooks I have on the PC to see what else I’d like to put on my Kindle when my eye was drawn to some scifi novels written by Orson Scott Card … specifically a series The Ender Saga … an author whom I’ve never read. For whatever reason I decided to give them a try and upon investigation discovered the original novel Enders Game is quiet notorious given that it’s subject matter concerns training young children to become generals and that it’s recommended reading for US marines. It is rather good, so far, and so I passed my Kindle to Nat to check out a page as I thought he’d find it interesting. Well Lo and Behold I didn’t get it back. Yes Nat, the kindle hater, suddenly decided that he really liked this story and that perhaps he wouldn’t mind having a Kindle after all. Maybe get to put all those Warhammer 40,000 books on a Kindle for him plus the thousands of other I have.

I also put the chrome browser on the iPhone for Deb, this being the browser she says she prefers to use, but whether she’ll bother to learn how to use it is moot. Certainly next morning she seemed to go out of her way to not under stand how to use the Orange Wednesday App. Anyway enough for this entry will continue tomorrow. Want to experiment with Dragon dictation and blogger app on the iPhone because I’m seriously tempted to go the iPhone route when I get my next phone. Nokia camera’s still kick arse and I’ll keep the N8 on PAYG SIM if I don’t upgrade to their new 808 PureView but if that happens then the iPhone will become my communication device and the N8 will be for Photography and Music.