Sian

Hoping for an improvement next week!!!

Almost half way 😏

Thanks to all who have provided support and advice - most welcome and appreciated. Always happy to learn from others experiences.

The #parkrun phenomenon It was much easier getting my 3 children out this morning than any other day this week: Shorne Woods parkrun birthday. There were supposed to be two, but at last minute we had an extra addition. Gwennan (5) announced she was going to do her first parkrun! And Nia, assuming this was too slow for her, opted to volunteer rather than run. But first were the points prizes: Isaac (13) 1st in Juniors and me 3rd in ladies! Then, with Gwennans help, I did the new runners briefing and we headed to the back. So I was expecting a leisurely 45min 5k with my youngest. But she was off and it wasn't long before I was encouraging her to slow down. Still, after the first lap she would slow down. Or perhaps retire? We did walk occasionally. But mostly it was jog and sprint. And I could see her energy dip on the last km. But 32.36 was a fab first attempt - and left me wondering how on earth I will manage when she is 10! In the meantime, Nia handed out spot prizes and Isaac got a pb finishing 5th. We stayed for take-down and in the cafe enjoyed the impromptu presentation to Jonathan - chief RD - from his running club while sorting out the tokens for next week. And the best bit - we get to do it all again tomorrow at juniors!

Today is #OurDay follow the conversation to learn more about how #localgov delivers the services you value http://thndr.me/cjFUJD

A long time ago (half a lifetime) I completed a PhD in biotech (Manchester University) following a biochem BSC (Cardiff). After a year postdoc I worked in an SME (Biocatalysts Ltd). Then joined the civil service: drinks policy and science at FSA. I have been here ever since. A range of roles including science governance, leading one of the social science teams and Secretary to a Scientific Advisory Committee. My current post is as head of Information Management - leading our Information Governance and Security team, Data team and Data Science team. In addition I am a recent convert to running (not very far or very fast), do lots of open data stuff and of course love good food!

Fortunately we have enough blackberries for more tomorrow and the next day. And probably the next week and some jam!

Sailing through the Great Bristol 10k - or something like that! I was in Bristol at the weekend - for Open Data Camp. But as part of the organising we considered the impact of the Bristol 10k on the Sunday start time - and as we did I had the idea that I should run. My first 10k race, although I am a regular parkrun fanatic - well, I have done 39 runs going almost every week since I started running last summer. So I signed up. My Open Data colleagues think I am a little strange - maybe they are right. But having mostly recovered from a cold over the last week I went to bed early on Saturday night and arose on Sunday ready to give it my best shot. As I left my hotel I happened upon a couple, clearly running in the race and sporting logos of a running club in Medway, near where I live. It was lovely to have something in common with someone else planning to run the race. As I am not a member of a running club they suggested I join theirs - runners are a friendly bunch. Then on to the start line. Here a met an amazing young lady who had overcome a number of obstacles to get to the start. She told me how her anxiety meant that getting to events was really difficult and a mixture of the closed roads and an unforgiving sat-nav had caused her much difficulty. Despite this she was friendly, kind and pleased to be with someone else on their own at such a large event. We supported each other in advance of our start - I was very grateful for her advice. It seems somehow appropriate that I am writing this in mental health awareness week - a fitting tribute to her courage on Sunday morning. In no time we were off. The start was well organised if busy. But not so crowded that it was impossible to run comfortably. And I made good progress over the first few km. Little did I know this was because it was mainly shady and just the start. Between 3 and 4 km a lady from about 4 miles outside Bristol took a nasty trip. A young man and I helped her up - she seemed OK and so I ran with her for a km. She had hurt her hand / wrist and had a nasty graze on her shoulder but having assured me she was OK she increased her pace and was off. From 4K I found the heat more noticeable and so adapted my strategy to motivate myself. From 4-6k I imagined running with Gwenni, my 5 year old. Near the end of the stage I was grateful for the bottle of water and at 6k I left Gwenni behind and started with my Nia (9) accompaniment. Usually it is me encouraging Nia to run more, it was a but strange imagining her encouraging me on. The final 2k I ran with my son Isaac - a competent runner who does (very occasionally) run alongside me and encourage - otherwise he is well ahead! Just after 8k I was really disappointed to overtake superman. A note to all of you superhero runners out there - while it is fine to be overtaken near the start, it is a bit disheartening once the going gets tough - this is when we are most in need of belief in your powers. My expectation was that you would be enouraging me to go faster - not the other way round! But encouragement came from a strange source - lots of ‘’go Mum’’ from the children in the crowd and a lovely lady encouraging her friend for the last km or so. If that was you, I imagined you were speaking directly to me - and it along with Taylor Swift (I know) got me over the finish line! I completed my first 10k in 57.31minutes. I am proud of the achievement and although it didn't feel like I sailed round - my sore legs were well worth the experience. But despite having been the recipient of a number of invites for further 10ks since completing Bristol, I have not signed up from another one. Yet! Thanks to Drawnalism for the amazing artwork and Lucy (@jargonautical) for the finish photo

It's Mental Health Awareness Week! Good relationships are fundamental to our mental health and wellbeing #MHAW16 http://thndr.me/SPEQ8M

I attended the school ‘helping your child to read’ meeting hosted by Mr Clayton and Miss Lowe last Thursday. I attended the later of the two meetings. If you were at the earlier one and anything was different / you have something to add, please do. Why read? Develop verbal abilities Improve focus and concentration Enjoy the arts and improve the world Improves imagination Makes you smarter Makes you interesting (and attractive?) Reduces stress Improves memory To discover and create yourself For entertainment (because it's fun) Phonics Phase 1 - home / nursery Phase 2 - sound talk Sound out separate phonemes and then blend together. Learn the phonemes (sounds) for the graphemes (letters) Jolly phonics in reception will remember the letter by sight and the phonemes Phase 3- focus on digraph Phase 4 - adjacent consonants Phase 5 - year 1 alternative ways of representing the same sound alternative sounds (cow and loud) Phase 6 - fluent reading High frequency words listed in handout and presumably sent home as I have them for my daughters year. At home, reading - sound out unfamiliar words, re-read to check it makes sense, use picture clues, ask questions and enjoy. School uses synthetic phonics - keen for parents to use the same approach. It is mmmmmm rather than muh. Guided reading - groups of 6 children reading with an adult with a particular focus. Always a specific reading outcome. Day two will be a specific follow up task related to the previous day. The following day focuses on grammar and punctuation. On the 4th day an unfamiliar text is used and on the fifth day - free reading for enjoyment. This ensures that every child reads to a teacher every week. Won't necessarily communicate (e.g. in contact book) that your child has read every week. Reading policy changes Year 2-6 books will be changed when the children have finished the book. In year 1 books will be changed on Mon / Wed / Fri and reception on Mon / Thursday. This improves ‘practice’. Repetition allows transition from decoding to what the words mean and the implication for the story. Banding - changed in line with new nationally recognised banding system. Have a reading scheme that develops skills. This should provide appropriate challenge and progress. Children are ready to move up a band when they read 90% of the book accurately. How can we help at home? Some prompts provided in the handout. Could google too. I did not find this on the website but I think it was sent to parents. Reading Eggs / Reading Eggspress On trial for two weeks. Feedback from parents - usefulness etc. Set tasks and do set work as well as learning through play. Take home message for me. Read with your child at every opportunity - books, papers, signs, labels, instructions and for fun!

Juggling, Balance and #giveitago It makes me think of Dr Seuss “That is what the cat said…. Then he fell on his head! He came down with a bump From up there on the ball. And Sally and I, We saw all the things fall!” (The Cat in the Hat) Of course, I have children and my #giveitago started 10 years ago when I got agreement to work flexibly. Since then I have been supported to work two days a week from home. And my subsequent decisions have, I suppose, taken this for granted. Let me explain. Usually I get three reasonably clean, fed and mostly happy children to school on time and with their homework complete. I usually start work within a few minutes of the schedule (depending on SouthEastern of course) and rarely run out of essentials (read toilet rolls, milk). Two days a week I have the added benefit of no commute and take my girls to school and pick them up. It makes me more like the other Mums which is important to my kids. And means I can sort out issues and engage in playground discussions. Twice a week anyhow. The glossy ‘according to the description’ perspective. Then sometimes things go wrong. Kids are ill, trouble at school, issues at work and keeping it together is more challenging. This is where flexible working comes into its own. If I need to take someone to the GP, see the school or similar, there are at least a couple of days a week where this could work. On those days I can get my groceries (including toilet rolls, milk) delivered if I need to. I can arrange after school activities for my kids and they benefit from normal stuff - like eating as a family, time for reading and talking, playing at home. So what is the point of the blog? Surely no issues with #giveitago? Well actually, yes. For me it is not #giveitago - it is reality. I have made life changing decisions on this basis and take for granted the fact that I need to get the job done, independent of whether I am in the office or at home. What is important is that I make effective use of the time I spend working. I have no real concern about others #giveitago trials but please forgive me if I am not really interested in your cat or the cafe that you have decided to go to today. My job has changed many times in 10 years. But every day I am grateful for my organisations flexible approach - as I try “and remember that Life’s A Great Balancing Act” (Oh, the places you’ll Go, Dr Seuss) And if you haven't guessed, my youngest is going through a Dr Seuss phase!

I went to Malling ParkRun this morning. I try and run most weeks - Shorne Woods is my ‘home’ run but the bad weather meant that it was cancelled because of the wind (first time in 3 years - dont want to leave you with the impression we are wimps at Shorne Woods!). So I became a ParkRun tourist and went to Malling. At 6am, despite the forecast the weather was not too bad. At 8.30, however, I tied my running shoe laces as the sleet was came down thick and fast. Sideways. The drive took longer than normal and the sleet persisted as I got the carpark ticket. Under the gazebo in the freezing cold there were lots of familiar faces - amazing how many people you can fit when necessary. The wind made the pre-run briefing tricky - but none of the runners minded the brevity - it was freezing! Then we were off. My mega-device failure (due to having no feeling in my fingers) meant that I had no idea about time and had my headphones in backwards in my left ear. After about half of the first lap the weather improved and gradually the feeling returned to first my right and then my left fingers. Concurrently my feet numbed as the squelched from all the puddles. Shortly after my music gave up and I was left to endure about the last km in silence other than my gasping breaths and hammering heart. Not sure I have ever been so glad to get to the end - chased on by the gathering clouds and threat of a further freezing. I met my personal challenge (under 30 mins) and proceeded home thankful that I had indeed made the effort. But the most enduring thought since is the dedication of the volunteers. I am always appreciative of their efforts. But the people doing the hard work in horrible conditions this morning at Malling were heros. Thanks to all of you, my zen is in tact for the weekend. Final observation: almost half running today were first timers at Malling. Certainly more than half of those running do not have 'Malling’ as their 'home’ ParkRun. Hardcore enthusiasts or the ParkRun dependent mob? Who knows. But ParkRun tourism was a great experience - try it sometime. Sarah ParkRun -volunteer today and starring in the photo which you no doubt recognise - credit duly given :-) From the Malling ParkRun flickr group.

Last year the Department for Education changed the requirements for the assessment of children in primary school (years 1-6 but not reception). The new focus is on deeper and more secure learning. This should be accompanied by a reduction in 'labelling' as well as comparisons with other children. It should also address diversity within levels - previously there has been emphasis on moving children on through levels rather than depth of teaching. Cuxton schools are working within primary first trust to develop a new assessment system. Working across the trust enables moderation and evaluation and also has been useful in testing the approach. An assessment for Learning Sheet has been created for reading, writing and maths for each year. Teachers use this sheet to assess what each child knows and where any gaps are. Content of curriculum has moved down a year (broadly) so old year 3 work is now in the year 2 curriculum. Key performance indicators are included in the levels. These have been identified as key by central government. Other statements also included. Children are assessed as B, B+, W, W+, S and S+. These are the progress steps. Children have to meet specific criteria to meet individuals steps. The expectation is that every child will achieve 6 steps progress each year. S is expected and S+ is exceeded for any given year. Exceeding is being able to apply all of the steps in a problem solving context for maths for example. For writing this includes the ability to use e.g. adjectives across a range of writing genres. Introduction of the new curriculum last year means that there are gaps. So some children will be workng below their year group at the moment. For example, year 4 maths is that all children will know 12 x table. Each child have a target ladder and parents should expect there to be gaps in their child's knowledge because of the transition to the new system. If your child is not where they need to be, there will be gap filling. Children have to be able to make stepwise progress and children ( and staff) will know what the steps are because these will be in the back of each child's reading, writing and maths book. Using the baseline information collected since the start of term a target each for reading and writing and two targets for maths have been identified. At the start of each term there will be a target setting week. At the end of the week the targets will be sent home. Children will have a role assessing when targets are met. Target setting week will result in newsletter written by each child with assessment ambassadors and a letter home explaining levels for your child. Tests In year 2 there will be a formal test. No time limit but suggested lengths. 2 reading tests - both for all children but an easy and hard paper. 3 maths papers - two normal and an arithmetic paper. Papers get harder as you progress through them. Finally a spelling, grammar and punctuation test.Spelling test and a punctuation and grammar test. In year 6 tests are timed. Maths is similar to year 2 - timed arithmetic paper (35 questions in 30 mins but with no verbal component) and 2 reasoning papers - some of these are 2-3 step problems. There is one reading paper one getting progressively harder. A spelling then grammar and punctuation test with very challenging content -the school is Developing a glossary for parents and teachers. Rising stars tests are being introduced for other year groups to provide practice for the children in other years. They have set 6 tests across the year and from next term all children will sit tests each term for practice. At the end of year 6 you will get a letter from the Department for Education stating whether you child has achieved the standard. The Department for Education is setting up a working party to decide what the 'pass mark' is. Staff from Cuxton have volunteered to be part of this working party. There is no link between this and 11+. Notes: I have tried to replicate information provided at the meeting without introducing any personal views. Happy to take any questions but these may be best addressed to school.

Looking forward to Open Data Camp 2 in Manchester over the weekend. Pulled out some photos (my faves) from Sasha Taylor's great Flickr collection (the rest are here https://flickr.com/photos/50129408@N06/sets/72157648627604004 - thanks Sasha). So for me getting ready is: getting some data together to get views on wondering about open data and IoT - lots to learn and great people to learn from organising my fab husband so that our three children and he make it through (believe me, he has drawn the short straw here as it includes being in two places at once - twice!) remembering to pack chargers and all the other things I usually forget Being very excited about meeting colleagues - particularly co-organisers - who I hangout and e-mail but rarely see. And looking forward to meeting the attendees. Its going to be a great weekend. Hope to see you there.

Organisers Patrick Callahan, Carl Davis and Francesco D'Orazio Presenters Azeem Azhar Chris and Chris from the Guardian and Alisdair Rae

I would not consider myself overly risky, and as an every day passenger on Southeastern I have developed a useful habit over 10+ years of the final check: nothing left where I was sitting. But this post is not about a Southeastern service, but a journey on Virgin East Coast - Newcastle to London Kings Cross earlier this week. It started in a usual enough manner - train before delayed so busier than I expected. Had to ask someone to move out of my seat (#4) which was opposite the luggage rack. I got myself settled: laptop out to do some work, home phone to talk to my kids, work phone and i-pad mini for fiddling. After all it was a 3 h journey. Luggage rack was full so I hoisted my overnight case and rucksack onto the overhead shelf. It was a carriage full of wanderers. It seemed like everyone was passing my seat and so I transferred my belongings into the middle of the table and moved as far in from the aisle as I could. One young woman kept on wandering. She looked unwell and I thought that she was probably staying close to the toilet, always with her buffet bag. The journey progressed and the same woman was back and fore, back and fore. At one point I asked her if she was OK - the reply "I'm a bit dizzy". I suggested she went back to her seat. Which she did for a few minutes. About two hours in someone in my carriage identified they had lost their phone. We all looked round for it and a few of us were sure that we had heard it ringing a few minutes earlier. Following the search two passengers who were particularly enthusiastic it find it, crawled along the carriage floor to see if it had fallen under the seats. Still to no avail. Around this time a few passengers suggested that the wandering woman may have put it in her bag. So the lost phone owner went and asked. Of course, the answer was no but he was not convinced! A few minutes later a man came back from the next carriage with the phone - from the second seat that seemed to be occupied by the wandering woman. It suddenly occurred to me that the appeal of the luggage rack may not have been the proximity of the toilet but the fact that there was access to other people's belongings. I mentioned this to a man near me who's case was in the rack - his perspective was that if anyone wanted his dirty washing, provided this did not include his limited edition Ronaldo shirt, they were welcome to it. A few minutes later the man who retrieved the phone came back into the carriage with a Ronaldo shirt retrieved from the toilet bin. This prompted a mass checking of belongings - the list of missing items grew and grew with a number of people providing their contact details to the guard. At this stage the toilets were also locked and an announcement was made about the train being met by the police. On arrival at Kings Cross we did not disembark immediately and on my exit from the platform the wandering woman remained on the train, accompanied by the British Transport Police - wandering no more. And the point of the blog: the mans phone was right by him on the seat, the Ronaldo shirt started as a joke. If you leave your belongings in the luggage rack make sure you lock the case and don't leave anything of value. You never know who may be wandering round the carriage while you are minding your own business. And next time can I book my seat in a non- wandering carriage please?

Yesterday, I co-hosted a seminar at Newcastle University. Part of the ESRC funded seminar series on Food Options, Opinions and Decisions (FOOD). It was interesting - although I guess I would say that. So I thought I would write this to let you judge for yourself. As you might expect, my musings are from a food safety perspective. The first speaker, Prof Paul Rozin from the University of Pennsylvania, was a great presenter. He started by asserting that psychologist have not dedicated a lot of time to researching food as their priorities (for research I presume) are sex and sleep. The context for the presentation was set out as including an aging population, in the western world food surpluses and more energy dense food than ever before, and the provision of a dearth of information about food in the absence of the necessary skills to interpret risk and benefit. Paul presented some really interesting ideas and findings from his research about images: people choose not to eat chocolate shaped as a dog turd even when they know it is chocolate; choose not to drink water with a cyanide label even when they know it is water; indeed even choose not to drink water labelled with a 'this is not cyanide' label! Finally, people do not like to choose unlabeled chocolates from an assortment but like it less when they are presented with bites taken out even though you can see the variety with this approach. The hierarchy of food choice was presented as: availability, cost, taste then convenience and health of equal importance. Recycled water, eating insects grown on faeces and ensuring that pudding is included as it signals the end of a meal were also provided as examples which could confer a benefit. Using a great example of 'tongs vs spoons' we were introduced to ways that changing the food environment is an easier mechanism to effect change than striving for behaviour change per se. Paul was an advocate of small 'nudges' to encourage desirable changes. The second speaker, Prof Louise Dye from the University of Leeds, provided some great examples of the unintended consequences of the transition to a higher fibre diet. She presented an interesting example of social desirability bias of food recall: I definitely did not drink most of the half a bottle of wine, that was the other participant! Have you ever considered the effect of the shape of the toilet on your familiarity with your stools? And what does normal poo look like anyway? The estimated cost to the economy of constipation is £127m per annum. And that is waste that is certainly not as good as down the toilet! I had not appreciated the enhancement in cognitive ability associated with children eating breakfast. As a working Mum, breakfast consumption is non- negotiable as this is sometimes the only meal that I am there for with my kids. Fortuitous that there is a growing body of evidence that breakfast is good but it could be that most interventions analysed were in breakfast clubs in schools so the children who attend are in the right place to learn. The final presenter was Prof Peter Jackson, University of Sheffield who presented 'consumer choice' framed through social practice. This is a move away from individual responsibility and considers food as a practice that bundles with other practices: where changing one thing is unlikely to be effective because of the context of the associated activities. Peter explained how mealtimes have changed over the last 5 decades. And that as practices vary so do attitudes. An important consideration of how people integrate food into their life is how they deal with the fallout - when things change or go wrong and normal practices are impacted. However, Peter reminded us that practice theory will not provide a blueprint for behaviour change, presumably because of the implications of the other activities in those practice bundles. This was an interesting and well received afternoon of engaging presentations. We did broadcast the presentations by Periscope on Twitter, with viewers throughout. And if there is an interest in future seminars, we will do this for future seminars: the next of which is on 21st January in Banbury.