OK – I know these dancing horses are, in fact, giraffes but they did start their lives as horses – and here is the proof. I didn’t know that Echo and the Bunnymen’s song of the same name was actually written for the film “Pretty In Pink”. I do love the song and the film but I don’t recall the song in the film at all.

I think these three creatures are exquisitely beautiful – they were made by a member of staff at our school whose talents are clear to see. I walked into this classroom and they were standing in a line and they match my world so well that they make a great metaphor for my day. I’ve had a few moments of sleep since yesterday morning and what I’ve had was fragmented and hallucinatory. These beasts have visited me in the night many times over.

It’s been the our school federation’s sleepover following the day at the adventure park. We’ve had approximately 50 children sleeping in the forest in tents and another fifteen in rows in their classroom. The smaller children slept inside while their older peers and siblings slept in the forest. We’d erected a huge number of tents but in the event, many didn’t get slept in because the children dragged their bedrolls out and they slept under the stars. Not that they could see many stars because the moonlight was so bright. We had slow cookers running all day yesterday while we were out at the leisure park and after getting back, erecting the tents and sorting out sleeping arrangements we fed the 60+ children bolognaise or veggie sauce with pasta and cheese, then they toasted marshmallows around the fire pit and played their hearts out until they dropped. Most had gone to bed by 10pm and we kept watch until the camp was mostly quiet – around 11.30pm. BUT the combination of an endless stream of children making their way to the toilet, sudden bursts of laughter from tents or piles of children outside, a helicopter moving slowly over us at 3.30am and general watchfulness to ensure the safety and comfort of our children didn’t make for restful sleep.

This morning, I got up at 5.30am, starting my shift with making steaming jugs of hot chocolate for cold children, then onto feeding what felt like five thousand for breakfast, then taking down the camp, clearing up, feeding the slightly smaller band of children at lunchtime (our federation’s other school had left by lunchtime) and entertaining the children until their grateful parents arrived to transport the muddy, weary and happy children home this afternoon.

I’ve barely had time to catch my breath but after two months of building terror about these two days I can report that I have survived and even enjoyed the ordeal. Now though? I NEED rest!