*halloween come early*

It was the last session of Rainbows before half-term tonight, and there isn't a meeting the first Monday that the children are back at school, so this was the night for their Halloween party - ooooohhhhh, the excitement!!! I got F and her friend ready (much to the disgust of A, who won't be 5 until February, and therefore not eligible to join Rainbows at the moment...) amid much speculation as to exactly what their friends might be wearing. I picked up F's outfit at Tesco for the bargain price of £8, to include a fabulous wig - I didn't think that was too bad... Anyway, here they are, in their finery, waiting to be collected. Apologies for the pixellated faces again, it's too late to ring and ask these mums for their permission to publish.







And here, with another two of their friends, just as they were about to leave:



Don't they look great!! That gorgeous little minx in blue is baby Miss E's big sister - she is a star, and has been absolutely brilliant since their new arrival joined them in August. Anyway, they all had a great time at the party, and will do it all again on Friday for the school's Halloween disco - yippee!

I am steeling myself for a battle with bureaucracy tomorrow; I have just been to a meeting of a sub-committee of the school's governing body, which is trying to halt the proposed termination of a free bus service for some of our pupils in an outlying rural area. The County Council has, in its infinite wisdom, decided that this is a suitable route for the children to walk to school, and is currently going through the motions of a consultation process. I believe that there have been some significant procedural defects in the way the Council has conducted its business, and I have been nominated to speak to the contact at the Council to ascertain the correct procedure, and see if we can buy a bit more time. I will not, of course, be suggesting to this person that we believe there has been a defect in the procedure, but I need something concrete in terms of the Council's policy for consultation before we can put something in writing to them to support our case. This is the sort of thing I LOVE doing; it takes me back to my days as a lawyer. I know it sounds terminally boring, but it floats my boat!!! If you're still with me, well done! I'll keep you posted...