Personal Reminder - 19/9/14

I remembered recently how handy this blog had been when it was running, so I'm just gonna start putting up some reminders and any other stuff I think the general community of YP might find useful.

If you've just stumbled on the blog, please note that this is neither the school, nor the P&C, it's just for the social side of being, or having been a YP family.

This afternoon there will be an end of term BBQ in the park, which the weather is looking fab for, so it should be entirely pleasant. If any ex-YPers are still getting updates from this until-recently-defunct blog, and you're around this afternoon, stop in and say hi.

Pages, pages, we haz pages

Blogger, that which hosts this blog, has finally seen fit to provide 10 pages that can be created to fit our whim*.

I know Robyn has Ideas for a page or two. Does anyone else have things they'd like to see on a page that is separate from the main blog page?

The sort of thing I'm talking about here is perhaps a page devoted to alumni (one of Robyn's ideas) so that ex-families can keep up with things that may be of interest to them, without wading through the day to day. Other ideas might be a page of useful links, a page devoted to freecycle-type stuff, or a page of kid-related recommended vendors (such as party venues, good sources of kids' clothes, good suppliers of extra-curricular activities etc).

If you have any ideas, leave a comment, send me an email or grab me at school.

*This might be better described as "I have finally noticed that..."

Email alternative

At the request of one of our year 2 parents, and because I know she's not the only one, I have added an option to receive blog posts via email. If you enter your email address in the box over there on the right hand side, you will receive all of our posts directly to your inbox.

Please pass this extra detail on to anyone you know might rather get the blog this way.

Welcome!

Hi everyone, it's really 2010, the little ones have all grown up over the summer, and today we are welcoming the first of the new Kindy kids.

I hope everyone's found the start of the year as pain free as possible. I swear I will manage to get to school on time at least one day this week....

There will be a barbecue next week, I believe, to welcome our new families, and also to invite our alumni back to say hello and let us know how they are enjoying their new schools. These are always fabulous afternoons, and there aren't a zillion of them a year, so if you can manage to re-arrange your life to fit it in, I'd recommend it.

This is the first year we've kicked off with the blog in place. We'd like to make this a valuable resource for all parents, so please let us know if there's something you want to see here, or if you'd like to be an author and please also let other parents know that it's here. If you can't remember the URL, you can Google "Yeo Park Blog" and find us pretty easily.

Calendar update

I've updated the calendar with all the dates I have to hand at the moment. It's at the bottom of the page, if you haven't found it before, and there is also a link to it over there on the right side of the page.

Next week is the last week of homework. I say this just because it makes me feel better. I hope it makes you feel better too.

Who we are

I know people are slowly coming to find this blog, and I thought it might be timely to put up a note about what it is.

First what it isn't. It isn't a mouthpiece for the school or for the P&C. You'll find heaps of stuff on here about both, but it isn't directly affiliated with either, nor does it represent the opinions of either. There is a link over there on the right hand side to the school's website.

It is an informal place for and by the parents (and maybe one day, the alumni!). We try to be another place people can keep up with each other and what's happening at the school. As a result, we might occasionally get things wrong, or you might disagree with something someone says here.

Image credit: xkcd "Duty Calls"
Check out the website if you don't already read it.

So, if you see something wrong in this little corner of the intertubes, speak up! Anyone can comment, and we welcome opinions, dissentions and fluff. Really, it's fine. You should see some of the things people say to me on my blog, and it's all good. Keep it polite is all we ask (snark is OK, though).

Calendar updated

I have updated the calendar (which you can find at the bottom of the page - just scroll on down) with all the term 3 activities.

I trust everyone who could make it enjoyed the open morning this morning. Year 1's diorama's were most amazing.

Since we are (finally!) coming to the end of this term, there's not too many notices, but reports go home on Thursday and the cricket clinic is happening on Friday, so sneakers are probably a good plan.

If anyone wants to organise any get togethers or just let people know they are heading out to a park, please shoot me or Alison an email and we'll post it up on the blog. Robyn and Isabelle are also authors, so you can speak to them too.

School calendar

The school calendar (at the bottom of the page if you scroll down) has been updated with the dates from this week's funky newsletter.

FAQ - What's a blog? How do I use it and why would I want to?

This is a post to explain what the blog is about and answer common questions. There will be a permanent link to it at the top of the blog and I will update it when necessary.

1. What is a blog?
   A blog is like a cross between a forum (where people carry on multiple conversations electronically) and a diary. This blog has been created to help keep parents in touch with what's going on at school, and with each other. The authors can post articles and anyone at all can comment on them and carry on whole conversations in the comments section. You are extremely welcome to use the comments as a way to keep in touch. Try to keep the conversations within the vague concept of the subject of the post to make it easier for people to find them and join in.
2. What is this blog for?
   It is for the use of the Yeo Park Infants School community. Anything at all that people want to use it for (within the bounds of decorum and the law!) is fine. We try to put up reminders about what is going on with the school and P&C. But anyone can use it to trade stuff, organise social events, discuss things going on at school - anything that has the school community as an audience.
3. How do I participate?
   By commenting or posting. Anyone can comment, with or without a Google account. If you don't have a Google, blogspot or OpenID account, in the section for identity choose "name" or "anonymous" and you won't be asked for passwords, just the word verification. If you still have problems, please send Ariane an email and I'll try to sort it out!
   To post, you can send an email to the people whose names appear on the right hand of the blog front page (currently Ariane). We'll get it up as quickly as we can. You can also become an author, as discussed below.
4. Who are the authors and can I be one?
   Authors are the people who can post directly to the blog. We can have up to 100 authors at any given time. So pretty much, if you want to be an author, let Ariane know and you will get an email invitation with instructions on what to do next. There are a few basic rules to follow as an author (just to keep the tags useable) but other than that it is easy and requires no serious commitment to be an author.
5. What if I only want to look at Reminders or some other subset?
   You can use the "Labels" section in the right hand column to look at only what you are interested in. This can help you to find anything that is for sale, or look for anyone else heading out to a park in the holidays or to catch up on reminders.
6. How do I find forms and other useful things?
   There is a "handy links" section in the right hand column with permanent links to the school website, useful documents and so on. If there is something that should be there and isn't, let us know!
7. Miscellaneous bits and pieces
   Buried in the blog might be some posts that will answer some of your other questions, not specifically about the blog. As they come up, I'll put a link to them here.

Last updated: 9/12/09

Putting stuff on the blog

A few people have asked me how they can put stuff on here. There are 2 ways - one with commitment (well, just a tiny bit) and one without.

The commitment-less option is to use that link over on the right that says to email me or Alison, and we'll post whatever you send us as a post like this one. I'm using email most of the time, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for me to respond.

If you like a bit of commitment, and think you'd like to post more than once or twice, you can become an author. If you send me your email address, I can send you an invitation and you can join up and post directly. We can have up to 100 authors, so there is no obligation to becoming one and no limitation on who can be one.

I'd be keen to have a few other people who might have time to occasionally put the lines messages up, since I'm not there every day. Again, no obligation - just if you go to lines and think of it afterwards, check to see if the messages are up yet, and if not, put them up yourself.

One last bit of administrivia - there is a calendar at the bottom of the page with all the school events. I keep this pretty up to date, because it is the one I use personally for school stuff. Let me know if there is something I've missed.

Welcome and please join in!

Inspired by the members of the P&C mailing list*, I have set up a Yeo Park blog.

I will use this to post P&C updates and anything else that seems useful.

I also invite anyone in the Yeo Park community to use this as a place to post items to sell/give away/request, or to organise play dates or anything else anyone can think of.

I am currently the only admin, but I am happy to share this with anyone else who is keen. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, complaints or anything else. I'll be redecorating for a bit, feel free to have opinions!

*I won't use anyone's names unless they give me express permission.