My life is sometimes a bit like waiting for a bus. What I mean is that I have no news for ages, and then two bits come along simultaneously.

Yesterday was a fantastic day at preschool, because we had a visit from the brilliant A1 Pegasus Hawking (gohere to find out more about their work). The children were riveted for an entire hour by a series of amazing owls - from a giant Eagle Owl to the tiniest owl named Hamish, who was absolutely adorable.

My other bit of news relates to why I haven't updated this site for a while. Think planes, think holidays in Europe, think volcanic ash clouds. Yep, we got stuck (luckily somewhere that we have family, so I didn't run up an almighty hotel bill)! I won't bore you with the details of our return journey, but a list of modes of transport involved in my return will give you some idea: taxi ... train ... another train ... car ... another car ... boat ... another car.

Clearly nothing much happens in my life, since it's been almost 6 months since my last news entry. I guess I got a bit distracted by writing my Blog instead of reporting on the latest news. But in the last few weeks since half term, something big has happened (well, big to me), and the title of this entry might give you a clue. In February of this year, I finally got my new allotment (that's a long story for another day), and as part of the tenancy agreement we're allowed to keep ... chickens!

So, the last couple of weeks have been a very steep learning curve, in which I've found out pretty much all I need to know about chicken coops, what chickens eat/sleep on, how to build a chicken run, and how to liberate 2 chickens from a big barn. This might not seem so amazing to those of you who live in the countryside, but to a city girl like me, brought up in the Big Smoke and living there for over 30 years, this is the stuff of fairy tales.

Not only are the chickens (Wing and Peppa) hilarious, but they are also great egg layers. 2 a day every day so far, my new hobby is certainly a fascinating one, and my kids are learning lots about taking responsibility, caring for livestock, where their food comes from.

On the first weekend, the children lovedEd Vere, author of Mr Big. He was young, he was funny, and he taught them how to draw a great picture of Mr Big. Though of all the speakers we heard, by far and away the best wasLaurence Anholt, author (with his wife) of the brilliant "Chimp and Zee" books. But what made him such a good speaker, so good in fact that I was minded to ask him whether he'd ever been a teacher?

The key (for any authors reading) was interactivity - just like it is in the classroom. You simply can't afford to just stand and talk at the children and then read them a bit of your story. You've got to get them involved. Laurence had the children shouting out bits of the story, doing a monkey dance, holding up their Chimp and Zee puppets. Well done, Mr Anholt, go to the top of the class.

It's been a long while since my last 'news' entry, and for that I apologise. Life has intervened rather a lot over the past few months, in the way it has a habit of doing. But I'm back now, and planning to write on here with much more regularity. Recently, I've been pondering the bad press that teachers and schools get, and thinking that I should try to redress the balance a bit on my website. I work with literally thousands of teachers over the course of each year; and I am constantly impressed, inspired and amazed by the dedication and enthusiasm that they feel for their noble profession.

Take the average school INSET group that I work with. They've been told to sit there and listen to some stranger explain to them how to manage behaviour, when they've been doing just that for 20 or 30 years already. They don't know me, and I don't know them. They probably have a million other (potentially more important) things to do, such as marking, planning, working through a giant 'to do' pile and so on and on. But by the end of my time with them, I can safely say that at least 25% will have put their heart and soul into the session, another 60% will have been active and interested participants, and 10% will have listened politely. They will have offered their ideas, shared their best lesson activities, supported their colleagues, laughed at my jokes.

"But wait!" the Maths teachers amongst you cry, "what of the remaining 5%? What did they do on that INSET day?" Well, I don't claim to reach everyone - just as with the kids a few stay tantalisingly beyond my grasp. A couple might snooze a bit, a couple more might do some sneaky marking. But what I really relish are the final 1%. Those are the teachers who come up to me during the break, and demand that I defend my ideas and my strategies. They give me a really hard time, not because that gives them pleasure, but because they have their own firm opinions about how behaviour should be managed, and those opinions are not the same as mine.

And you know what? Just like those kids who are really hard to reach, I love those teachers who challenge what I've said. For a start, it shows that they really care about the profession. And it forces me to really think about my ideas, and to find ways to defend and support those things I believe in most. Teachers are a hard audience to please, and rightly so. The very worst kind of training for teachers involves someone standing at the front, clicking slides on a Powerpoint presentation, whilst at the same time explaining that lessons should be engaging and interactive. You've simply got to walk the walk as well as talking the talk. That's why my INSET sessions rely heavily on active participation, props, scenarios, the odd role play (done by me, rather than by the teachers - I am a drama specialist after all).

What my INSET sessions tell me more than anything else is that the overwhelming majority of teachers CARE. You don't do the job just for the money; you do it because you really do genuinely want to make a difference. You care enough to put hours into planning so that the children have a great time in your lessons, and really learn a lot. You care enough to participate in those extra curricular activities that the children so love. You care enough to struggle on, even when your students don't appreciate you, or when they're being downright obnoxious. Some of you more than others, but that's just the way life is. So thanks, to everyone who's ever been in one of my training sessions and shared their love of the job with me.

So there you have it, that's why I think teachers are great.

With our pre-school garden build completed, and the 'grand opening' coming up soon, I've spent this week looking into how we might add a pond to our outdoor space. In theory it's straightforward - we've already set aside one raised bed for this purpose. In theory, we simply fill it with liner, add water and tadpoles and, 'hey presto', you have a pond. That's the theory ...

But clearly small children and water make for a tricky and possibly dangerous mix. Add Ofsted into the equation and it was clear that I had to source some kind of cover for our pond. With a bit of digging on the internet, I came across a company called Pond Safety - www.pondsafety.com. Having chatted with them about dimensions and fitting, their product seemed perfect for our needs. So, two 'DiamonDeck' pond safety covers will soon be winging their way to our pond.