Early start this morning with the Greenwich Viaggi group leaving at the crack of dawn. Had to get them out of bed - with the help of their Group Leaders. Luckily we told them to pack last night so there wasn't too much of a last minute panic, though some minutes were spent looking for a lost mobile phone and a passport. Bit of a tearful farewell. The Chinese group decided to get up early to say goodbye to them as they'd got on so well in the last week. The other Welfare and Social Organiser and I did a quick damage check of their rooms so that we could give them their damage deposits back. After waving off the group, we carried out wake up calls for the rest of the students. A lot of sleepy-heads around, which made it more challenging than last week.
There was time for a bit of a nap before the afternoon session. All of the students are offsite on excursion, so we had time to do a more thorough damage check of all the rooms. Found a broken window in a student room so will have to report it. Hope the student owns up to it, otherwise we'll have to to charge the cost to the whole group, which isn't fair on the innocent. Finished off the weekly report, ready for the Centre Director to sign off, then had a leisurely few hours before heading back to the office again, ready to answer the phone if it rang (which it didn't for a change!). Finished off some paperwork - lucky I don't mind paperwork, there's so much of it! No wonder it's emphasised in the job description.

Night duty wasn't too bad. Pretty quiet as they were all tired from their excursion, though there was evidence of an unofficial noodle party which I had to break up. Shame, as they were having a good time, but it was disturbing the other students. Did my usual routine of checking the corridors and the immediate outside area on a regular basis.

Quite a long lie-in this morning, which was good as I'm quite tired. A new group of students arrived in the afternoon, so welcomed and inducted them. Thought they'd be exhausted after a 12 hour flight from Tokyo, but they were so excited that it was difficult to get them to sit still long enough to take on the information. I think they'll be a nice group - very smiley, even though the girls, especially, seem quite shy.
Another group of students arrived later, but this was just a small group so it didn't take long for them to be sorted out. Two teachers transferred from another centre as numbers had fallen. However, as numbers are still quite high for us, they were very welcome arrivals! I carried out a site specific induction with them as they'd already been through the full induction.

Night duty was again fairly quiet. Some of the new arrivals forgot their way to the bedrooms so there was some immediate English practice for them as a teacher gave them directions.

First duty of the day was the free time supervision. As we have a zig zag programme, students are split into 2 main groups and have lessons either in the morning or the afternoon. They do activities when they're not in class. The ones who had activities in the morning had some spare time before lunch, so it was my task to supervise them until then. I took them to the common room where they chatted and just generally hung out. Some of them went back to their rooms (with the permission and supervision of their Group Leaders) so that they could have a shower. It was interesting to talk to them informally - they told me about their countries and invited me to look them up if I ever travelled out there. Something to think about during the dismal English winter.

Lunch duty was interesting - had to stop some queue jumpers - big, tall boys who thought they could intimidate the younger students, and then I had to intervene in what looked like the start of a food fight. Apart from a small splatter of ketchup on my T-shirt, it didn't come to very much, but it'll certainly be reported to the Centre Director. Last time there was a misdemeanour she made them pick up all the rubbish in the courtyard as punishment, much to the amusement of their peers.

I was supposed to have the evening off, but an emergency came up when one of the students sprained his ankle during a football match. We were concerned that it might have been broken as he seemed to be in a great deal of pain, and the swelling was a sight to behold. I took him to the local A&E in a taxi, along with his Group Leader for translation purposes. We had to wait for 3 hours before anyone could see us. A quick X-ray confirmed that it was a sprain, which was a relief all around. We went back to the centre, where the student proudly showed off his bandage - the girls were impressed if nothing else!

Needless to say, the meeting with the Group Leaders went ahead in my absence, but I'm sure I'll be brought up to speed. Managed to do most of the student orientation, though, before being called away. Showed them where the important things were, such as the post office, shop, the centre office and most crucially, the sites that were off limits.

Early night tonight, which is a blessed relief after all the excitement today.

These wake up calls take me back to my teenage years when I tried to sneak in a few more minutes of sleep! It was hard-going this morning, not helped by the fact that we had a fire drill at 7:00am. Most people got out within the 2 minutes that we set ourselves, but there were 2 from the Spanish group missing. The Group Leader eventually found them still snoring under their bedclothes! Not sure how they managed to sleep through the fire alarm, but it shows that whoever was on that floor should have checked all the rooms on the way out. They all went back to their rooms at 7:15 which allowed time for some of them to fall back into a deep slumber - hence the challenges I was faced with at 8 o'clock.

More damage and cleaning checks. Found a couple of overflowing rubbish bins which I had to see the conference manager about. Also confirmed the numbers of packed lunches for tomorrow's excursion.

Fairly easy day today as the Centre Director gave me some time off in lieu of the time spent at A&E yesterday, so finished off at lunchtime and then went into town for a change of scenery. It was lovely to potter around, not doing much.

The usual wake-up calls this morning, though Group Leaders seemed to be on the ball and got them out of bed quite quickly.
Went to the office and had a look at the arrivals and departures for this weekend on the database - two groups leaving on Saturday and one group, plus a couple of individuals, arriving on Sunday so confirmed the coaches and taxis for these, as well as organising the couriers. Did a rough rota for student supervision so that it can be put on the weekly rota tomorrow for the staff.

Met the housekeeper and discussed a few issues - broken locks, dripping taps and some minor damage that we found. Glad that we have a good working relationship with her - I think the Centre Director did a terrific job at the beginning by quickly establishing a rapport with her.

Highlight of the week, for me at least, was the half day excursion to Cambridge. Not somewhere I know a lot about, but the Activities Manager gave us a good briefing, as well as an information sheet, so we gave a passable impression of knowledgeable tour guides. As the activity leader had much more experience than me, he led the group while I was at the back chivvying them along. A few of the individual students tagged along with me, so I was able to give them some information, which they appreciated. A lot of counting heads, but better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Night duty was pretty uneventful, so I could get to bed on time, ready for a lie in tomorrow - day off - hooray!

Day off

Feel quite relaxed after my day off, even though I spent it with some noisy toddlers at Auntie Jackie's place! Good to get some home cooking, and some non-work related chatter.

More checking and paperwork this morning. Found a girl crying in her bedroom and treid to find out what was wrong. I eventually got it out of her that she was feeling a bit homesick - not surprising, as she's only 11 and it's her first time away from home. I thought she'd be coping well as she seemed happy, but it must have been a front. Talked to the other WSO about it, who said that he had a similar problem with one of the older boys in his block, so it's not age-related at all! He told me to speak to her Group Leader and her teacher, so I'll do that as soon as.

Mini Olympics this afternoon went down a storm, once we got the teams sorted out, that is. A bit of a kerfuffle at the beginning - it could've been better organised, but we'll know for next time - though it didn't dampen anyone's spirit. A lot of shouting and arguing, partly in their own language, but also in English if they were arguing with another nationality. A lot of goodwill though, as it's the last day for the leavers.

Dinner duty was loud! They were still hyper and looking forward to the cross dressing disco later. Hope they get rid of that energy during the disco, otherwise night duty is going to be a test of will. Extra staff have been rota-ed on as the Centre Director is anticipating some high jinx. Oh well, time to gird my loins, in readiness. All part and parcel of the job.