I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that we moved to where we did and that Belle is attending this school. She is so happy and so thriving. We went to her parent-teacher consultation this week and her teacher said that she's a delight to have in the class, that she's bright and articulate, that she's communicating well, that she puts her hand up to answer questions and that she never makes a fuss. She was even one of the few to recieve a certificate of merit this half-term for her "positive attitude". After all our anxiety about her shyness it seems as though we didn't need to worry in the least. She has friends and she's happy and she's talking. What more could we want?

She's reading too. Suddenly something has clicked and she's racing on with her reading skills. She only reads once a week at school and we haven't been great at enforcing nightly reading at home - mainly because the school books are very dull. But she's moved up a level now so we must get better. She has weekly homework which she loves doing - mainly sums and numberwork. They have PE twice a week - you can always tell as they all come out with ties and collars askew - which seems to be mainly stretching and dancing; Belle enjoys it anyway. She's spends all afternoon every afternoon drawing and colouring.

I went to a quiz night at the school. My team came last. If I hadn't known some of the general knowledge answers (capital of Tasmania? longest mountain range? recognising Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring) we'd have done even worse. On the other hand if I'd been able to recognise any of the pices of music from the past 30 years or answered any questions about films we'd have done a lot better. it was quite fun though next year I'm picking a team whose members look as though they watch lots of films and listen to old music.

The other mums are friendly. I've forced myself upon them to a certain extent - many of them know each other from the 3 months they force themselves to attend the local church - but they seem nice. Belle's acceptance amongst their daughters has helped. I find myself faintly amused though - and then wonder what they think of me. One of the girls still cries every morning on being left at the classroom door; her mum explained to me that it's because school is the only part of her life where she's not in control. Everywhere else she's the boss. She wasn't apologetic about that, simply stating it as a fact; at home this kid rules the roost, at school she's just one of the 30 and has to take her turn. No wonder the teachers are happy when Belle doesn't make a fuss. It sounds as though quite a few of the children are not really used to turn-taking.

Another mum was talking about the fact that her husband? partner? was on holiday with his other kids from a previous relationship. She has a 5 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. We asked how old the other kids were.... She paused. "I think they must be about 7 and 9? Something like that?" That means that, even if she got pregnant the day she started a relationship with their dad, they couldn't have been older than 2 and 4. They were probably younger. Don't you think you'd remember details like that? She's only met them a couple of times. Other people's lives are intriguing but they always seem odd.

The attitude and emphasis of the school seems great. Belle's constantly talking about teamwork ("if we co-operate well that's good teamwork; if we do stuff together not very well that's just called teamwork" and being kind. It doesn't seem to spill over at home very well; she's more tense with Ned and they're fighting more than normal. She gets irritated with him for not following her as well as her peers at school. She's having to be dealt with h more squashingly by us at home; still, if that's the only fall-out then I don't think it's too bad...