Fighting fit at Florencecourt

Add in the cleaning, the cooking, laundry and possibly a small baby or elderly relatives to keep in touch with – the plate spinning can only be commended!

Me time

However, there is always a Thursday evening! As one mum said, ​“I was so excited when I got up this morning and realised it was Thursday and I would be getting out… then I remembered I had to do squats!” All this excitement was caused by the ever-patient Harry, who had begun a fitness class in the school, Pre-Covid. So, when restrictions began to lift and six people were allowed to meet outside, I got to wondering how we could reach out and reconnect with our busy mums. A quick message on our WhatsApp asking if anyone would be interested in meeting for a class on the school football pitch, brought everyone back together. And not only that, we had to run two classes, in order to observe government guidelines and we are currently organising a third class!!

Putting us through our paces

Suddenly the children’s voices and laughter, which us teachers miss so much, was replaced with the laughter and grumblings of the mummies as they worked their way through whatever Harry had dreamt up for us to do that week. And that’s the important bit… the laughter, the fun and the banter (thankfully Harry is very thick skinned) that comes along with a really good workout. We all know that mums are the lynchpin that hold so many homes together and that this can be a physically and mentally exhausting role. As a school, we understand this and we are delighted to be able to offer this as a small way that we can support our mums in order for them to be able to support their families.

The future

And this is just the start, we have begun to research funding to help us reach further to support our families and the local community. We hope to be able to get the dads off the tractors and out of the offices to get them involved too. Now there’s a challenge and a half…