Bartholemew Bear

Much of the key stage 1 geography programme is delivered these days through a character called Barnaby Bear - one of the more inspired aspects of the national curriculum. A few months ago, I got in touch with an old school friend (through Friends Reunited of course) who was in the process of travelling round New Zealand, having decided that there is more to life than slogging it out in local government in the UK! (Good thinking!) Anyway, whilst on his travels, he met Bartholemew Bear, a Great White Southern Alpine bear who does rescue work on Mount Cook. Bartholemew decided he would like to start writing to the children in my class, so he did and they wrote back. It must have done some good because they have mostly done well in their SATS in writing!
The other week, my friend, now back in the UK, brought Bartholemew to visit my class for a day and great fun was had by all. The scarey thing is being aware that we are emailing each other about Bartholemew as if he were real - another sign that it is time I took that redundancy???.............