* Asleep at 3.30am. Alarm goes off at 4.30am.
* Collect fish of the day.
* Buy local newspaper in garage on the way to see what it says about our Fun Week.
* Get into school. Do paperwork. Two tables that were on order for the lunchroom are delivered.
* Look at local newspaper. We're not in there!
* Turn the laminator on again.
* Two staff out today with their children sick. Deputy on course. That means both teacher and nursery nurse are out from the same room. I hope there are lots of volunteers today.
* Morning weather stays dry.
* County councillor arrives for the morning. I take him into his granddaughter's classroom to work for the morning. Tell him he can come and have coffee with me when he has had enough.
* He arrives soon after 10am, looking exhausted. I spend the morning mounting photos, writing labels, laminating and binding the photocopied book.
* I photocopy, mount, laminate and cut out pictures of fish.
* Get on with office paperwork and try to tidy room and hallway.
* A phonecall tells me our LEA Curriculum Management Consultant won't be coming. So far, from all the invitations we sent out, we have only had one official visitor.
* Finish displays in the hall.
* Take photos throughout the day around the school.
* Another county councillor visits. I didn't know she was coming. It is almost the end of the afternoon, so she has a quick tour of the school. She pauses to watch a group time on the way to the SEN Unit.
* We talk a while in my room about Fun Week, the school and the early years in general.
* Exhaustion hits me. My asthma is really bad. Finish office paperwork and go off to chemists to pick up photos.
* Go to neighbours with firefly hats and take their photo.
* Friend arrives with dolphin light for the classroom and lantern for the hall display.
* Decide to go to bed at 8pm.
Friday
* Awake at 3.45. Almost eight hours sleep. A record this week! Wheezing a bit better.
* Weather forecast dreadful. Unit are meant to be making an ark out of the big boxes outside today.
* Collect fish of the day. Take swordfish steaks out of freezer to make room for food other than fish.
* In school at 6.30am. Put swordfish steaks in school freezer. Tell staff to help themselves.
* Plug in dolphin light.
* Mount photographs.
* Get as many photographs up on the walls as possible before the photographer from Nursery World arrives.
* Rain that was forecast has held off all morning. The ark has been built!
* Nursery World photographer arrives at the same time as one from the local paper. I take them both around the school and then leave them to take photos of their choice.
* Local photographer comes to find me to ask for a step ladder so he can photograph the large crab hanging from the ceiling.
* I get on with paperwork.
* The school is very calm. The walls are all finished. The children have had an enormous amount of experiences and are now calmly and quietly carrying on with their work as usual.
* We have only a few parent volunteers in the afternoon.
* The school looks beautiful.
* It starts to rain heavily. The cardboard around the ark in the garden begins to disintegrate. We have been lucky. Although the weather has been dreadful all week, there have been breaks when the children could work outdoors.
* At the end of the week everyone is very tired but delighted with what has been achieved.
* Exhausted, I go home. I decide to take the rest of the films for processing on Saturday.
* My partner suggests we go out for a meal. I order a large steak. It will be a long time before I want to eat fish again. If anyone wants some snapper, grouper or swordfish steaks, please let me know. They are still sitting in the freezer at school.
After the week is over
* Year 6 children write letters. The highlight of their week was definitely the drink and biscuits in the staffroom.
* Parents write letters. They have enjoyed themselves. They are much more confident about helping in the classrooms.
* I write a letter to Eric Carle to tell him what we have done and thank him for the inspiration. Send photographs of the project. Wait for his reply.
* I write evaluation forms for staff to fill out about the Fun Week.
* I start getting things together, ready to create a book about the week. (We'll be able to show it to Ofsted!) * Now we can begin to draw out all the possible learning experiences that the topic offers throughout the rest of the term.
Sue Chambers is head teacher of Chertsey Nursery School, Surrey
