As I sit here work avoiding it occurs to me that I've never properly mentioned the Stimpson Shout, well other than in the odd list of how much work I have ahead of me!

The Shout is something I picked up when I first started work back in the days of being a lowly CSA (Curriculum Support Assistant aka general dogsbody). It's the schools newsletter written by staff and students and aimed at parents. The brief was "formal, informative, interesting". At the end of each term one of the English teachers and I run around the school (he does much more of the running than me I have to say) gathering information and trying to put it all togther ready for the printer. Most of the content is gathered after the "content in" deadline, the proof readers always have big red pens and we almost always miss the deadline by at least two days after which there is usually at least one person with the phrase "is this too late to go in?". Oh and Macromedia Freehand is the most tempermental bit of software I have the pleasure of using... But we enjoy doing it and the end results are usually worth all of the hassle.

This term was much like the rest but for some reason it all came together a hundred times better than usual. The usual struggle for 16 pages turned into a need to chop down to 24 and we were both very proud of the results. So much so I felt the need to point you in its direction. You can download a copy from here. I realise much of it will be irrelevant if you have no ties to the school but some of it will perhaps make for a good read over your morning coffee.