Goodness - hasn't August just flown by? I do hope you've all had a wonderful time over the Summer. At Perform, we've been super-busy preparing for the Autumn term and getting plans in place to open new schools. Plus, following a new piece of research from Save The Children about the importance of after school activities, Perform appeared on the BBC (NB apologies - for some reason the sound is a little out of sync on this video):

Sally Copley, head of UK policy at Save the Children said "Children who do after-school activities have more confidence, see the world in different ways, have a stronger sense of identity ? and this ultimately translates into doing better in exams and getting a better job. "

However, as the research pointed out some families struggle to afford the cost of after school activities. This is something very close to our hearts here at Perform - as such we do have a Bursary Scheme which offers 120 places a year to disadvantaged children and we're raising funds to send a further 100. Click here for more information on our bursary scheme.

It's also been a busy month in the blogosphere too; so, without further ado - here's a round up of my favourite posts:

Emily Carlisle (More Than Just a Mother) asks - Are you a smug parent? - witty and wonderfully observed; this post really tickled me.

Mediocre Mum shares her Top Ten iPhone Apps for Toddlers - definitely worth checking out for next time you've a journey planned (plane, train or automobile!) and are looking for ways to keep your little ones entertained!

Tara Cain (Sticky Fingers) writes - At the age of 4 you learn... - so cute it hurts! Also check out the comments for some wonderful additions to her list.

A Small Hand in Mine wrote a gorgeous post - The Best Kind of Love - which explains beautifully how she feels about her little boy.

Finally, because this is just too important not to mention - in September three mummy bloggers are heading to Bangladesh to see the work Save the Children do with children and mums first hand.

Every year almost 9 million children under the age of five die, most of them from preventable things like diarrhoea. We can change that. Sian from Mummy-tips, Eva from Nixdminx and Josie from Sleep is for the Weak are going to be tweeting, creating video and photo galleries and writing about their experiences live and direct from Bangladesh. The goal of the visit is to get as many people as possible to whip up support to put pressure on political leaders in the run-up to the MDG conference in September. Best of luck ladies x

That's all for this month, my dears - did I miss anything? Do let me know about your favourite posts via the comments :)