I worked with a student this week and they shared their school-screen with me. They showed me the repository for all their work and it hurt my head and I’m the adult. There was so much for them to process and to manage. The student’s school is, to be fair, […]
inclusion
This term has been a massive ridiculous mess of ridiculousness and messiness. The year since March has been insane. I saw a thing on Facebook the other day that read: January, February March, COVID, Christmas. It’s not wrong. The year has been pretty pants. And pretty pants is how I’m […]
Today I broke our food processor. It’s not a £400 disaster, massive mess-up, that would have been the case if we’d had one of those lovely Kenwood ones or something similar. It was a second-hand one from my parents and they’d had it for ages, and even then I’ve not […]
Some of us are just more equal than others in this tale of two countries. Some of us are so equal that computers decide we’re allowed good grades and some of our equality means that the computers decides we’ll get lower than we deserve. And then the all-benign ‘powers that […]
Church was on on Sunday and for it being a bit apocalyptic with all the space and tape everywhere, it was actually quite good. It was good to be a building with people that are lovely and who I usually spend a lot of time talking to. After that I […]
I’m not in charge of the world. I think it would be terrifying if I were. Unlimited Viennese truffles for me would be first order but then the real stuff would kick in. I think any world-domination plan/chocolate procurement plan should carefully consider what the values are that underpin the […]
Anyone who knows me or follows me on any form of social media knows that I LOVE me my trampoline. I LOVE it beyond belief and I think that’s even more the case because I didn’t have one when I was younger. Me and My Trampoline It sounds like a […]
“No they can’t. Or well, perhaps they can because parents are home-schooling perfectly well and they don’t need teachers at all.” “Look at the New Oak Academy materials that we’ve had to make because schools aren’t doing what they need to and it’s just not good enough. In fact it’s […]
Lock down is happening in spring, so each week the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter. I like that. I am a daytime person and I love natural light. As I write this, I am next to our big front room windows that let light flood […]
Council for Science and Technology: Rapid Evidence Review on Using Assistive Technology to Support Learners with Specific Learning Difficulties I have been working with the Council for Science and Technology to provide professional expertise alongside structured, systematic review of evidence of how to best support young poeple with specific learning […]
Live streaming lessons? Me?!?! No-one needs to see that. EVER. I’m lucky (or actually, my kids are lucky) that no one is expecting me to live-stream. But some schools are. It’s not that I can’t do it. I can. But no. Just no. Not for a whole class, in the […]
I will preface this with the fact that I won’t use any references. I won’t cite anything proper. I’m just going to have a bit of a ramble. Lots of people on my Facebook (old grump here!) and Twitter feeds are talking about home-schooling their kids. And they’re finding it […]
Today, I got a lovely comment from a student on Show My Homework. The student doesn’t always find learning easy and has a wobbly time in life. But they engaged, did their work beautifully and on time. And I could give them feedback in a way that works for lots […]
I’ve got dyslexia and it can be a bit of a pain at times. Reading, writing and remembering stuff just isn’t the easiest thing in the world ever. But sometimes, I’ve got dyslexia and it isn’t a pain. Sometimes it leads to amazing things and opportunities. It spurred me on […]
“I can’t do anything with them at home!” “He’s at school, so you need to deal with him!” “She’s so moody! I just can’t talk to her!” The number of times I’ve heard these phrases (or something equivalent), I cannot tell, both as a form tutor and as SENDCo. Sometimes […]
Some people can be excluded by what is meant to be inclusion. For neuro-diverse people our classrooms can be a ticking time bomb. The sounds, the smells, the expectations, the infrastructure, the movement, the unpredictability, the inflexibility. All of these can push people whose world view is that little bit […]
I’ve got my feet in many camps and my fingers in various pies and I am very lucky for it. This term so far, my focus has been in the special educational needs and disability (SEND) camp, with a finger firmly planted into the ‘climate change education’ pie. What I […]
This week I’ve been back at work and started new work and it’s all been bonkers. Being back in school after a while out. I had the Little Dude and was on mat leave. Monday saw me go to INSET at a setting I know well and have enjoyed volunteering […]
Bored of the election- I voted for the record- so I’m writing about something else! I get annoyed. SOOOOOOOOO annoyed when there are articles talking about supporting girls for this about having it all, women who want child care, girls who aren’t career driven, women who need this, and women […]
I have just read two very different articles which could be interpreted as ‘pupil voice’. One, written by a teenager at the coalface of the exam system, is scathingly well-written, sharing her frustrations with the limitations of her school’s curriculum. The other, written by a teacher talks about the conflicts […]
I had a meeting this week in Wiltshire, with a commissioner from the council, a seminar as part of my AMBDA course with some Educational Psychologists from BANES and I’m in the middle of writing a book chapter on parents and schools working together to support dyslexic young people, mainly […]
Yesterday, I read a thread on a Facebook Group I’m part of asking about support strategies for a student who was trying to revise and retain information ready for their GCSEs. This is fairly run of the mill. That is, until it transpired that the student had only recently arrived […]
I am, at times, decidedly cynical about politicians and their edicts. I am essentially a left-winger but struggle to identify with Labour in its present guise. Generally I find myself grating against most things that come out of a large proportion of politicians’ mouths. However, I find myself agreeing with […]
The National Audit Office review of SEND provision in England has just come out and there are details of its findings outlined already. I don’t have very many polite words that would add to the current debate, suffice to say that there are no surprises: SEND Provision is an utter […]
I am going to preface this by saying that it is all based on my own personal opinion, experience and dogmas. I’m not citing research and do not claim to be a guru on the matter. Also, that the ideas in the heading are not mutually exclusive. You can have […]
It’s the week between A Level and GCSE results and students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as internationally, are waiting for results of have got results that determine their next steps. It’s not an easy place for them all to be. I was out on Saturday night […]
I read this article this morning and I saw red. I saw really, really red and decided to write. I think it’s important I caveat this rant by saying that I agree with some of the sentiment behind the article: all teachers are teachers of SEN. However, conflating being a […]
I keep reading and I keep getting cross. I’d love to call the current state of affairs surrounding special needs provision in England a dog’s dinner but even my hounds metaphorically eat better than this state of affairs. There is no money. There is little to no provision for some […]
Reading about the next stage of academisation of English schools today sort of made me pull a bit of a grimace. I got a little bit cross and then facepalmed, because there just doesn’t seem anything new about the concepts being trundled out as though they are shiny new toy. […]
My mum worked for years in a secondary school in Warwickshire and she was the person in charge of putting together the timetable. She used to meet up with other timetablers from schools nearby, including a Deputy Head of the school I attended (I was quite a character at school, […]
I’ve read a really sensible article today in the Times Educational Supplement where a teacher writes about the opacity of how teachers understand ‘sensory’ as an adjective to describe learning, teaching and needs. ‘Sensory’ could be viewed as a bit of a buzz-word at present. As written in the article […]
I read an article in the Times Educational Supplement this morning about how to make schools better for kids with Autism. The article made some brilliant points and it got me to thinking about making the adjustments that are needed to support young people with autism in a mainstream setting. […]
This week there is such much guff going on in the world of Brexit and education and pretty much everything across the world that I decided to ignore it all and focus on my own little world. I’ve had enough of doom and gloom, so I thought I’d focus on […]
Entirely my own quite confused and unclear views here… I’ve worked in private school and mainstream, maintained school and I have had awesome highs and crippling lows in both. I’m currently in a medium-sized LA maintained school in the South-West of England and I love it passionately. What I have […]
The Times Educational Supplement reported this week that primary school teachers are suffering significant levels of distress as a result of their jobs. This is at the same time that teachers are also viewed as one of the most trusted professions. There is a disjoint and it is something that […]
I am in a very privileged position, in that I genuinely love my job. I have flexibility because of the different things I do around my classroom-based time and I am eternally grateful for that. I realise that there are significant numbers of people who are not in that position. […]