David Benyon. Hettie Williams. Gwen Mayor. Ann Maguire. Phillip Lawrence. They might not all be names you recognise. What they have in common is the courage they displayed in terrifying circumstances. In all except Hettie’s classroom, those decision cost them their lives. I’m writing this on the eve of my first key worker shift at […]
The One About Action for Happiness (20th Jan)
“Go to bed in good time and give yourself time to recharge” Today will be a pretty busy day – morning parenting, afternoon meeting in London and a late train home. My promise today is to keep my laptop switched off when I arrive home… Will I manage it?!?!?
The One About Action for Happiness (18th Jan)
“Make something happen for a good cause” Having completed my CTeach qualification last summer, I have been getting involved with supporting the next cohort with their progress. To day I presented a keynote on their final phase – the action research project. Here’s hoping their projects result in interesting and useful developments in their schools […]
The One About Action for Happiness (6th Jan)
“Say something positive to everyone you meet today” As today has been “back to work” day, it’s been fairly easy to engage with people in a positive way. (Short and sweet blog post today!)
The One About Action for Happiness (1st Jan)
I love the monthly wellbeing calendars from Action for Happiness. January’s calendar is focussed on Happy New Year. I’ve decided to blog my progress through January’s actions. 1st – Find three good things to look forward to. First has to be our summer holiday. Last year, we spent an amazing week at Malham Tarn Field […]
The One About SATs Stress (FAO: Damian Hinds)
I was recently sent this article written by the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds. I have thought hard about what he had to say about SATS preparation in schools, and the purpose of SATs… Hinds criticises schools who place, in his eyes, too much focus on preparation for SATs, and accuses them of causing children undue stress and […]
The One About Being Flexible
I’ll lay all my cards on the table. I’m a teacher, I work part time, I have two children and a dog and no family very close by. When I heard this week that the DfE were releasing a document aimed at making teaching more flexible to aid staff retention, I was optimistic that finally […]
The One With the Knowledge
No, I’m not becoming a London taxi driver (or a pilot, but that’s another story!) This week, OFSTED’s Head of Research Prof Daniel Muijs is reported to have offered his opinion that teachers should be “periodically” required to demonstrate their subject knowledge is up to date (read more here ) His comments have met with […]
The One About Workload
I don’t write often enough, and I certainly don’t write enough about things that matter. Today, I’m thinking about my work. And specifically my workload. I teach. I’m contracted for 13.5 hours over 2.5 days. And yet my children attend nursery for 30 hours on my three teaching days. How come they are there for […]
The one about standing up for education
This blog post is a first for me. I usually write about the mundane aspects of life – pies, gardening, family life…. Today I want to tell you a story. A short but sad story. Today (March 26th) NUT members across England walked out in protest at the massive changes to our pay, pension and […]