Category Archives: Schools

Working with the Enemy

Posted on April 6, 2017 by

I have a confession to make. I have taken my children out of school for educational reasons. Personally I’d never do it just ‘to go on a holiday’, especially not to Disneyland (which they’d hate anyway). Even though we have … Continue reading →

Posted in Parents, Schools, Teachers | 2 Comments

Eyes of a Child

Posted on January 13, 2017 by

“A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” Groucho Marx You are drifting along the canals of Amsterdam, gazing out of the windows at the houseboats that line the banks. Outside the windows … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Parenting, Schools | Leave a comment

Tear Down the Wall

Posted on February 16, 2016 by

I was thirteen years old in 1979, when Pink Floyd’s double album “The Wall” came out. When my friends and I first heard “Another Brick in the Wall”, we didn’t need to ask what Pink Floyd meant by “no dark … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Children, Schools | 2 Comments

Shame on You

Posted on January 29, 2016 by

This week there was a story in the news about a school where the head teacher wrote a letter to parents, politely asking them to stop dropping off their children in the mornings while still wearing their pyjamas. Only a … Continue reading →

Posted in Parents, Schools | 13 Comments

Hate Will Tear Us Apart

Posted on May 12, 2015 by

I guess it was inevitable that an Election defeat would be followed by a period of brow-beating, on the part of the politically minded. I’m not a member of the Labour Party, but their philosophy is just about the closest … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, Schools | 1 Comment

Knowledge: The First Five Years

Posted on February 17, 2015 by

When I was born I didn’t know much I knew how to scream And I knew how to touch. I didn’t know who All the big people were My eyes didn’t focus My world was a blur. But now five … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Knowledge, Learning, Play, Schools | 4 Comments

Not Enough Kittens

Posted on December 8, 2014 by

Perhaps it’s just me, but it feels as though the language, attitudes and rhetoric around education are going through a peculiarly masculine phase. Grit, resilience, DIRT, rigour: there’s definitely a lack of fluffy kitten type words such as empathy, kindness, … Continue reading →

Posted in Schools | 4 Comments