Lucy Whiffin

Beautiful, painful, lovely.
One of my favourite reads for a while (and I've read some good ones).

My children all went to a very small primary school with only one class for EYFS/KS1 and one for KS2. There were definitely friendship groups which spanned the age groups, often from necessity, but still, it worked.

This is spot on. I don't think people outside of schools (unless they live with people working in schools) have any idea about the reality of it. It depresses me at the moment. We know what Ofsted will say, we know what we need to do, but we can't practically manage it. Feels like failure every day.

Yes I remember reading about "flattening the grass." The idea of it, that someone who works with children would think it is appropriate, is heart-breaking.

I hadn't thought of that but makes a lot of sense. Ofsted really need to dig deep into schools' records on this, as well as the new starters that schools welcome, so that schools who really work on inclusion are celebrated not punished.

I wish as a sector we had the time and money to be able to work together to create a cohesive system that allows all children to thrive. And, as you say, that is tailored for a given context. It's really quite depressing. (Also, the education sector alone cannot solve the issues in schools).

I think the issue is lack of resources- in both primary and secondary- to be able to truly do what is best for the children. It's about "managing" the best we can. And for secondaries, that often seems to be through overly rigid rules and control.

It is sad because I see more and more engaged, curious children go to secondary school and start to hate school. I don't want to bash secondary schools. The staff and headteacher at our local secondary school are amazing- dedicated and thoughtful.

I bet it is. Take care x

Hope your recovery is complete and doesn't take too long...that sounds painful. Don't push yourself too hard x

The closer than the Tories get to Reform, the more it makes sense for Labour to leave them to it and head back towards the centre. Stop bashing immigrants 24/7 and concentrate on the important stuff.

And so many staff continually going above and beyond, with impact on their own lives, but it is never enough.

It's getting me down at the moment. I usually manage to see the positives but I am so fed up with schools just being left to scrape together what they possibly can to provide the basics of what the children need rather than being supported to offer the best possible education for every child.

Of course it won't. It'll be further fuel for headlines about how "95% of children can't read", and "What have the primary schools been doing?"

Answer: toilet training, speech and language, supporting families in crisis and the ever increasing number of children with high needs to attend school.

My 14yo 'baby' woke up at 4.45, her excitement also waking me. I would be mad, but how can I when she is so excited?

To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: you are not alone. We will not let hate or those who spread it win. We stand with you.

I have watched his bit and the bit after Kuenssberg asks the question about 20 times and my ribs hurt.

Janey, Janey, Janey, still making me laugh from beyond.

In total agreement with @michaelt1979.bsky.social here. Funding a "library space" is impractical and pointless, unless they are also going to fund a librarian, in which case bring it on! (*of course they are not).
I think people outside of schools think we have spare adults floating about to step in

Well, I've already got something out of it... just reserved The Lamb from the library. Sounds intriguing...

I think it's me 😀

Exactly what I came to say.

This is excellent. I've got to deliver a maths staff meeting soon on variation and this will be very helpful.

This is covered through some of the other rules though.

My best friend's son is off next week and it's the first time I've fully appreciated what it means for parents. The mixture of feelings must be intense. I hope it all goes well for both of you.

Woah!! Looks like I got a really good price! I hope you find something more realistic.

I paid £500 for a small 3 bed move, just for the removal not packing etc and it was just down the road.

The BBC are constantly fawning over Farage's every move despite Reform only having four MPs. Our national broadcaster should reflect the whole country, not just one man’s ego.

Funny cos it's true (and also not really at all funny!!)

Maybe I'm just an old-fashioned spoilsport, but I watched Educating Yorkshire for the first time this week, and yes, it was lovely to watch, but it just feels a bit wrong to me. Exploitative of the children being filmed in their most vulnerable moments. How will they feel about this in the future?

I also really enjoyed it.