There has been a great deal in the news recently about the role of teaching assistants in our schools. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, it has been proposed that headteachers should consider reducing the number of teaching assistants working in their schools, as a cost cutting measure. I have taught...

A well ordered classroom with appropriate displays can be one of our most important aids for effective learning. It provides a stimulating environment which motivates our pupils and encourages them to learn. I am not advocating putting ‘just anything’ on the classroom walls to fill space,...

Today is a special day, not for everybody but for my family it is most definitely a special day. It is a day when we remember moving house, from a large city where we had lived for nine years to a small town. Of course today is a ‘normal’ day for most people, and not a day to celebrate, but...

Life can be hectic. Most of us would describe our lives as busy with a string of responsibilities which all cry out for our attention, and balancing these commitments is quite a juggling act. Of course there is nothing wrong with having responsibilities but in my experience the problem comes when they...

According to Wikipedia, ‘A New Year's resolution is a secular tradition… in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice,… beginning from New Year's Day.’ Did you make any resolutions? Are they still intact?! ‘The...

Most, if not all schools now have an anti-bullying policy. Our policies will no doubt state that we will not, under any circumstances, tolerate bullying. We declare that we will stand up to bullies, but do we? We would all like to say that our schools are ‘bully free’ but we would be deceiving...