Denise Forrest

Thank you. I’ll look into that.

How does this work?

Ooh I like the light over your camera

This sums up my term so far

A brilliant, inspiring read.

Where have all the Headteachers gone…? Being a Headteacher was what I wanted to do since I first stepped into the classroom in 1996. I turned 50 last week. Properly old! I've also been asked by the lovely people at Bloomsbury to write a bo...

NEW BLOG: Where have all the Headteachers gone? #Edusky #Schools #Headteacher @headteacherchat.bsky.social @teachertapp.bsky.social pls share. southgloshead.wordpress.com/2024/08/31/w...

Thank you. That’s really useful.

Just before tomorrow begins - an important message:

Grades 1-3 are not fails. Us or Xs are. Anyone with a 1-3 HAS GOT A GCSE. And for some of those kiddos, a 1 or a 2 or 3 can be a phenomenal result that they deserve to be proud of. Let’s be a bit more responsible in our language.

In this case it kind of makes sense. If parents were originally prepared to pay private school fees then didn’t need to anymore, the obvious thing to do is to use that money to pay for extra tuition.

There definitely was a high expectations culture but there was also high support to make it happen

We discovered part way through Y13 that ALL of her friends had private tutors. It made me wonder how much the school’s results were being propped up by external support.

I don’t say that in any way as a criticism of the school. It just wasn’t as great as she expected.

My eldest asked to change school for sixth form. She chose a private turned state school. The year group she joined were the final cohort to have started when it was still private. She wanted to do medicine so we agreed thinking being in the high aspirations culture would be good for her.

It worked well. I supported students who were still working at LKS2 level. I was probably most useful advising colleagues (maths esp.) on how they would have been taught in primary & encouraging them to adopt a CPA approach. It made me realise how pointless SPaG & a lot of KS2 English is though!

My first session is 17th. I’d be interested in visiting some time though if that’s possible?

I’ve taught:

Reception
Y4

9 years PT supply whilst my daughters were little

Y5
Y3
Y5 AHT
Y3-4 AHT

Primary catch up teacher in secondary
Y5 in a middle school

SENCO (secondary)

I think it depends on what can be viewed as a “reasonable adjustment” in lessons and what needs to be classed as “additional to” or “different from” which I view as something that happens outside the classroom. But that relies on how good is your QFT & is that consistent throughout the school? #SEND

When I took on the role I was clueless. I hoped the NASENCO course would answer these questions for me but it didn’t. It took almost 2 years before I felt I had a clear enough idea in my own head of who should be on the register (in my setting) & who shouldn’t.

Great blog from Gary Aubin @sendmattersuk.bsky.social who has just joined the platform. He’s really worth adding to your Ed and #SEND lists

Children at the frontline — neurodivergence and school distress Cognitive neuroscientist Dr Sinéad Mullally and her team surveyed over 900 parents of children displaying school distress.

Sobering read, though not surprising.

researchfeatures.com/children-fro...

I’ve done 20+ years with a 9 year gap in the middle to bring up children. Happy to chat.

Thank you

I might be picking your brains Ria 😆

Hi, I’m a secondary SENCO. I’m primary trained & taught for 15+ years in primary before making the jump to “big school”. Particularly interested in autism, anxiety & dyslexia.

Starting a PG cert in SpLD Dyslexia at Edge Hill in September. Would love to link up with any other colleagues doing that🤞🏻

Fabulous resources. Thanks for sharing ❤️

This is brilliant! Thank you ❤️

Thank you. I was trying to do it on my phone. I’ve deleted the feed as @phoenixedsarah.bsky.social has set up a similar one so I don’t want there to be two. She may appreciate some advice though.

No worries. I’m not precious about it at all. I was just aware that there didn’t seem to be a SEND feed so rather than just waiting & hoping & expecting someone else to do it, thought I’d give it a go. We obviously had the same idea at the same time!

You seem to have got further than I did, so I’ve deleted my list as we don’t need two feeds doing the same job.

I’ve deleted this feed as we don’t need two feeds doing the same job as it dilutes the traffic. Let’s just use the SEND in schools feed instead.

Excellent! This probably isn’t needed then! I don’t care who does it as long as we have a SEND feed somewhere 😂

Yes. I was following some instructions online but I got part way through & got stuck.