What's all this then?


I tweet too much. So I needed somewhere else to start storing all the words. This is it. Think of it as the external hard drive for my thoughts.

I don't have an obesssion, a dream, a fixation or a hook, so don't be expecting a focus here. It's like great big lumps of my twitterings. You may see teaching stuff, rants, maternal anxiety and occasional sojourns away from reality.

Anyway, I like a nice chat so we should talk. By we, I of course mean me...

The Education Stuff





Who am I to go on about education?


I trained as a primary school teacher and have worked in Education for a baker's dozen of years.  Most of that time was spent on the SLT of a Pupil Referral Unit. I ran the Primary School outreach programme working in schools with pupils at risk of exclusion and advising headteachers and Sencos on managing behaviour in schools. I also taught permanently excluded Secondary Pupils on site, ran training sessions for teachers and emptied the dishwasher when it was full. For what it's worth, Ofsted said we were an outstanding example of EBD practice.


When not doing that I've taught in primary schools, taking whichever co-ordinator role was empty. Most recently I've specialised in PSHE.


However, I'm now heading out of teaching via one to one tuition. I aim to become a wandering beekeeper, earning a living from my Performing Bee sideshows and trading honeycomb for cider at country fayres.




What's this about?


These are the blog bits about education. I decided to group them together for ease of reference. It probably reads like a list of annoying things about education. But then, there's some funny old stuff going on at the moment.


Big Rant about Big Writing (in which I am not a fan of Big Writing)


Here come the mind twizzlers... (in which Free Schools are found to be dreadful)


E-bac: Victorian delivery after years of modern education (an analysis of Gove's Ebac)


An Apple for the teacher. Please. (on teaching technology v teaching with technology)


Boys, Girls, Marshmallows (why both genders deserve enriched teaching)


Open letter to Reception teachers everywhere (because my smallest girl started school)


In the beginning... (about leaving teaching. Or thereabouts)


Yes Sir we have no bananas today. (on SRE, inspired by Nadine Dorries, the hydra-headed bonkers politician)


Gove Letters straight from the heart (More on SRE, my professional soapbox, and a letter from the Education Secretary)


The Great Lego Rip Off (On the cult of the workshop and taking money from school kitties. Small pots of money, not cats.)