rachel sharp

The power of human connection cannot be underestimated in schools. We are inherently relational creatures designed to work our best when in connection. When we are met with relational wealth, attunement & genuine connection, our biology responds. Educators need to know this. 🧠🌱

If there’s one plea I could make ahead of GCSE results day tomorrow, it’s in the way the media and other commentators talk about GCSE grades. 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.

This! 🙌

@ashleigh_pain Yes please if possible

Further changes being finalised for the PSHE Booklet, entitled: Safeguarding: Protecting ourselves and each other. This is a booklet for student use. Whilst it’s not yet finished, it will be by tomorrow. Once done, I am happy to send it out to all that would like it.

Quote of the day: "Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be." - Rita Pierson

Today I talked to a young person who stopped going to school in Year 7. He told me, when we looked around the school they said that detentions were only for when you did something really wrong and most people didn’t get them. Then, when I got there, I found out that in nearly every lesson someone got a detention. The teachers were always giving us detentions and I was scared. He said, they really pack things into your head. You get into the class and there’s a ‘First do this’ on the board and you have to sit down and do it immediately. Then the teacher gives you more to do and it doesn’t matter if you can’t do it all, it just keeps moving on. You can’t ask your friend how they are doing it because you can’t talk. You’re always worrying about what happens next and whether you might get a detention. He said, I couldn’t do it. It made my head hurt and by lunchtime I couldn’t go on. I know I was learning a lot but I couldn’t keep going. He’s out of school now and at an alternative setting. He said, I can stay all day there, because they don’t pressure us. I couldn’t believe how relaxed they were when I started. They don’t give us detentions and I didn’t think that would really happen. I’m learning things. There’s no way for this to be fed back to the system. No one asks those of us who work in mental health what the side effects are of our local school. No one measures mental health as a key outcome of educational and behavioural policy. No one looks at children’s behaviour and attendance as feedback on the system. He’s not an isolated case. I hear stories like his all the time. Kids who cannot cope with high pressure and high control environments and who start not attending school as a result. Kids who tell me that they are constantly fearful of getting it wrong. You won’t solve that by fining or threatening their parents. We have to ask what is happening in our schools, and whether many of them are becoming environments in which children cannot thrive. Exam results aren’t enough. We have to ask about the side effects of the system.

@MissFairhurst @TPScheme Same For me. And sadly getting nowhere despite over a year of emails that now go unanswered

Can all active and deferred members please check their service record. This is to ensure the information we've received from your employer(s) is accurate. If you do find inaccuracies, please contact the relevant employer, and raise the error.

@SwailesRuth Agree. Done a lac meal the last two years with carers etc invited - making good memories- crackers, turkey, Xmas eve boxes can’t fix the world but can make little happy deposits in their memory banks for when they may need it

Very grateful for those who are aware that for some children Christmas at home will be a pretty miserable affair, and who go out of their way to do something nice for the children in school. Making positive Christmas memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you.

@ashleigh_pain Would love a copy please

Imagine - just 20 days between diagnosis and death for someone so young, #Glioblastoma can happen to anyone, at any time. My heart breaks for Oliver's friends & family. Please sign the petition if you haven't already, we desperately need change. Thank you

This is Neal Holder, the Head of Holderness Academy, who shames his less wealthy pupils by putting them in isolation for wearing cheaper school uniform. Retweet if you think social segregation is not the role of a Head teacher.

@mikejwhelan @LibbyMbc Such sad news thoughts with her family

CANCER UPDATE Sadly, we lost a dear friend of our community @LibbyMbc passed away last night. Cancer just sucks. 😥

@shitscaredmum That’s beautiful 💕 x

(S)he was my North, my South, my East & West,
My working week and my Sunday rest.
 The 3 of us used to wear matching compass necklaces, this is so she can find us again one day. I know it’s a bit of a cliche but here I am with my first #tattoo aged 53 #Grief

@hbridgeteach @PastoralThings @PastoralLeaders Body image, mental health, healthy relationships, friendships, post 16 options

@Headteacherchat Sequence of curriculum, order of teaching, ks4 offer

Anon post: Has anyone had a Ofsted deep dive into science recently? If so what questions were leaders / pupils asked? TIA 😊

@MrBufton I’m sure people have said it but I moved from mainstream into semh and adore my job again

@rubbiology @HelloRidgewood Thanks I’ll try and inbox it’s not letting me for some reason

@rfshar @HelloRidgewood Dm me your email and i’ll drop box you on Monday :)

Incredibly proud of our new (launched this year) reading strategy in KS3 Science @HelloRidgewood. Once every 10 lessons, students read, reflect, and digest a scientific research paper with the help of a teacher. Developing scientific vocab and nature of science/ HSW awareness