Head Teacher of a Primary School, somewhere on the East Coast of this fair isle…
In the world that I inhabit I work on a daily basis with adults and children who have such a wide range of needs and demands that I sometimes get lost in the mire. I hope that this blog will help me to see my way through…
The Musings of a Head Teacher 
Amazingly frank account of your day. If its any consolation mine was much worse!!! At least you have completed your phonic submission…. I haven’t!
You are not alone! I hope you have supportive colleagues you can share with.
Hello,
I have just read your blog and found it very powerful. particularly your description of calming a distressed child by placing his teddy bear on his tummy. I wondered if you have come across mindfulness as a programme to help children? The Mindfulness in Schools project (www.mindfulnessinschools.org )was created for secondary school age pupils and there is currently a primary model in development. The programme is now being taught in a range of schools but also in PRU’s to assist children with particularly difiicult and often deprived backgrounds. An excellent book which gives some simple mindfulness practices for young children is The Mindful Child by Susan Kaiser Greenland. If you have not come across mindfulness as an intervention it is a very powerful way of engaging young minds and showing them how they can apply techniques which help them deal better with anxiety, anger and upset.
I was interested to read your article in the Guardian on Tuesday 30 th October. I run the charity The Art Room (www.theartroom .org.uk). The Art Room is a therapeutic intervention for children like those that you right about . I would be keen to meet you and see if there was any way we might work together. There are five Art Rooms, four in Oxford and one in Islington, London. I admire the work that you do. Yours sincerely, Juli Beattie. Founder & Director of The Art Room
At last an honest account of life in school. keep up the good work. We all have tough times (our visit from OFSTED was particularly hard) but as you say things just carry on, the sun still comes up and the children still learn and are frequently an inspiration to us all.
I run a small charity that provides books to children who might not otherwise have books of their own. If you would like to get in touch, I’d be able to make some small grants.
Hello, I also read your article in the Guardian (21st Jan) and found it very moving, you and your staff sound like your doing a fantastic job. I am training to be a child counsellor and was wondering if you ever have trainees doing placements at your school..I would be very interested in talking to you about this if you wanted to get in touch. All the best, Charlotte