As parents, we all have a secret toolkit that we carry around with us: distractions, ways of speaking, words we say, maybe even a mini Soreen or a box of raisins… We draw on our invisible tools all day and every day to survive each varied moment, from get up time to bedtime, as smoothly as we can. For over 30 years, Social Stories have been written to support children with learning difficulties, but with AI being so easy to access now, Social Stories can be created in a few

4 o’clock, 5 o’clock… dinnertime! Do you remember playing What’s the time, Mr Wolf? in the playground? Do you remember the challenge of learning to tell the time? I don’t recall learning to read the clock but I definitely remember the challenge (and sometimes pain!) with my own children. Will had a keen interest in the time when he was in year one (and I happened to be his school teacher at the time!) but he did NOT want to know anything about the analogue clock. He coul

Three occurrences in the last few weeks have made me think about our children’s experiences with money and led to writing this blog in the hope to explain the importance of exposing children to using coins and notes to understand this vital commodity. £1 in my pocket I went over a toll bridge on a diversion on my way to work this week and handed over my trolley pound to pay, rushing off in my hurry to get there, without waiting for the change. Do you have a trolley pound in y

Happy New Year! Whether you vow to take up running, promise to make your bed every day, or tell yourself you’re going to eat your five-a-day each day of the week, it’s very well known that New Year’s resolutions are almost impossible to stick to. Our lives are so busy, it’s often really difficult to even think up any changes we want to make, so putting them into practice is even harder. I once heard someone on a podcast saying that it takes an adult at least two weeks to cha

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” The cakes and mince pies may have been made for a couple of months now (or in the shops if, like me, you don’t make your own!) and Black Friday, Red Monday and all the other coloured days that marketing teams can think of, are coming thick and fast. You’ve worked out who is going where on Christmas Day, how many chairs you’ll need (remember that Peter Kay joke about everyone being on different chairs around the table, at a range of

Books for the lower-mid primary years, mid-upper primary years and a wish list to start your Christmas stories collection for this year! We've reached the stage in our house where our oldest child doesn't want a story anymore at bedtime. In fact, some nights, he goes to bed at the same time as us or after! We're still reading to our youngest and reminiscing about the story times gone by, but our evenings have changed. No longer do we have a bedtime routine that's the same e

To be a good Primary SENCo do you need to know a lot about a little or a little about a lot? This blog was written for Positive Young Minds and published on their website first, in summer 2024. https://positiveyoungmind.com/senco-cpd/ SENCo CPD comes in many different forms, and you don’t always have to go on a course to learn more. This blog aims to offer a few ideas for trickling knowledge and picking up tips without having to go to a conference or sit in front of the compu

Review commissioned for Ryedale and Thirsk Mumbler, July 2024. The short version: Well organised, great food, good bands, funny...

Does having an EHCP mean we can avoid paying VAT on school fees? One of the key changes to education proposed by the new Labour government is the introduction of VAT on independent school fees from January 2025. For some families, this may mean being unable to maintain their child’s school place, where others may be looking for ways to offset or avoid paying the VAT. The content here is based on the experience of the author as a SENCo in both state and independent schools,

School's out for summer in the UK. Parents have done the last pile of ironing and thrown away the old shirts, t-shirts and socks after each wear as they counted down to the end of term; the lunchbox snacks have run out; shoes have holes in, and the water bottles with the chewed straws have had their last refills. Some families will be glad to see the end of the homework, take a break from filling out the reading records, and pause asking times tables questions, but others mi

Alien words - love them or hate them? Why do they exist? In 2012, the Phonic Screening Check was introduced to primary schools for pupils in year one (age 5-6), with the aim of checking progress in using phonics as the primary method of learning to read. Once the testing window closed, a threshold score was released and if children had met this score, they never needed to see another alien word again! If they didn't meet the score the first time, the test was taken again in t

With the national Multiplication Tables Check taking place in June for children in year 4 (ages 8-9), we might question the requirement to learn the times tables and if they are needed in the modern world in which we live. Years ago, teachers and parents often said, "You won't always have a calculator in your pocket, will you?" They were wrong. We don't only have one in our pocket, but usually in our hands. We also have a spell checker, an encyclopaedia and a photo album in

Written for Positive Young Minds, April 2024: https://positiveyoungmind.com/five-little-steps/ The number of pupils experiencing difficulties with their social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) is rising rapidly and when we consider the huge pressures put on children at present, it is any wonder? Pressures from the national curriculum In the early years, the national expectations for the end of the reception year (age 5) involve, amongst other aspects: reading; writing;

‘Discover Northallerton’ through an augmented reality tour! Now there’s a new way to take a look into the past as you explore North...

If there's one small thing a parent or carer can do to help their baby's literacy in future years, it is to provide access to lots of stories from a very young age. There are huge benefits in sharing books, with the adult reading and the child snuggling up to listen, but there's another gem that brings so many benefits; regular access to audiobooks. Do you remember those cassette tapes that came with a story book and when there was a tinkle sound, you needed to turn the page

My Grandad was great at creating little rhymes. One of his favourites was 'Rachel 'surname' is no good. Chop her up for firewood!' He created longer pieces, too, and sometimes wrote them down but I don't know if anyone kept any of them when he died. On Christmas Eve in 2023, we prepped for Father Christmas and pulled out my favourite Christmas story, The Night Before Christmas. Our children hurried into their beds and I stood between their doors, reading the story from the

A last-minute trip to Disneyland, on a budget? That's not possible, surely? It was! I usually write about supporting learning, reading, writing, handwriting etc, but this time, we did some learning of a different kind! Once in a lifetime, perhaps. Towards the end of the summer holidays, my sister suggested a few days away with our children. With busy weeks behind us, we'd hardly seen the cousins and a little trip away seemed like a good idea. I was dreading the suggestio

When I was at primary school, we spent a long time practising handwriting. When I was a new teacher, if children were writing sentences by the end of reception, they were considered to be gifted and talented! Fast forward to today and the writing expectations placed on our little people are much harder to achieve, especially after large proportions of their lives have been spent in lockdown. Expectations in the reception year The Early Learning Goals, which indicate the exp

If you have a child in primary school, you may have heard them talking about the common exception words, tricky words or exception words, and they may have brought home a list of words to learn throughout the year. It's common for these lists to be handed out at parents' evenings or at the start of the year. What are common exception words and why are they important? In 2013, a new national curriculum was published and by 2016, the English part of it was statutory in primar

School spelling tests: love them or hate them? Do you remember spelling tests at school? I'm not really sure I do but for some families, they're a big deal for a number of reasons. I often hear that parents like a spelling test, spending a long time, at home and in the car, making their children learn a list of words, then comparing scores each week with others. The big question is, after the test, do these children spell well in their day to day writing? Possibly not. It