PACT Parents And Carers Together

10/12/2025

Had to share this as it’s something we’ve been saying for years and this says it all so brilliantly! 💜🫶🏼 👇🏼

09/12/2025

What a lovely (inexpensive) tradition for Christmas Eve 📖

What is Jolabokaflod? Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson explains the tradition, where it comes from, and his favourite books to gift.

08/12/2025

Telling parents that their children’s future will be ruined by missing school—while the school environment remains inaccessible—is an impossible double standard.
By

05/12/2025

Youth organisations hold a lot of responsibility when holding ‘placements’ with young people who have experienced systemic trauma. They must be and aware how their actions can impact!

05/12/2025

"I was fine when I was growing up."

"We never needed all this nonsense when I was at school."

"We just used to get on with it, and it never did us any harm."

Sound familiar?

I went to primary school in the 1970s. I was never given homework, although we did read at home. We were allowed to read what we liked, and once we had demonstrated that we knew how to read, we were left to choose our own books according to our interests.

There was no national curriculum, and teachers were trusted to teach us what they knew we needed to know.

There were no SATs, and although we had spelling tests, there was no pressure. Assessment was presumably ongoing, as I don't remember ever doing an exam in primary school.

Children knew nothing about attendance targets, learning objectives and test scores. We were free to be children and to enjoy learning and playing with our friends.

I honestly think my children would have had no trouble coping with a 1970s primary school classroom.

We put so much pressure on our children to perform. We test them endlessly from the moment they enter the education system. They don't have time to settle into the classroom in the morning - they're straight into their morning numeracy and literacy tasks. Reading becomes a chore - another thing they have to be pushed to do.

From about the age of 5, my children told me they didn't like "doing learning". "Learning" involved sitting still and facing the teacher with their "listening ears" on, having to write the date and LO (enough writing in itself to exhaust my dyspraxic, hypermobile son) and producing endless amounts of written work.

Schools have become exam factories, where the joy is sucked out of learning for learning's sake.

I worked in professional training for 20 years. Over the last few years, the most common question I would get from graduates with good degrees was not "How can I use this in my job?", but "Do I need to know this for the exam?"

Neurodivergent children are the canaries in the coal mines. They're telling us that schools have become a hostile environment. I don't think I'd cope in a school these days without reasonable adjustments.

We should listen to them.

04/12/2025

Pen licences are something which always attract criticism, particularly when a child has had an awful experience…. 🖊️

03/12/2025

Not everybody's plate has to look the same 🩵

02/12/2025

❤️🫶🏼💜 thankyou The Rachel Swindall Trust x

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02/12/2025

Schools urged to trial four-day week to ease pressure on teachers in England and Wales

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/dec/01/schools-urged-to-trial-four-day-week-to-ease-pressure-on-teachers-in-england-and-wales?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

02/12/2025

Government acts on commitment to put parents’ experiences at the heart of SEND reform through new public engagement campaign.