"Daddy, will you pull my chair to the window please?" "Of course. Why?" "I want to read and watch the world."

End of an era: we’re down to the very last roll of double-sided tape. My dad 'liberated' a giant box of the stuff from work and stashed it in the cellar roughly 35 years ago. This Christmas, three and a half decades on, the supply will finally run out.

New school; new adventure. Antler, trumpet, scales, boxes and boxes of books... I just wish I hadn't accumulated so much teaching c**p along the way. Thank goodness the new place is open tomorrow so I can move in properly.

Sometimes @teachertapp.bsky.social makes me feel like the odd one out...

Some days I think going part time was the best work decision I ever had. Other days, I know it was.

Led an assembly on ID this week and I thought I'd begin by showing all the various ID I carry in my wallet. Bank card... Driving licence... Donor card... Library card... Gym card... “Gym!?" pipes up one 5 year old, “You go to a gym?”

Took a Y5 class to the National Media Museum today... 👦🏼 Sir, sir, sir. What's that weird thing in this display? It's well shiny. What is it? 👨🏼‍🏫 That, young man, is... a compact disc.

@mr-n-wood.bsky.social How's the training going? You ready for a *checks the article* couch to 278km yet? 😱 www.irunfar.com/sarah-webste...

"Daddy!! I do your work!" Sure mate, after staring at the screen all day, you'll probably do a better job answering these NPQ questions anyway.

I used to be quite an ordinary chap, who had a quite ordinary brain; But now with a toddler, endlessly I'm forced, to read Zog again and again...

I used to be quite an ordinary chap, who had a quite ordinary brain; But now with a toddler, endlessly I'm forced, to read Zog again and again...

Saw this and chuckled; then thought... The World Cup lasts 4 weeks. Fathers in the UK get 2 weeks of statutory leave. So the situation in the UK is that a football tournament lasts longer than the time a dad is given to bond with his newborn child and support his family.

@teachertapp.bsky.social I'd love to know the difference being a parent makes to this. My answer is *very* different now to what it would have been before the little terror arrived on the scene.

The biggest killer of young people in the UK... suicide. I'm entering the Great North Run to raise funds for PAPYRUS, helping them to prevent suicides in young people and promote positive mental health. All & any donations gratefully received. ajbellgreatnorthrun2025.enthuse.com/pf/richard-e...

The biggest killer of young people in the UK... suicide. I'm entering the Great North Run to raise funds for PAPYRUS, helping them to prevent suicides in young people and promote positive mental health. All & any donations gratefully received. ajbellgreatnorthrun2025.enthuse.com/pf/richard-e...

Sod cognitive load theory, pedagogical know how, Vygotsky, Piaget, and Maslow. This. The ability to detach your expressions from your emotions is the essential element in any teacher's armoury.

Pasty faced Northerner who usually holidays in the Highlands Of Scotland asking for help! 🥵🥵🥵

"A.i." doesn't empower anyone. It strips them of belief in themselves and the power of their own minds and hands and abilities and stories. EVERY KID CAN DRAW. EVERY KID CAN TELL STORIES AND MAKE COMICS. Fuck "A.i." for telling kids lies and making them less-than.

I don't think the French hold much regard for Spanish wine. At £1.20 a bottle, I'm prepared to take one for the team.

“We didn’t get smart by sitting still or memorizing lists. We got smart by exploring the world, spotting patterns, making predictions, and adjusting course when we were wrong. That’s how our neural architecture was built…” www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/curi...

@teachertapp.bsky.social Does it count that two girls in a previous class were cousins with identical twin mothers... and no one had told me!!! Cut to five mins into parents evening and, "I'm glad my niece is doing so well, but how's my daughter doing?"

No, where's your head at?

"Teach a lesson" But where @teachertapp.bsky.social? Very different asking an applicant to teach a random lesson to an unknown class compared to visiting them in their own school, teaching their class.

🧵 One of the biggest myths in education since I started teaching in 2010 is this: The knowledge-rich curriculum The myth is that knowing more will improve the quality of children's lives. It's built on the lie that knowledge = grades = good job = happiness. It's a lie.

Favourite place. Favourite person. 🩵🤍🩷

When Mummy has heard the word, “No!” once too often.

Current view. Happy place.

Holiday!! I know October and November can be a long ol' drag, but nothing beats two weeks off in May and June.

Bluesky, prove me wrong - that there are actually people on this site! The next Wellbeing In The Primary Classroom CPD day is in London on Friday 13th June. Learn practical strategies for improving wellbeing in schools. Only a few places left! More info: www.teachappy.co.uk/teachappy-cpd-day

"You're late." "Well done, however it's not important that you were protecting your three younger siblings while mum and dad smashed up the flat fighting." "You're 8, you say? So what?" "You haven't eaten since school lunch yesterday?" "Crying now?" "You need more Grit, sonny!"

Hang it in Le Louvre. #TilTheEnd ♥️🤍♥️🤍

A fabulous first trip to @darlingreads.bsky.social, our new go to indie bookshop. Thank you for being so welcoming as the little one systematically dismantled every display!! Then it was off to the woods with our new purchases. A pretty good way to spend my day off. 🩵🩷📚

This moment when the penny drops that trying to implement bathroom bans is an impossibility for the former Tory Chief Secretary Simon Clarke is delicious.

Part-time deputy day with my side-kick. There's something magical about an English woodland, especially if it has its own library.

Part-time deputy day with my side-kick. There's something magical about an English woodland, especially if it has its own library.

Top 5 things to see in Palma according to TripAdvisor. 5. Calo Des Moro beach 4. Soller town 3. Bellver Castle 2. Aquarium 🏆 Cathedral Top 5 things to see in Palma according to a two year old. 5. Police Car 4. Water splash (fountain) 3. Bin Lorry! Bin Lorry! 2. PIGEON!!! 🏆 Horsey on big TV!

Car: 6 mins Cycle: 7 mins Walk: 26 mins Walk with a two year old who insists on left foot hopping: 1 hour 5 mins 🙄

@teachertapp.bsky.social Struggled to answer this. I returned earlier than I would have liked, but not for financial reasons, purely because my leave expired. My child was still in hospital when my paternity leave ended, I would have loved to have been able to support my family for longer.

Not sure if you saw my last message...

I hope this email finds you well

Cardiff on Friday. 😖 Twickenham and Paris yesterday. 😣😩 Wembley today.😫 Think I may give up on sport. What a terrible run of results.

Repost with a photo of yours that would make a good album cover

Today, the gods have smiled, and the stars have aligned. ✅ Training day at the little one's nursery. ✅ Lieu day for me. ✅ My birthday. All leads to me and them spending the whole day together.

Lovely to be able to get out and explore the garden today. 🌞 This one is clearly going to spend a lot of their youth either in the back of an ambulance or the back of a police car. 😂🚑🚓

Self-care Sunday. There's still snow on the ground, it's -2° and this one wants to run in the river and play football.

I think this has many parallels with the issues we see in teacher retention. Endless waves of roles and tasks, all of which are well-meaning and positive in isolation, but cumulatively end up drowning too many good teachers. #EduSky

Sunday.

Flexible working can be such an emotional rollercoaster when you're two. First the trauma of Mummy having eaten the last Weetabix before she left for work. But the highs of being too quick for Daddy and throwing myself down the massive slide before he could catch me.

January me is laughing tiredly at December leave-it-until-January-as-you-will-be-much-fresher-and-raring-to-go me.

It's amazing who sits next to you on your local steam train. (He told me it's still in the balance as to which list I'm on. 😈👼🏼)