Only made it to two author talks at the #BathChildrensLitFestival this year, but they’ve both been so wonderful. Youngest (5yo) has been so inspired by @nadiashireen.bsky.social I keep finding little Eric Dynamites around the house 🥰👒 #RaisingReaders #AuthorInspo #MiniIllustrator

Burnout The house was burning. I got the kids out. Saved the most precious items. ‘Did you get a bucket of water?!’ I called from the upstairs window, my lungs filling with smoke. ‘No!’ He called back from the street. ‘I was sleeping!’ #Burnout #MentalLoad #LonelyParenting #ShiftWork

Three weeks in to the academic year and I’m already feeling burnt out. #TeacherLife #EnglishMarking

This has struck a chord this morning.

Just discovered Noel Streatfeild was not a man. This misunderstanding is as baffling as discovering Tennessee Williams and the Child Catcher weren’t female 🤣 How have I not realised these things until I’m an advanced adult?!

This has been a golden find for my 5yo. It has enough decodable words for her to join in reading aloud, although she knows the whole thing off by heart now. She did a Rainbows badge all about it whilst dressed as a cat 💕 #VivianeSchwartz #RaisingReaders #GirlGuidingBookLover #SummerReads

So depressing having the emails I sent myself in July with the Sept prep rolling in and unfurling like flea ridden stray dogs wandering into my home and wanting me to give them tummy rubs. #TeacherLife #JealousOfMyPastSelf #SummerHolidays #SeptemberAmnesia

My five year old has discovered the Spice Girls #GirlPower #90sFeminism #Wannabe ✌🏻

Beyond excited to surprise my 8yo with seeing #PamelaButchart in the flesh: she’s a HUGE fan. Got an email today that the session is cancelled. She doesn’t know and I understand fully why it’s cancelled but I’m still so disappointed for her. #FirstWorldProblems #RaisingReaders #ThenWeGasped

What a view! 😍 #CampingWithKids #OutdoorsAdventures #FairWeatherCamper

My main gripe with #Hercules though, as is always the case with anything set in ‘ancient’ times: the unnecessary mash up of time periods, cultures, mythologies… ancient Rome & ancient Greece are not the same thing! Mosaics in the set design, jokes about Rome, gladiator costumes… 🤦🏻‍♀️ 🙄 #ClassicsNerd

2/2 #Hercules The leads did their very best but costume and characterisation were lacking. Muses were PHENOMENAL. Set was impressive. Choreography needed energy & - along with Hades - gave it all a cheap pantomime feel. Female roles better developed. Story quite different from the film.

1/2 Saw the new #Hercules today. 8yo absolutely loved it - her first West End show. She was desperate to spend pocket money on merch but her £5 didn’t even remotely stretch to a keyring #RipOff I felt the show was lazy with what I assume was a fairly large budget…

#FlowersExhibition at the #SaatchiGallery was splendiferous. My girls were inspired to sketch, dance and cartwheel. So many different forms & interpretations. Kids loved the interactive installation and the free family watercolours workshop was great too! 8yo snapped this pic 🥰 #BlossomsAndBrushes

My 5yo made up a joke: What do you call a unicorn with no horn? 🦄 … … … A duck. 🦆 You’re welcome. #KidsJokes #FiveYearsOld #KidLogic

Browsing the #BathChildren’sLiterature festival events and sprayed wine everywhere on realising Pamela Butchart was doing a session. My 8yo is OBSSESSED. We read all her books this year. She’s gonna be stoked when she finds out she’s going to meet her! #KidLit #RaisingReaders

Two things I did today that confirmed my #middleaged status: deliberated extensively over two shades of grey carpet; got excited when vinegar cleaned out my steam mop and made it work again. #LivingTheMiddleAgeDream #GettingOldMeansI’mHere

Traditional start to the holidays: sign up to the library’s summer reading challenge. 8yo has read three books today. She’ll have smashed the challenge by tomorrow evening 😂 #SummerReadingChallenge2025 #ReadingGoals #RaisingReaders #BookwormInTraining

Just loving #ScreamoftheWhistle by @erandalljones.bsky.social It’s mine and the 8yos bedtime book of choice at the moment and we’re have very different theories about what’s going on! #ReadingWithKids #ParentingLife #ReadAloud #BooksForKids #KidsWhoRead #BedtimeStories #SupportAuthors

Another fantastic round of Spare Room’s #Gutenberg! the Musical @rondotheatre.bsky.social So much I’d forgotten from last time 🧢 🧢 💕 #SupportTheArts #CommunityTheatre #BudAndDoug #SpareRoomTheatre

Five year old was freaked by Siri, thinking it was a person or robot that might one day come out of my phone. A valid fear perhaps but what frightens me most is that I ended up using ChatGPT to write a script to explain it as my initial attempts all fell flat or frightened her more 🫥😬

Youngest woke this morning cuddled up next to me, took a deep breath and said, ‘mmmm you smell like love.’ 💕

‘Life is like a train that just keeps getting faster and faster and the sooner you realise that, the better.’ Ain’t that the truth! Another birthday passed yesterday and I feel thankful to have survived it and appalled by how quickly time seems to disappear these days!

First poster for Christopher Nolan’s #TheOdyssey has been officially released

For those who feel or felt alone at school - there is hope - you will be brilliant - find your tribe or your happy solitude

Today was a #3GoodThings day for sure. 1. School closed because of a burst water pipe (now fixed) so we all got sent home. 2. I therefore got to go on an unexpected bike ride in the glorious sun. 3. I got to surprise my kiddos with a bonus pick up 🥰

@sensewords.bsky.social #sensewrds #prompt89 Hope I’ve done this right!

Heading to the Bath University #Literacy Symposium tomorrow. Really looking forward to it all and hoping to come away with some new ideas for developing and embedding literacy across the curriculum. #DisciplinaryLiteracy #BAWESS

Found a free audiobook of my current reading book last night, as I was too tired to actually read. Found it, played it, heard about ten words and was out. #Teaching and #parenting is #exhausting! 😂

Introduced the Big Question of the lesson: Who is Lady Macbeth? One student immediately says, ‘the goddess of war.’ They’d focused on the description of Macbeth as ‘Bellona’s bridegroom’ so he’d made the link. I’ve never looked at that quotation in relation to LM and now I can’t think why not!

This cruelty of womanhood, just never ends until we are too old to appreciate it, child #transitions to bleeding woman, bleeding woman #transitions to older woman; the in-betweens are all hormonally wrought body horror shows that make us question beauty, worth. #poemsabout #transition #poetry

Gender swapped Taming of the Shrew worked exceptionally well, although the gaslighting and abuse of Kate still doesn’t quite sit right. Highlights how much even the minor male characters stand around talking, even when the lead female characters say or do nothing. @rondotheatre.bsky.social

‘Reading for Pleasure strategy’. Bit oxymoronic really, isn’t it?

Children’s Liturgy planned for tomorrow. Getting them to do an obstacle course blindfolded and kindness musical statues. It’s going to be chaos 😂 Hopefully the message about guiding lights and working in harmony with others will get through! #CLOW #CatholicKids #WhoPutMeInCharge?!

Okay. I’m going to do it. I want to write one of the children’s novels I’ve had kicking around in my head. I need a deadline though: a reason to get it out. Best novel prizes or competitions or anything? All advice welcome! I’m UK based, if that makes a difference. #Unpublished #ChildrensWriting

Today’s cake offering was disappointing. A ‘Dubai’ chocolate and pistachio brownie. An underwhelming choice. The flat white was excellent. Almost finished the book 📖

🥰Happy Independent Bookshop Week! Buy ANY book 14-15 June, and you could win a £250 Bookshop.org digital gift card! #IndieBookshopWeek Every sale supports independent bookshops 🥳 uk.bookshop.org/lists/win-a-...

So true that ‘evaluating spoken language often rewards superficial confidence over genuine understanding…’ Interesting prepping Yr10 for Spoken Language and seeing how they mistake confidence and a Home Counties accent for ‘good speech’ regardless of the actual content.

This morning’s read. Not discovered Jerry Spinelli before but might have to rummage in his back catalogue. Cover design is gorgeous too.

#IsItCake? has the best drama. ‘Ermergerd! Jason - the bepierced, green haired pastry chef from Iowa - has cramped hands! 😱 IS ROME BURNING?! No, it’s fine; here’s an impossibly accurate taco that’s actually cake.’ Love it. Love #cake.

Really enjoyed the book launch at @mrbsemporium.bsky.social for #TheScreamoftheWhistle this week. Possibly the best cake I’ve ever had and I won chocolates! Can’t wait to get stuck into the story with my 8yo #ChildrensBooks #BathReading #NewKidsFiction

Meet the passengers of a certain ghost train - Elfie, Ru and Malik. Pre-order 'The Scream of the Whistle' here: mrbsemporium.com/shop/books/t...

@scribblebibbler.bsky.social this is a wonderful resource! Will definitely be delving in 🙌🏽 #CreativeWritingForKids #EnglishTeaching #YoungWriters #WritingInspiration

Am actively avoiding all social media related to @hayfestival.bsky.social. First time in years I haven’t spent May half term there and feeling quite bereft! Am trying to pretend it’s not happening. That’s a good strategy, right?! 😂 #HappyPlace #HayOnWye 💜

My #Defeat contribution for @brokenspinearts.bsky.social #PoemsAbout. It can be demoralising dealing with the mess children make but I am eternally #grateful that they are here, thriving, and creating the mess. #RainbowBabies #SeenAndHeard Thanks for the prompt @alanparry83.bsky.social

🚨 Poets, brace yourselves. 👀 Nearly 20 indie lit platforms are locked in: reviews, features, interviews, podcasts — all ready to amplify your voice. 💥 No fees. No gatekeepers. Just real visibility. This is my brainchild. It’s almost here. #PromoteIndieLit #PIL #PoetryCommunity #PoetsOfBluesky

#Summer dreams. Five yo set up a cafe for me, complete with flowers and menu that included ‘sweet apple sauce’ and ‘milk with cinnamon’ 🥰 #Gin #BooksInTheSun

Had a lovely chat with my Yr11s today about scruffy, ordinary items of furniture that become heirlooms purely because of the memories attached to them. All inspired by the unseen poem in their Literature exam this week. #PowerOfPoetry #EnglishTeaching

Enjoying a top notch coffee in a new place in town. Play cafe in session upstairs and it struck me that I have noone to visit such things anymore. 😢 I wanted more children but it wasn’t to be #OlderChildren #NoMoreBabies