I’ve really enjoyed writing on Substack this year. I’ve met some great people and writing has really helped organise my thoughts and niche down into my values.
By comparison to some other Substacks I’ve got a small amount of subscribers. However, I’m absolutely loving being able to reply to every comment on every post. Thank you all for being so welcoming and open to discussion about every topic!
If anyone’s interested, here’s my growth on Substack:
I began using notes and commenting on others’ posts more regularly around October.
My Most Viewed Posts
Below are my top 5 viewed posts of 2024. If you’ve missed these, please feel free to have a read and share them with colleagues! If you have anything else you’d like to see from me in 2025, please comment below!
✨Sensory Rooms in Education🪷
When you’re stressed, what do you do to help? Go for a walk? Listen to music? Ring a certain person? Read? All of these things and more are options for adults and for most, these options are generally available even whilst you’re at work.
This post dives into what a sensory room is, how it works and how you can make your own! Sensory rooms are great for teaching children how to self-regulate. They’re a really powerful room/station to have in your classroom, especially in specialist settings!
📋Behaviour Policies, time to go?📋
Behaviour policies are a controversial topic within schools in England at the moment. Some academies and schools have very strict behaviour policies, others have more relaxed ones. This means that a student’s behaviour in one school could lead to multiple suspensions, resulting in an exclusion. However, another student in a different school displaying t…
Lots of behaviour policies, especially those in UK secondary schools and academies, are really missing the point! I believe they’re not truly understanding children’s behaviour and what they are communicating through said behaviour. Is it time we shifted away from punitive behaviour policies and towards more restorative ones? I think so! This post explains why its important and how you can start that shift.
🎨Creating an Inclusive Classroom📚
It’s really easy to implement small routines or areas into your classroom or education space which can be transformational for all children but especially those with Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. This post will outline the different ideas you can implement. All ideas can be adapted to work for children within different age groups.
Keeping with the theme of providing tangible examples. This post explains how you can change your teaching style to become a more inclusive teacher for all pupils. Using art, mood boards, social stories and postcards, unpick the many different ways you can transform that “tricky” class into the easiest class ever to teach!
Let's Talk About Tom
Over my years teaching in specialist Social Emotional & Mental Health settings, I have encountered students who have displayed seriously challenging and dangerous behaviour. These include throwing chairs, assaulting other pupils and staff members, being verbally abusive, spitting and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the school building. Wh…
The feedback I got on this post was amazing, it was quite a difficult post to write for me as it’s based on a pupil I’ve taught before (anonymised). I felt it was important to write this post as it unpicks some of the underlying reasons for pupils’ behaviour which a lot of professionals wouldn’t even think of.
De-Escalation Strategies That Actually Work
You’re sat eating your lunch in the staff room of your workplace. A colleague walks in, swinging the door violently, it crashes against the adjoining wall. There’s a loud thud, everyone turns to look at them. Another colleague asks them if everything is okay? This is met with a venomous “Fuck off!” The room falls silent for a brief second, which feels a…
The last post unpicks different de-escalation strategies that actually work when attempting to regulate a child who is on the edge of a crisis. These are strategies that I’ve successfully used in a specialist Social Emotional & Mental Health provision. There are some really simple tips in there, such as mirroring body language.
Thank You
Thank you all for showing up every week to read my posts. It’s crazy to think that there are almost 100 of you now! I hope you’ve all had a great break and are looking forward to a good start in 2025!
Thanks for sharing. I just started my own substack about a month ago, and although my initial desire was to publish content, I've began engaging with other educators and really enjoy the perspectives from around the world