the way back

On Thursday 14th May I was diagnosed with ADHD. It came as no surprise. At all.  I had suspected it for years. Friends and colleagues had too.  Friends and colleagues had too. My lovely friend Ruth (SENDCo at one of the schools I worked at) was convinced of it. Colleagues, who proved to very much not be friends, suspected it, and I believe used it against me to destabilise and ultimately damage my mental health. As another friend who was also diagnosed last year said something that really struck a chord: that the diagnosis meant nothing, and everything. Nothing in that it was more-or-less a given. Everything in that it was complete validation. Also it could now potentially mean that I can find actual solutions for the brain fog, the depression, the anxiety, the RSD, the lack of focus, the restlessness, the guilt, the inability to relax, the obsessing, the absent-mindedness, the blurting stuff out, the intensity, the zoning out, the self-doubt, the frustration, the anger – th...

I was chatting to a friend the other day. I had worked and repped with him at the school I had the breakdown at: the one which initiated this blog. I was horrified to hear that, in a recent newsletter, the awful sociopath head there had published a letter of congratulation from none other than our very own Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson! The head wrote that they  were proud to receive a special  message from old Bridge  celebrating the school's, wait for it, n ationally recognised success  for disadvantaged pupils .  Ooh, well I never: nationally recognised, eh!  Here is the letter: Dear (head teacher), Congratulations to you and your team on the excellent outcomes the disadvantaged pupils at (your) Primary School achieved at the end of the 2024/25 academic year. Your school's performance places it among the very best nationally, and this is a significant achievement. This success reflects the dedication of your staff and the hard...

Here are a few thoughts thrown together about teaching - which seem to have escaped certain  non-class-based  educators from my 15 years experience in London schools.  Maybe they were overworked.  Maybe they had forgotten what it was like to be class-based.  Maybe they had forgotten the very foundations of teaching, respect and integrity.  Maybe they couldn’t have cared less.  Anyway, i n no particular order, I give you: Attributes that do not make a good teacher: Diplomas/being able to pontificate about pedagogical ideas du jour .  Weeks and weeks of meetings  on fashionable topics such as adaptive teaching, creative curriculum, restorative justice, etc. sometimes only seem to serve the purpose of box-ticking, when far more pressing concerns (such as behaviour management and mental health for instance) could be discussed, and potential solutions implemented.  Being able to create attractive excel spreadsheets , including impractica...

It is a sad state of affairs that in today's world, especially education, nondisclosure agreements  (NDAs)  have developed from agreements genuinely used to  maintain trade secrets to documents serving to primarily protect management by covering up workplace wrongdoing. This is commonplace despite guidelines such as these,  found on the ACAS  website : A non-disclosure agreement should not be used: to cover up inappropriate behaviour or misconduct, especially if there's a risk of it happening again to avoid addressing disputes or problems if it could cause serious moral or ethical issues if it could cause any other negative outcomes or effects I  chanced upon an  article online which looks in more detail at the implications of nondisclosure agreements. Here are some extracts:   "NDAs are supposed to prevent people from sharing technical secrets—trade secrets,” said Kim Scott, author and co-founder of Radical Candor. “They were not supposed to be u...

 To all dictatorial micro-managing heads/SLT out there, I give you this: (courtesy of Modern Toss)

And so the gaslighting and/or incompetence of the AA continues. Fourteen months after our accident. As I explained in my last post on the blog, I was given incontrovertible proof that the other driver had been convicted of driving without due care and attention thereby -you’d think- completely quashing the AA’s position that I was liable.   I explained this and expressed my dismay to the AA. They demanded that they have two months to investigate, despite the accident being over a year ago at that stage. Below is what I received last week:   Dear Mr Alex Gwinnett,   (…)   Following your dissatisfaction with regards to the service received following your recent claim, your file has been passed to myself to review. I am now able to respond to you with our final decision. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise that you have felt it necessary to escalate your concerns [1] and can assure you that we always undertake a thorough review when any compla...