UK Teach Primary Magazine: 'A heavy weight to carry' by Claire Tripp, 2019

Brilliant article @chicaguapa

 

Thanks. I’ve got a similar one coming out in Teach Secondary in July. They actually commissioned it first, but Teach Primary got theirs out sooner. The article was easy to write as it’s everything I wanted to say to my daughter’s school (well almost ).

Last year I got involved in a school’s decision to ban a student with ME from the prom because her attendance was too low and as a result the head teacher invited me to do some staff training on ME. It’s something I’d like to develop when I have more time.

My husband is a teacher so I have some insight and sympathy. But it breaks my heart that children with ME are being harmed by an unhealthy and inappropriate focus on attendance. It means the system in place isn’t fit for purpose.

In our case we were threatened with Children’s Services as I kept my daughter home, even though her 2-day CPET results later proved this was the correct approach for her. Even though my husband was a member of staff at the school. Work that one out!

 

Brilliant article @chicaguapa , I have already sent it to our daughter (T/A in a primary) and asked her to distribute.

 

No, it was their parting gift when he went to another school, a nasty letter accusative letter posted to us on the last day of term. Very cowardly.

 

Think this is the same article?

https://www.teachwire.net/news/understanding-me-and-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-in-children

 

Excellent article @chicaguapa

 

Thank you for posting the article. I've shared it with my teacher wife...

 

Thanks for posting it @Andy. I was hoping they’d put it online and now both the magazine and Teachwire have tweeted it as well. I’m sure this is because of the level of response to it on social media. My own tweet sharing the images (before it was online) has been seen over 13,000 times and has nearly 1,000 engagements. Much better that it’s shared by the magazines’ accounts though as they’ll have the target followers, so it’s great news.

 

Excellent! There’s another one coming out at the end of June aimed at Secondary school teachers. The message is broadly the same but has more relevant language to resonate better with the target audience.

 

I'll keep my eyes peeled for that then as my wife is a secondary teacher. I'll ask if she can circulate it to her colleagues as well. Thanks.

 

I' ve emailed a link to our council " quality improvement officer." She was a secondary head and very good at responding to all things educational.

 

@chicaguapa . There are subtle differences in Scottish system re additional support needs ( eg don' t have SENCOs , EHCPs etc - different support plans and roles and the whole GIRFEC agenda) -
if following up with more detail, or in more depth for secondary it may be worth bouncing it off someone within/ with working knowledge of Scottish education system to pop in a couple of sentences if UK wide distribution

 

Tweet from the publisher, if anybody wants to share it that way.
https://twitter.com/user/status/1126184243393171457

 

I’m pretty sure, having read the magazine, that it’s based around the English school system. That said, it’s worth me looking for a Scottish equivalent or asking the publisher if they distribute anything in Scotland. So thanks.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1149561512173821954

 

Thanks @chicaguapa