Gemma’s Blog
Once upon a time there was a lovely communicative child who had a great desire to please their parents and enjoyed playing with their younger siblings. One night they went to bed and when they woke up the next morning, to the parents horror, the child had turned[…]
Read MoreTypically (though not always) school anxiety occurs after a transition. That transition could be from nursery to primary school, from primary to secondary school (most common) or after a change of schools as a result of a change of circumstances (such as moving house to a new area[…]
Read MoreFor me, the art of decent book writing comes down to three main things: Attention to sensory detail Apprehension/uncertainty Relief/humour Last year I had an article published about effective story telling and ultimately how if you can tell a story well, it really can bring even a poor[…]
Read MoreMore schools are becoming aware of the importance of helping children transition from primary to secondary school and how vast the change in environment can feel for some pupils. There is often some distinct sensory differences between the two environments. Primary schools tend to be quieter, with less[…]
Read MoreThere was once a news article in the London news in which they were studying the prices people paid for abstract art. As an experiment, they got some very young children (under the age of 5) to create some paintings. The paintings were of the same quality as[…]
Read MoreThere’s a great Ted Talk by Mellody Hobson in which she talks about equality and diversity. In the video she acknowledges the solution to the Small Pox epidemic, as coming from a dairy farmer. Can you image all of the scientists and health leaders coming together to try[…]
Read MoreBooks can take us to another land. They have the potential to evoke an imagination that brings the unreal to life and can captivate the hearts and minds of even the most uninterested readers. Great storytellers have been sharing their surreal worlds with young minds for centuries. And[…]
Read MoreMaths is still considered to be one of the most challenging subjects (and yet most important), taught in schools today. What makes maths so difficult to grasp? Part of the problem is hereditary and I don’t mean in the genetic sense. Many young people have inherited their parents[…]
Read MoreSome children do not grow up with the stability of family life. Although orphanages no longer exist in the UK in the way they used to (children would now tend to be fostered, adopted or placed in children’s homes) there are still orphanages elsewhere in the world. In[…]
Read MoreThe 2012/13 NCMP (National Child Measurements Programme) report shows obesity rates in Year 6 (pupils aged 10-11 years) to be 20.4% for boys and 17.4% for girls. As the western world continues to expand its waistline, the victims of obesity appear to be growing younger with each passing[…]
Read More