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Student voice has always been one of my passions. I started my first student council as a head of year over twenty years ago, after reading books like Donna Brandes and Paul Ginnis “The Student Centred School” . The year council, as it was then, was a great success with my year group, if not […]

Recent OFSTED guidance from January 2010 notes that, “the needs of learners with chronic or long term medical conditions must be considered alongside other vulnerable groups.” It states that inspectors should “ask questions of staff and pupils to prompt schools to ensure they are doing all they can to safeguard and support this potentially vulnerable […]

Pastoral care has evolved so much over the last 50 years and, when writing a recent article charting the changing discourses and priorities over that time, I was struck by how difficult it is to write about pastoral care in schools with such a divergence and multiplicity of structures, practice and understandings. I come from, […]

Education will have to face up to the financial cuts that will come as a result of the financial crisis that has hit all sectors. Given the announcement by one political party that it will be ‘support staff’ who will need to be cut back, it is not surprising that we in pastoral teams believe […]