New GCSE Grading System
5 Essential Keys to your Teenagers Happiness in 2024
5 Essential Keys to Your Child’s Happiness in 2024 As is traditional at the start of each new year, we generally seek to make changes that we believe will improve our lives and help us make the most of a fresh set of 365/366 days. As we should, because no matter how well we feel…
Read MoreHard working student or smart working students GCSE and A-level
Having two teenagers who are both in the final year of GCSE and A-level respectively, means the notion of “hard work vs smart work” is a constant topic of conversation in my household… If you ask anyone which is better: smart work or hard work, the answer is a no-brainer, as the Americans say! My…
Read MoreParents of a certain Tribe… matters that we take more seriously…
I’m using the word “tribe” here as I struggle to come up with a better word, despite the risk of this word being open to all sorts of interpretations. In my three or so decades as a teacher in the English secondary education system, for half of which my role also includes being a parent,…
Read MoreGreen and pleasant land; quality time; teenagers at home in the summer and all that…
I don’t know if the summer holiday in your household is any similar to mine? I’m beginning to get that familiar feeling, that “the anticipation of the summer is sometimes better than the reality of the actual summer”. This is not about the weather in the UK at present, so I’ll do my best not…
Read MoreShould teenagers follow their passion when choosing subjects or a degree course? Yes, but….
For me, yesterday was one of those days when events turned out differently than I had planned. I won’t say it is a wasted day necessarily, but I had to invest my time differently from the way I had anticipated, as I decided to go to a university open day with my seventeen-year old son.…
Read MoreThe only thing to fear is FEAR itself
The only thing to fear is FEAR itself This quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt brought hope to the American people during the Great Depression. Like in any endeavour that is aimed at succeeding, there is an element of fear in the minds of teenagers who are taking GCSE and A-level examinations. There are a couple…
Read MoreThe number one challenge faced by parents in supporting their teenagers to fulfil their potential
There are not many things that give me as much pleasure as speaking to parents and teenagers about their dreams and aspirations, and this is a journey that I’ve been on since 1993. It has been largely a tremendous experience and I’m glad to say that it’s been overwhelmingly filled with jubilations; however, it would…
Read MoreA-frank-message-to-caring-a-parent-covid-inflation-strikes
A frank message to a caring parent – January 2023 Dear Fellow Parent, I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some facts, ideas and opinions, and thereby offer one or two suggestions which you may find useful. Despite my experience and the expertise that I have gained while serving in various positions…
Read MoreGeneration Z and environmental awareness
In my last blogpost titled “Should we give Gen Z some credit?” I explored some of the many areas of life in which the so-called Generation Z are much more aware than, perhaps, we older people were when we were teenagers. Here, I am going to pick one of the five or so areas that…
Read MoreShould we give Generation Z some credit?
There are all sorts of areas of day-to-day life in which young people are found to be wanting, and we parents are so frustrated that we get emotional at times when trying to get them to do things. The list is so long, and it ranges from the difficulty in trying to have a civilised…
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