Lucy's blog

  I recently read this in-depth article in The Guardian about the reasons teachers are leaving the profession. A number of teachers are interviewed about how targets and inspections are affecting them – and more importantly, school children. The...

  I found this blog post last night written by film director Ben Gregor (yes – I know it was written last year, but better late than never!). The full article is well worth reading, but let me share the first paragraph with you...

My last post about why drama is beneficial prompted some parents to comment on the positive impact attending Perform classes has had on their children. While it's great to receive that feedback, it made me think more about how that positive impact affects us throughout our...

I always adored receiving books as presents when I was a little girl and, now I'm a mother, I love it when my children are given books too. A book can open your mind to new worlds, take you on adventures and introduce you to characters who end up as best friends - and all...

I am normally quite a talkative person but even I was rendered speechless when I read this article about some of the many ?Curriculum Cleansing' changes that Michael Gove is planning. For example, currently all GCSE students have to study English by either taking...

I had to share this piece by Tim Lott in The Observer last week. Tim talks about the struggle he had to get his eldest daughter Ruby to eat fruit and vegetables as a child. Ruby refused to eat anything remotely healthy and the article starts with him talking about the...

OK, I'm going to come clean. I have a guilty pleasure...and that's the new Disney cartoon Sofia the First. If you haven't seen it, it's a series about a young girl whose mother marries the King and therefore becomes Royal overnight. The episodes are based...

I read this article in the Independent in June and it made me so cross that I couldn't bear to blog about it. However, following all the international coverage about The Duchess of Cambridge breast-feeding - and having calmed down somewhat(!) - I thought I should share...

Careful the things you say. Children will listen. Forgive me quoting one of my favourite Stephen Sondheim songs from Into the Woods but these are wise lyrics and I do think that we should be extremely careful about what we say. Children really do listen, and they listen to...

You'd have to have been living on Planet Mars recently not to have heard about Michael Gove's suggestion to have longer school days and shorter holidays and the negative reaction there has been to this. Mr Gove believes that our school system was designed for a...