Lucy Whiffin
@lucyw1982.bsky.social
Year 6 teacher, Maths and KS2 lead living and working in Somerset. Single mum to three fabulous, exhausting children.
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
A poem for Elon Musk #empathy #humanity @humanists.uk #love @amnestyuk.bsky.social @hopenothate.org.uk @nionwomen.bsky.social #poetry #poem
November 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
A poem for Elon Musk #empathy #humanity @humanists.uk #love @amnestyuk.bsky.social @hopenothate.org.uk @nionwomen.bsky.social #poetry #poem
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
“Schools are brimming with blessings”
Yes to this! Deliberately making the effort to notice them, no matter how small, is where we find the joy 🥰
Yes to this! Deliberately making the effort to notice them, no matter how small, is where we find the joy 🥰
November 8, 2025 at 8:21 PM
“Schools are brimming with blessings”
Yes to this! Deliberately making the effort to notice them, no matter how small, is where we find the joy 🥰
Yes to this! Deliberately making the effort to notice them, no matter how small, is where we find the joy 🥰
So disappointed with this Labour government.
I’m fed up with Labour politicians feeling they have to cosplay the far right. By all means, let’s have a serious debate about migration, but without dehumanizing migrants, or uttering facile soundbites. 😡
LABOUR Home Office minister writes...
November 8, 2025 at 10:33 PM
So disappointed with this Labour government.
As a parent of a teenage girl with mental health issues, this is one of the most heart-wrenching, horrendous things I have read. How quickly any of our children could find themselves in this situation. How can this happen? How have we let the state of children's mental health services come to this?
"...like a good little rule follower, I listened and trusted their advice. I was grateful even, for someone to tell me how to navigate this. Yet, all the while, a little voice inside me knew that Ruth needed something different." www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘The ward felt like a prison. What had I let them do?’: how my daughter was crushed by a health service meant to help her
Ruth was 14 years old and being treated for an eating disorder when she died after being detained under the Mental Health Act. She wasn’t allowed to see her family for more than a few hours a week. Ho...
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:31 PM
As a parent of a teenage girl with mental health issues, this is one of the most heart-wrenching, horrendous things I have read. How quickly any of our children could find themselves in this situation. How can this happen? How have we let the state of children's mental health services come to this?
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
The fundamental fault line is that utilities, education, health &care services in England have been handed over to private companies who run them on the basis of maximum cash to the directors and the most basic service possible they can offer to the users.
Anna Turley, "How have we got to this situation? We've seen so much chronic underfunding"
She's 100% right
So as well as already having underfunded public services, we'll continue to have underfunded public services, because we can't afford to fund them because of Brexit
She's 100% right
So as well as already having underfunded public services, we'll continue to have underfunded public services, because we can't afford to fund them because of Brexit
November 7, 2025 at 8:33 AM
The fundamental fault line is that utilities, education, health &care services in England have been handed over to private companies who run them on the basis of maximum cash to the directors and the most basic service possible they can offer to the users.
Whatever tasks assistant heads are doing will still need doing: presumably the ministers expect other staff to do that unpaid instead? Or maybe they think headteachers are having an easy time of it at the moment (🤣) and can fit in some extra work?
FFS
FFS
❌ Ministers have suggested rising numbers of assistant heads could be the place to target cost-cutting as schools are forced to make savings to fund future teacher pay rises.
So what’s behind the rise, and is a cut do-able? Schools Week investigates...
So what’s behind the rise, and is a cut do-able? Schools Week investigates...
schoolsweek.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Whatever tasks assistant heads are doing will still need doing: presumably the ministers expect other staff to do that unpaid instead? Or maybe they think headteachers are having an easy time of it at the moment (🤣) and can fit in some extra work?
FFS
FFS
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
Why should we switch 2p of tax from National Insurance to Income Tax? ⤵️
Income Tax raises more money and spreads the burden more fairly. The switch would raise £6 billion, and leave the vast majority of payslips unaffected.
Income Tax raises more money and spreads the burden more fairly. The switch would raise £6 billion, and leave the vast majority of payslips unaffected.
November 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Why should we switch 2p of tax from National Insurance to Income Tax? ⤵️
Income Tax raises more money and spreads the burden more fairly. The switch would raise £6 billion, and leave the vast majority of payslips unaffected.
Income Tax raises more money and spreads the burden more fairly. The switch would raise £6 billion, and leave the vast majority of payslips unaffected.
It is also important to consider that often professionals may be in a better position to do this (I speak from bitter experience and being vulnerably honest here). I know how I "should" support my son but find it much harder not to dysregulate myself with him than I do with children I teach.
Unless parents training up for emotional support became more standard, in which case the school support can be focused on those who don't have trained up adults at home
November 2, 2025 at 9:25 AM
It is also important to consider that often professionals may be in a better position to do this (I speak from bitter experience and being vulnerably honest here). I know how I "should" support my son but find it much harder not to dysregulate myself with him than I do with children I teach.
I wonder whether this is part of the reason so many children begin to really struggle when they start secondary. By their nature of multiple teachers in different rooms, a huge amount of predictability is lost. Certainly my y7 son is struggling with the different expectations from lesson to lesson.
3/3 When environments become predictable, affirming, and relationally safe, emotional balance and engagement tend to return naturally- not through compliance, but through restored safety and trust.
November 2, 2025 at 7:57 AM
I wonder whether this is part of the reason so many children begin to really struggle when they start secondary. By their nature of multiple teachers in different rooms, a huge amount of predictability is lost. Certainly my y7 son is struggling with the different expectations from lesson to lesson.
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
I hand over an invisible ‘Tree Of The Day’ award to the most charismatic tree I see on each of my walks. Here are just a few past winners of this esteemed but still largely unknown prize.
September 28, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I hand over an invisible ‘Tree Of The Day’ award to the most charismatic tree I see on each of my walks. Here are just a few past winners of this esteemed but still largely unknown prize.
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
A pictures worth a 1000 words, right? But when words and pictures pull in different directions, learning falls apart. My latest piece looks at where dual coding goes wrong and how to make visuals actually help students think. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
The Dual Coding Delusion
How dual coding theory became a victim of edu-mythology and why adding visuals won’t make your teaching more memorable.
open.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:19 AM
A pictures worth a 1000 words, right? But when words and pictures pull in different directions, learning falls apart. My latest piece looks at where dual coding goes wrong and how to make visuals actually help students think. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Oh crap
This is depressing
This is depressing
Oh dear
Not sure about this at all - and I doubt will many members of the profession.
schoolsweek.co.uk/10-things-we...
Not sure about this at all - and I doubt will many members of the profession.
schoolsweek.co.uk/10-things-we...
10 things we learned from DfE teacher pay evidence
Department believes schools can make savings from leadership teams and deployment of support staff
schoolsweek.co.uk
November 1, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Oh crap
This is depressing
This is depressing
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
Schools make more
Social care referrals than anyone else. And social care can’t/wont step in until a family reaches crisis point.
This is not good.
Schools cannot continue to plug this gap. It’s not what we trained for, not what we know.
Via @tesmagazine.bsky.social
www.tes.com/magazine/new...
Social care referrals than anyone else. And social care can’t/wont step in until a family reaches crisis point.
This is not good.
Schools cannot continue to plug this gap. It’s not what we trained for, not what we know.
Via @tesmagazine.bsky.social
www.tes.com/magazine/new...
School referrals to social services hit new high
Schools made nearly 45,000 more social services referrals last year compared with a decade ago, DfE data shows
www.tes.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Schools make more
Social care referrals than anyone else. And social care can’t/wont step in until a family reaches crisis point.
This is not good.
Schools cannot continue to plug this gap. It’s not what we trained for, not what we know.
Via @tesmagazine.bsky.social
www.tes.com/magazine/new...
Social care referrals than anyone else. And social care can’t/wont step in until a family reaches crisis point.
This is not good.
Schools cannot continue to plug this gap. It’s not what we trained for, not what we know.
Via @tesmagazine.bsky.social
www.tes.com/magazine/new...
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
Thank you Emma Thompson- you never fail us 👌👏
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Thank you Emma Thompson- you never fail us 👌👏
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
Easy Mode: my SKETCH of politicians struggling even when the difficulty is turned all the way down.
Easy mode | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
“I’m thrilled that we’re talking about this,” Kemi Badenoch told Robert Peston, a look of pure horror on her face. The subject was the Conservative Party’s immigration policy, which she may or may not…
thecritic.co.uk
October 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Easy Mode: my SKETCH of politicians struggling even when the difficulty is turned all the way down.
I only wish I didn't have this stinking cold which arrived with perfect timing on Saturday. After what has been one of the most challenging half-terms I can remember, I badly need some proper, relaxed time off. Begone, horrid cold!
There is something exquisite about the feeling you get on the Sunday evening before the first day of a holiday. You forget, then remember again, then forget, and each time you remember you get the same warm feeling. So have that extra glass of wine, read a little later…cheers.
October 27, 2025 at 7:50 AM
I only wish I didn't have this stinking cold which arrived with perfect timing on Saturday. After what has been one of the most challenging half-terms I can remember, I badly need some proper, relaxed time off. Begone, horrid cold!
At this point, it is appalling for any member of UK Parliament to still be using X in their professional role.
A very worrying escalation of online harassment.
Somebody has used a video of me saying "racism in football is a game of two halves" + put a fake voiceover on it saying "what I would say to the girls of Rotherham is it is a game of two halves"
x.com/EuropaIneffa...
Somebody has used a video of me saying "racism in football is a game of two halves" + put a fake voiceover on it saying "what I would say to the girls of Rotherham is it is a game of two halves"
x.com/EuropaIneffa...
Europa Ineffable on X: "In a recent panel at what looks like Labour conference, Sunder Katwala, wearing an England shirt, appeared to compare the R🦍 GANGS to a football match: "it's a game of two halves" 🥴 https://t.co/b5YNKyaQtu" / X
In a recent panel at what looks like Labour conference, Sunder Katwala, wearing an England shirt, appeared to compare the R🦍 GANGS to a football match
x.com
October 25, 2025 at 5:57 AM
At this point, it is appalling for any member of UK Parliament to still be using X in their professional role.
My 12yo son:
We're studying migration in geography. We looked at lots of graphs about what's happened since Brexit. I don't really understand what was the point of Brexit as they all seemed bad.
Complexities are important to aclnowledge, but sometimes children's clear, simple observations sum it up
We're studying migration in geography. We looked at lots of graphs about what's happened since Brexit. I don't really understand what was the point of Brexit as they all seemed bad.
Complexities are important to aclnowledge, but sometimes children's clear, simple observations sum it up
October 16, 2025 at 5:21 AM
My 12yo son:
We're studying migration in geography. We looked at lots of graphs about what's happened since Brexit. I don't really understand what was the point of Brexit as they all seemed bad.
Complexities are important to aclnowledge, but sometimes children's clear, simple observations sum it up
We're studying migration in geography. We looked at lots of graphs about what's happened since Brexit. I don't really understand what was the point of Brexit as they all seemed bad.
Complexities are important to aclnowledge, but sometimes children's clear, simple observations sum it up
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
Today marks 4 years since the murder of #SirDavidAmess. Thinking of David’s family and friends, and everyone whose lives were changed forever on that dreadful day❤️ Political violence has no place in our society.
October 15, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Today marks 4 years since the murder of #SirDavidAmess. Thinking of David’s family and friends, and everyone whose lives were changed forever on that dreadful day❤️ Political violence has no place in our society.
Beautiful, painful, lovely.
One of my favourite reads for a while (and I've read some good ones).
One of my favourite reads for a while (and I've read some good ones).
October 12, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Beautiful, painful, lovely.
One of my favourite reads for a while (and I've read some good ones).
One of my favourite reads for a while (and I've read some good ones).
This is spot on. I don't think people outside of schools (unless they live with people working in schools) have any idea about the reality of it. It depresses me at the moment. We know what Ofsted will say, we know what we need to do, but we can't practically manage it. Feels like failure every day.
One of the things that most gets on my nerves about Ofsted is that when they turn up, they don’t take the day to day reality of many schools into account. There is a feeling that ‘all schools have these issues’ or ‘well, that’s school life’. Let me explain with an example…
October 11, 2025 at 9:22 PM
This is spot on. I don't think people outside of schools (unless they live with people working in schools) have any idea about the reality of it. It depresses me at the moment. We know what Ofsted will say, we know what we need to do, but we can't practically manage it. Feels like failure every day.
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
The closer than the Tories get to Reform, the more it makes sense for Labour to leave them to it and head back towards the centre. Stop bashing immigrants 24/7 and concentrate on the important stuff.
October 5, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The closer than the Tories get to Reform, the more it makes sense for Labour to leave them to it and head back towards the centre. Stop bashing immigrants 24/7 and concentrate on the important stuff.
Of course it won't. It'll be further fuel for headlines about how "95% of children can't read", and "What have the primary schools been doing?"
Answer: toilet training, speech and language, supporting families in crisis and the ever increasing number of children with high needs to attend school.
Answer: toilet training, speech and language, supporting families in crisis and the ever increasing number of children with high needs to attend school.
So, I wondered what theses teachers think a test in Yr8 is going to do?
Is it going to unlock more resource to teacher children? Unlikely. Certainly hasn’t done for younger children in Yr1.
bsky.app/profile/scho...
Is it going to unlock more resource to teacher children? Unlikely. Certainly hasn’t done for younger children in Yr1.
bsky.app/profile/scho...
More teachers back government plans for a mandatory reading test in year 8 than oppose it – but leaders are more sceptical, new polling shows
schoolsweek.co.uk/year-8-readi...
schoolsweek.co.uk/year-8-readi...
October 3, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Of course it won't. It'll be further fuel for headlines about how "95% of children can't read", and "What have the primary schools been doing?"
Answer: toilet training, speech and language, supporting families in crisis and the ever increasing number of children with high needs to attend school.
Answer: toilet training, speech and language, supporting families in crisis and the ever increasing number of children with high needs to attend school.
Reposted by Lucy Whiffin
