Category: being a teacher

Christmas Can Be Tough for Some Kids – And Why School Mental Health Support Matters

Christmas presents a paradox. While widely celebrated as a season of happiness and gratitude, for some individuals, it carries a darker undercurrent. The pressure to feel joyful and festive transforms Christmas from a celebration into an ordeal to be endured.

As a teacher, I’ve witnessed this struggle in numerous children. Pupils who already face challenges with emotional regulation, or who contend with difficult home circumstances, often find the festive period particularly overwhelming. For these vulnerable children, our Pupil Well-being Worker has has made a real difference, helping them process their emotions more constructively.

Over the past 18 months, Aberdeenshire Council has introduced Pupil Well-being Workers across schools, a welcome initiative addressing a critical need. These professionals, working in both primary and secondary settings, focus specifically on children’s mental health and wellbeing. Their role encompasses supporting pupils through bereavement and loss, whilst also helping them develop strategies to manage social, emotional, and behavioural challenges.

During my time teaching in the Yukon, I first encountered this model of support. Every primary school had a dedicated individual focused on students’ emotional wellbeing. The impact was immediately apparent, not only did pupils benefit, but teachers were also better equipped to navigate challenging situations and behaviours. Our Pupil Support Worker fulfils a similar role here in Aberdeenshire.

The most immediate benefit is clear: students now have a trusted advocate, someone firmly in their corner, who can teach them coping strategies and provide space for restorative conversations when needed.

Over the past 18 months, broader positive outcomes have emerged. Class teachers spend significantly less time mediating conflicts between pupils, as children now have access to a dedicated forum with a specialist trained in these interventions. Similarly, Senior Leadership Team involvement in behavioural incidents has lessened substantially. The result benefits everyone: young people gain a skilled advocate supporting their wellbeing, staff can focus more effectively on teaching, and the entire school community enjoys a calmer, more supportive environment.

Aberdeenshire Council often faces criticism, and running a local authority must surely rank among the most thankless tasks. However, in this instance, they deserve genuine recognition. Whoever championed this initiative and saw it through implementation deserves considerable credit. Well done. Now the challenge is ensuring these vital positions remain funded and supported.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here’s hoping 2026 brings kindness to us all, and that we find space to extend that kindness to one another.

Report Writing

There are many things about being a teacher which are challenging. But one of them, that has been on my mind, as with many teachers at this time of year, is report writing.

For those unencumbered with school aged children, reports are a biannual rite of passage for both teacher and student. They attempt to tell you how your offspring have been performing at school. Though the format varies from school to school reports are similar in may ways. In them, teachers attempt to say in a positive way how your child is progressing. There is a section on how they get on with other children, how they behave in and out of the classroom, their attitude and how they are performing in the different curriculum areas.

How their progress is reported also can vary. Here at the British School Alexandria, we have recently changed to an emerging,  expected and exceeding model. We have a tool box which the children’s work is graded against and depending on how they do depends on where they are. I’m still undecided what I think about this system. I have a feeling there has to be a better system but honestly I haven’t enough experience to say what that is. (Historically there was a need to get away from level’s on account of the super competitive nature of the parents here.)

Writing meaningful reports is tricky. Trying to make every report personalised for every student is also time-consuming. But having become a parent who now receives school reports I am, more than ever, conscious of how I write my reports. I try to use plain language that is easily understood. I try not to use teacher speak and while I am generally positive, if Ahmed isn’t where he should be with his writing, I am going to tell you.

Report writing is as necessary as it can be painful.  Once it’s done and the stress of trying to be fair and accurate is done, reports are actually a good way, funnily enough, of reviewing students progress for yourself as their teacher. (As an aside I wonder how useful parents find them?) The good news is that report time does mean that the school year is drawing to a close and summer holidays beckon.