to save or to travel?

Serious question to everyone out there. We live in a pretty difficult time with bills and food costs going through the roof. But I have a bit

doing a little bit of house shopping

Whenever I go somewhere that is known to have high property prices, I always find myself gravitating towards the estate agents

a day in the scottish highlands

I really fancy going back to the Scottish Highlands for a holiday. Since the pandemic we have learnt to really appreciate the British Isles

why are we judging the good people?

Most teachers in the UK will be well aware of the story that broke last week, about a head teacher who recently killed herself after her school

london rain

I was listening to the radio yesterday and on the show they had a segment called ‘Little Wins’. It basically asked the guest celebrity

you were my best friend at school

I lost pretty much all my school friends after leaving. I found that alcohol was far more enticing and I just drifted away until they hated

if you play your cards all night, you come out even

I heard somebody once say that if you play your cards all night, you come out even – meaning that you shouldn’t give up just because

she’s an untamed beast

Her claws are flexed in readiness,

Set free from captivity,

Fur bristling underneath a hostile sun,

And knowing that it was all wrong,

Her life of chain link fences

Clanging in the midnight dark,

And always whispering a dirty joke,

The punch line that is never dealt,

Because it never really should have been.

I’ve started listening to Glennon Doyle’s book Untamed and it opens with an anecdote about a cheetah that is kept in captivity and she asks whether the cheetah has any idea that it should be out in the wild. And the answer was probably.

I know that it’s all a bit obvious, and we can all see the analogy that she is trying to make between women and a caged animal; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out the similarities.

But she does have a point that we actually need to remind ourselves of every now and then. As an educator, I hope that I am really encouraging all children to be the person they are supposed to be. I probably fail at times, but then I’ve been bombarded with the same messages, and I’m a product of that.

Interestingly, Glennon says that it is at about 10 years old that we realise we are supposed to fit into certain boxes, and from that age onward, doors are slowly closed, one after the other. And, of course, this is the age of the kids in my tutor group. The ones that I have to keep an eye on and encourage and discipline and all the other things that really parents should be doing.

It is an honour to have these kids look up to me, but there is also so much responsibility there. I would hate to think that we might lose an awesome female Prime Minister or inventor or footballer, just because I’ve said something prejudiced.

It has given me much to think about – exactly what a good book should do!

Much Love

Rachel xx