Our prompt today comes to us from the wonderful mind of June. Thank you, June! Please be sure to visit June’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 24th, 2025 is “hobbies.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Hobbies are those things you do for fun. Activites that give you joy.
And my main hobby is reading.
I’ll be honest, it’s my only hobby, because I don’t have time to pursue others!
I’d love to take classes in photography. I’ve done online courses on calligraphy, I love baking and cooking. All could be classed as hobbies, but I don’t have the time, bar the cooking one, because, well, we do have to eat, to really get experimental!
Today, our prompt is courtesy of our darling Dar. Thank you, Dar! Please be sure to visit Dar’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 23rd, 2025 is “emphasis.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Ooh, interesting word!
I don’t know if enough emphasis is on the right areas of improvement in education, right now, in the UK.
Sure, they want to overhaul SEND provision (that is the provision for children with Special Educational Needs).
That would be brilliant, and a much-needed overhaul, as the present system ain’t working, my friends. Ask me, an experienced EYFS teacher, who has seen the steady changes in expectations, provision, budget, and level of need itself.
Who knows why it is happening, but every year, over the last five years we have seen an upturn in the amount of children requiring a lot more support, joining the Reception classes. But nothing has changed to support them.
In fact, those specialist provisions for children with more complex needs are shutting, and this means those children still need the education they are entitled to, but the environments they are forced to attend aren’t suitable for them.
Overstimulation, dysregulation, insufficient staff to support individual needs, stress on both children and their families, as well as the staff who are trying to cope with the usual cohort, plus a myriad of needs that they may not actually be trained to specifically support.
And then there are those children with what would be classed as low-level need. They still need individual support, however, with the majority of staff trying to juggle the needs of the complex SEN pupils, as well as teach a whole class, they get less attention.
It’s not fair on any of us. We feel, as staff, that we are failing. The parents feel school is failing them. That child is being failed because they cannot access what they need.
So, here’s hoping the emphasis is on funding and improving the provision, so we can truly support all children.
(Oh, and while we’re at it, that National Curriculum? It needs a total overhaul! The Covid generation will never ‘catch up’. We need to meet their needs where they are, and progress from that. New, realistic targets and goals, please.)
Our prompt today is courtesy of the lovely J-Dub. Thank you, J-Dub! Please be sure to visit J-Dub’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 21st, 2025 is “content.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Content, to be at peace.
However, the first place my mind went was content, as it what we need to put together to create a social media presence!
Over the years, my dedication to creating content has wavered.
As I started my blog I was all about posting regularly, sometimes more than once a day, before I realised blog post burnout was a thing!
When I got my rhythm going, it was Twitter, but I posted automatically via the blog.
Then it was the FB author page, followed by Instagram and Tiktok. All needed different types ofcontent to suit the different platforms.
I started out religiously trying to work out what to do for each, before the platforms started changing. Insta let me post videos via Reels, Tiktok started photo galleries, and FB let me post all!
Today, we have a prompt gifted to us by the incomparable Kim. Thank you, Kim! Please be sure to visit Kim’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 20th, 2025 is “antipodean.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Antipodean.
Brilliant word. I love how it rolls off the tongue.
I’ve never been to Australia. Would love to, one day. I have family and some friends in a couple of areas.
One day…
But though I’ve not visited, there has been plenty of antipodean influence over my years growing up namely from the shows I watched religiously (Neighbours and Home & Away) and the singers who grew in fame after starring in those shows.
I loved Kylie Minogue. Her early pop played on repeat at one time, on my stereo.
Jason Donovan was another.
Danni Minogue, and even Craig Mclachlan (Remember him?)
I don’t watch the shows anymore. To be honest, I rarely watch TV, now, but I did watch the last Neighbours episode last year.
The end of an era. God Bless Ramsey Street and, especially, Mrs Mangle!
But I Smile Anyway... 