Here's a tragedy:

A teacher has recently had a Covid infection.

It's the third time that they know of.

They have, once again, been very ill.

They are concerned about the impact of multiple infections on their health.
They feel their baseline health has deteriorated.

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The teacher feels they now struggle to fight off colds and bugs and other ailments.

They are frustrated about their own absences from work and conscious of the disruption and cost it incurs.

They have a strong work ethic and worry about letting their school and pupils down.

School attendance has, once again, been a hot topic of debate these last few weeks.

Last week, we had some schools publicly sharing their attendance campaigns on social media.

This week, we've had the Government announcing the dawn of AI generated attendance targets.

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There have been some system leaders calling for tougher absence sanctions:
"Enforce fines!"
"Take them to court!"

Meanwhile, some heads have been calling out the plans for AI targets, noting that attendance is, and always has been, a human problem, not a numerical one.

Why do I keep speaking out about Covid?

Why do I think clean indoor air is imperative for schools?

Let me tell you a story.

I was 46 when I first caught Covid.

It changed my life and turned our family's world upside down.

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I was formerly fit and active.

I loved running.

I used to run before work three times a week, and I enjoyed parkrun every Saturday. I usually finished in the top ten and was often first in my age category. (Not that it was a race!)

I remember the old days:

When we used to instruct children and staff with contagious illness to stay off school, to avoid spreading it.

When we encouraged poorly children to rest and recover at home.

When we sympathised with people who were unwell.

We called it "care".

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I remember the old days.

I remember when we acted immediately if we identified a hazard, in order to mitigate risk of harm.

When we wouldn't knowingly allow the spread of illness.

When our decisions were governed by common sense & knowledge.

We called it "responsibility".

I've read quite a few posts on social media recently, about the levels of challenge which schools, leaders and teachers are facing.

Headteachers have my absolute respect and empathy. The challenges are unprecedented. The pressure is absurd.

I'd like to try to join a few dots... 2/

I became a headteacher in 2011.

Between 2011 and 2020, school leaders & teachers were seeing a gradual but significant shift in the needs of our children and their families.

There were increasing numbers of pupils with additional needs.

Increased behavioural challenges.

Twelve Days/Ten Stories about Breathing (Global to Personal)

1. A United Nations event took place in New York:

"Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action"

The event launched the Global Commission on Healthy Indoor Air, a high level international coalition of experts/leaders.

There's Something in the Air 🧵

Imagine every school in the country was found to have Legionella in its water supply.

Imagine that the bacteria in the water was making pupils and staff ill....in every single school....every single day.

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Imagine that children and adults in every school were routinely developing a cough, high temperature, shortness of breath, chest pain, and other flu-like symptoms.

(You don't need to imagine this; the bacteria causes Legionnaires' Disease and Pontiac Fever.)

I've been suffering from post-exertional malaise for nearly four years now.

I have debilitating crashes every couple of months.

They usually last one to two weeks, but I'm in the sixth week with this spell.

It's absolutely brutal and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

🧵

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I'm not looking for sympathy.

I'm simply writing this because I'm keen to raise awareness of something which affects millions, which can be frightening and excruciating, and which is massively misuderstood (and often derided).

Six Things that Chronic Illness has Taught Me
🧵

#1 The Privileges of Health

When I was healthy, I didn't appreciate how my health afforded so many other privileges: the ability to work, to exercise and socialise, to give my kids a piggy back...to do whatever I wanted.

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Your health can change in a moment.
When it does, your world can change more than you can possibly imagine.

The privileges which you were used to can disappear in an instant. So treasure them now, don't take them for granted, and be grateful.

Long Covid is rapidly becoming one of the biggest chronic illnesses in children and young people in the UK.

In some countries, it's now overtaken asthma as the most prevalent chronic condition in childhood.

This has happened in just over five years.🧵

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It's absolutely astonishing that our children are knowingly being exposed to a dangerous virus, that they're allowed to become repeatedly infected, that so many are suffering and that almost nothing is being done to prevent it.

If a child is struggling to attend school or struggling to stay in the classroom due to anxiety, they're not being defiant. They're not being lazy. They're not ignoring school rules or choosing to not attend/engage. They're not lacking grit.

They're trying to survive...🧵

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They're trying to protect themself.

Their brain is telling them they're in danger.

They can't discern the difference between perceived danger and actual danger.

That's not their fault; it's biological...

The Truth about The Attendance Crisis:

For several years now, pupil attendance has been a high profile and emotive subject, both in the education sector and in the mainstream media.

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For several years now, the narrative has been highly critical of children and young people, with everyone from politicians and high profile educators to TV/radio show hosts bemoaning "changed attitudes" and poor parenting.

It's five years since the pandemic hit these shores.

It's five years since school, as we knew it, was paused.

It's nearly five years since schools we're unexpectedly given the opportunity to do school differently...

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What's changed in those intervening years?

Where is education at, five years on?

First of all, here's a reminder of the educational landscape in early 2020...

#ChildrensMentalHealthWeek

Mental health related absence from school:
Authorised or Unauthorised?
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In 2025, parents are under enormous pressure to ensure their children attend school regularly.

This might not sound like much of an ask but, for a great many families, this is immeasurably difficult.

Right now, there are two mental health crises within our education system. They're adversely affecting huge numbers of people in our school communities. Both should be taken very seriously. But they're seldom talked about together.
It's time to talk about them together.

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Firstly, there's a mental health crisis affecting the education workforce: teachers, support staff and school leaders.

It's anxiety, depression, work-related stress, burnout and more.

Over the last two years, I've been chronicling our family's journey, as one of our daughters has suffered from an anxiety disorder. I've written regular Tweets and blogs about her health, the impact on her life (including school attendance) and her recovery and reintegration.

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Sharing our journey has been helpful for us as parents as we have tried to make sense of what was happening. More importantly, we have wanted to let others in similar positions know that they are not alone, and to give people hope.

Here in the UK, we are now in the sixth school year of the global pandemic. 🧵

Schools, colleges and childcare settings everywhere are still struggling with the levels of staff absence.

Schools everywhere are still struggling with the levels of pupil absence.

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Children & adults are repeatedly falling ill, with an immeasurable (sometimes irreversible) cost to their physical & mental health.

Many pupils & staff have developed chronic illness, complex health conditions & even become disabled, either by single or repeated infection.

School Attendance and Illness 🧵

The biggest cause of pupil absence from UK schools is illness.

(It's the biggest cause of staff absence too.)

The biggest cause of persistent absenteeism is illness.

The biggest cause of school absence internationally is also illness.

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Of course, this is not new and it shouldn’t surprise anyone. Illness has always been the biggest cause of children’s absence from school, but the illness related absence of pupils has increased significantly since the pre-pandemic era.

Another day, another parent receives a very serious letter in the post.

Their child's school attendance level has triggered legal action under the Single Justice Procedure.

The parent has to respond by telling the magistrate if they are guilty or not guilty.

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If the child's attendance level is as stated, the parent can only declare themselves guilty to the magistrate. They may provide some context. This might mitigate the sentence but it can't change the "guilty" status.

There is no right of appeal.

The Invisible Problem (in Front of our Eyes)🧵

Imagine every school, college and childcare setting in the country had a serious asbestos problem.

The asbestos problem wasn't exclusive to educational settings but it was particularly prevalent there.

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The asbestos was known to be making many children ill - regularly, repeatedly, chronically.
For some, it even caused disability.

Staff were also ill and regularly too unwell to work.
Many staff.

The asbestos didn't discriminate.

Mental Health, School Attendance and Mixed Messages about "Medical Evidence" - A Thread

If you're the parent or carer of a child who is living with mental health issues and struggling to attend school regularly, you'll likely want three things more than anything...

🧵 1. For your child to be well.

2. For everything to just be normal.

3. Support, from family, friends, school, medical professionals and "the system".

For 1 and 2 to happen, you depend on 3.

The child needs to be wrapped in everybody's care.

The family needs to be supported.