Sarah Evans

Zany lover of stuffed squirrels, 3 small people and mad adventures xxxxx

[No Context Brits @NoContextBrits]

The barman wasn’t impressed when I tried to pay £1.50 for a pint…

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@susie_dent A tower of giraffe a murder of crows and a Parliament of owls but my utter favourite a prickle of hedgehogs

[The Figen @TheFigen_]

“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@Headteacherchat Exactly this! Every child starts school ready with a surestart bring it back!

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@DrBiology3 @MichaelRosenYes My kids loved those videos GcSe 6/5 5/5 thank you. Also A level results distinctions physiological and anatomy thank !!

[Anne Scottlin @AnneScottlin]

This wren is only about 4” (100mm) long, yet bathes us in beautiful song.
How much greater and impact we can make… to bring peace and joy to the spaces around us.

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@Rgt71Robert Wow! You are so right

[Sky News @SkyNews]

BREAKING: Large fire breaks out in south east London

https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube

[Just Dave now @justdavenow89]

What is this squirrel singing

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

This time of year, we put our 16-year-olds through a coming-of-age ritual. We make them sit in rows and write down things they have spent the last two years trying to memorise. We pit them against the clock, and prevent them from talking to each other. We tell them that this is the most important thing that they will ever do and their future life depends on it.

We don’t just do this once. For most of them, we make them sit in rows and write things down between twenty and thirty separate times in the space of about six weeks. Maths, English, History, French, Biology….Again and again, they have to keep at it. Each time, we tell them how important it is and they better not have an off-day or be ill.

Then we take their papers and we rank them. For some, the result will be accolades and glory. For others, failure and retakes.

We know for sure that this will always be true, because these rituals that we call exams are designed to rank them. A third will always fail. There would be no top grades if we didn’t also have the bottom. It isn’t possible for them all to pass.

And yet, every year, we talk as if this was not true. We pretend that it would be possible for them all to succeed, if only they and their teachers worked harder. Politicians talk about raising standards and accountability. We pretend that the problem is them not working hard enough, not an exam system designed so that hundreds of thousands fail. We blame them, not the exams.

For the truth is that we have a coming-of-age ritual for our teenagers which involves a third of them being told they haven’t met the grade, that they are not good enough. We launch them into adult life telling them that they will carry the stigma of not understanding quadratic equations for ever. We put them all through intense stress, and then when some of them cave in we say they have anxiety and send them to see a therapist.

And then we’re surprised when many of them say they just can’t carry on, that they don’t see the point. They don’t see potential in the future for themselves.

We need to take a step back and ask ourselves why we do this to our teenagers. For the problem isn’t our young people. It’s not their fault that a third of them fail and many are chronically stressed. The problem is what we make them do. We’ve designed a coming-of-age system with a very high cost in human misery.

Every year a new crop of teens will come of age, and despite their distress we just push them harder. We need to ask ourselves whether this is really the best we can do for our teenagers. We urgently need to think again.

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@novvibee @grok Hey@grok set this up as a science experiment with all the things

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@LauraTrottMP Plus the fact that these kids were given no adjustment related to covid which hit them in Yr 7 & 8 so they missed out on concrete of the basics the whole thing is so unfair and utterly outrageous and the lack of accountability is appalling

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

My 16 Yr old is reading @LucySixsmith book his first words were so you’re not alone mum? This person really understands and that my friends is the best recommendation I can give to read when the music fades.

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

For those who don’t know me I am known for sending cake to friends

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

Today I finished reading When the music fades, I have a lot I could say but I think it can be summed up in saying you need strong boots to read it as much as it needed strong boots to write it. It ended with me really wanting to send @LucySixsmith a cake.

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

#Whenthemusicfades has arrived! Head down highlighter in hand!

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@LucySixsmith @MadsDavies I’m really curious to read When the music fades and I think it is going to be a courageous read as much as it must have been a courageous write.

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@susie_dent Alsoly means also and as well as all the other points I mentioned being included and as important.

[Sarah Evans @SquirrelEvans41]

@amazing_physics Peace