It’s funny witnessing my own child’s transition into secondary school, and not in a funny ‘haha’ way.
I hear a daily commentary about the misdemeanours which warrant ‘C4’s and ‘C5’s.

Window-dressed for children as ‘high expectations’, what I hear about daily are UNREALISTIC expectations; demands placed on 11 and 12 year olds to possess skills of the adult world.

If we want children to develop these adult skills, why are we not teaching the skills?

I’m all behind ‘high expectations’ and ‘high standards’, but they still have to be congruent with what a developing brain is capable of.
Because what we know about brains is this:

These kids’ brains are still 15+ years away from maturity.

Learning (neurologically quite different from simply ‘remembering’) happens through repetition and practice, not punishment.

Sanctioning children isn’t teaching, it’s operant conditioning; Skinner’s lab rats in school uniforms. And it’s shaming.

Shame releases the most toxic biochemical composition in the brain, slowing or stopping dendrites in the brain from connecting; AKA learning.

If our policy-makers made policy with the brain in mind, we wouldn’t have so many children in detention or isolation all day because they’ve lost a PE sock (yes, this is a genuine consequence in my son’s academy trust).

❌ We wouldn’t have children set up to fail by unrealistic expectations window-dressed as ‘high expectations’.

❌ We wouldn’t have so many children disengaged from learning – despite having 100 billion brain cells in their heads – resenting teachers and counting down every miserable minute until home time.

❌ We wouldn’t have buzz words like ‘belonging’ and ‘inclusive’ being banded about on websites and prospectuses, when the reality of children’s experience is anything but.

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