I had my form place bets on whether Kier Starmer will last the week on Monday morning. All but one thought he would last but the one student who said he thinks Kier is on his way out has requested croissants for the whole form if his prediction is correct. We will see…

I had parent meetings all day and had to mention that predicted grades are based on SATs and CATs which they sat in years 6 and 7. It was a long day for me and the parents due to giggling students.

For this remembrance day I have been discussing Belgian Refugees during WW1 and the impact of war on civilians. It’s a different approach to my normal one but has been very effective for helping students engage with the relevance of remembrance in the 21st century.

I put ginger beer in a test tube and told my students that it was urine. We then used the four humours to diagnose the patient. The only boy who was willing to taste was paid 50p by his friend and declared it ‘seasoned’. When partnered with the pale colour we diagnosed out of balance blood.

This jug in my grandfather’s house contains layers of family history. The jug was bought by my great grandfather in Mesopotamia during WW1 and contains my grandfather’s Nokia brick from 2005, cheques in my great grandmothers handwriting from the 90s, and the pinecone my sister got stuck c.2012.

We are changing our opening to y8 to an enquiry into the wars of the three kingdoms as we currently don’t mention it at all. As we chatted about it today, @msquinnhistory.bsky.social’s HA session was at the forefront of that conversation. I think next years y8 are in for an academic treat.

I would love to post some gorgeous photos of Liverpool following #HAConf25 but the only things that made it to my camera roll are book recommendations… But what suggests a conference well spent better than that!

I'm not sure I could be prouder right now. @lennie-dsc.bsky.social , @uonsoe.bsky.social ECT2, currently solo presenting @histassoc.bsky.social #HAConf25 drawing on her experience during #PGCE and #ECT teaching #history in multicultural contexts.

I love it when the BBC mess up and I get a nice easy fix the grammar form time out of it.

I took my 10 student history club to London Museum of the Docklands today and it was wonderful to explore the museum and then to go out and spot the legacy of the history in Canary Wharf. A highlight was a student seeing copy the front page of his book and saying “ahh yes, Olaudah Equiano”.

On the first night of freshers I met a friend who I spent most of the first two years of uni with. However, due to pandemic/year abroad we drifted apart. I saw her for the first time in 2 years today as we now live 20 minutes apart and I am so glad. That is why the magnetism of London is great.

Apple health just sent me an alert that my daily average number of flights of stairs had dropped from 17 to 10. Checking the data it directly correlates to when my school abolished post-break and post-lunch lineups. I think that I might be happier than the students.

Was watching @nickmohammed.bsky.social’s intelligence. Couldn’t remember what GCHQ stood for, googled it, spent over an hour solving (and smashing) the GCHQ Christmas puzzle. Back to intelligence. What an actually great evening. I love puzzles.

The energy in school today following the take over of Damascus is papable. So many Syrian students are so excited to see a war that is older than they are, but has fundamentally shaped their lives, look like it is over.