Around this time of year, something important happens in colleges and schools. The timetable begins to loosen. Classes end. Routines change. Students who have been seeing the same staff, friends and spaces each week suddenly face a long summer break, uncertainty about results, changing friendship groups, and questions about what comes next. For some young people this feels exciting. For others, it can feel unsettling in ways they may not even have words for. Because transitio

Across the college, we hear versions of this all the time: A young person comes into college expecting the usual: the same lecturer, the same rhythm, a sense of knowing what the next hour, morning or day will look like. But something’s different. A different face. A different tone. A different way of doing things. Nothing major has happened…but something shifts. Maybe they go quiet. Maybe they get restless. Maybe they push back. Maybe they leave. From the outside, it can

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how quickly blame can take hold in our interactions – with learners, colleagues, and even with ourselves. When something hurts or goes wrong, the mind fills in gaps, makes assumptions, and writes a story about the other person’s intentions. Before we know it, anger has stepped in, hardening our perspective and creating distance. Blame can feel satisfying for a moment. It gives all that emotional energy somewhere to land. But it also shuts

There have been some great discussions on social media recently about ACE awareness and is it a good thing? I can tell you of my own...

Two weeks feels like a lifetime ago already. When over 2000 people came together to find their own piece in a giant jigsaw of ACE...