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At the chalkface: Batter them with kindness

Pupil Premium advice/guidance Teaching staff Narrowing the Gap
“No-one ever said I was any good at anything,” Daisy said. This isn’t self-pity, just a statement of fact. No-one has done. Someone should be lynched.

I’m with a low stream 9th year, giving back homework.

I get to Daisy Plum, a painfully shy and lonely pupil, who badly lacks confidence – a situation that is not improved by having been labelled Level 3 and plummeting for the last three years.

It causes her to be mighty glum. It would cause you to be mighty glum. It’s not much fun being called rubbish for so long.

Daisy spends most of her time failing something or other. She’s just another poor, comprehensively undernourished child. Still, she’s done her homework, written a poem about her recently deceased cat Dolly. It displays rare effort and much care. There are some lovely illustrations in the margins. The writing is pretty sentimental and banal, but so what? It’s a start. She’s taken a risk and this is some kind of breakthrough.

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