Thursday 22 November

The day started off with a meeting with secondary HT colleagues from our neighbourhood. The meetings are very useful as we share good practice and learn from each other. I am of the view that the issues to address are the same across all schools. From school to school, depending on the context, the issues may vary in terms of the resources required to address these. We spent some time talking about the tensions that can arise between inclusion and exclusion. I am keenly aware that some youngsters find it very difficult to cope in a mainstream school and can benefit from receiving a different type of support in another environment.

This evening sees us host an information sharing session for parents on 'Sexual Health'. Many thanks to Rachel Meighan (PT Guidance), Niki Powers (Health Opportunities Team) and Caroline Fraser (Health Opportunities Team) for all their hard work in making the arrangements for the evening.

The parents who attended were very impressed with what they learned about our programme. In particular, parents liked the emphasis on relationships and abstinence as key messages underpinning the programme we deliver to our youngsters. It was reassuring to learn that the likelihood of unwanted pregnancy is much reduced when parents actively discuss relationships etc with their children. Most of the parents present indicated that they would be willing to follow up the evening's work with further work with youngsters at home.