It has been a few weeks since my last proper blog, and after yet another stupidly busy week, your humble servant remains short of his ‘muse’. It is often this way, I find, one month has me almost frothing at the mouth ‘cos I have so much to say, and others (such as this May) it seems best to leave all the others to do the talking.

It is not that the stories have gone walk-about. In fact, what with Royal Weddings, Bin Laden’s execution and the recent AV referendum, the in-tray seems overflowing with useful material.  And yet the words don’t flow.

It’s not that I don’t know why the faucet has switched off; indeed I am so certain I know the answer, I am testing my hypothesis on the ‘morrow. The truth is that I missing contact with my pupils, what with the short 2, 3 and 4 day weeks we have had, and my own commitments to the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate taking me away last week for 3 days to work on one of their teams in a London school.

Of course at the school I have been inspecting, I had loads of contact with children, but professional integrity prevents me from writing about their school and their contribution to its success. What was particularly exciting was to speak to pupils I don’t know about their work and play, and because their responses were very different to those I usually hear, I can’t wait to get back to CC and test the zeitgeist.

So in 24 hours or so, the writer will return within and I’ll be able to post anew.  Suffice it to say this for the time being (and to wet your appetite): young people in their exam years really do recognise the pressures they are under and as readily acknowledge the pressures their parents face too. Many uncertainties are arising from different directions, be that the fragile UK economy, the exam system, university entrance and fee rises, a fragile planet and man’s footprint on it.

We’ll do well to remember that learners know well over half of what we ever hope to teach them anyway, and assisting them to find their voice and take control of their learning has never been more important. Good academic results are essential, but successful adults have so much more going for them than just some A grades, and they find time to do so much in spite of the rhetoric that we are all time poor.

Now, where’s that razor to sharpen my quill, I had it around me just a moment or so ago?