Friday 24th October 2025
On the very rare occasions I have to deal with poor behaviour in school I am often told by the children (and occasionally the parents) that they have ‘anger issues’.
Every year thousands of children are referred to Childline for anger issues. Anger management in children is one of the top mental health concerns in childcare.
Anger, and the ability to control it, are key skills of adulthood. Violent thoughts frequently bubble underneath human interactions.
Anger is the quickest way for those thoughts to become reality. For this reason, it is tightly regulated in our society.
Children must learn to overcome anger so that they do not fall foul of strict controls on violent conduct. However, this is difficult for children to learn to manage since anger is remarkable powerful.
As teachers, and parents, there is no choice but to teach our children to reign these emotions in. This can be hard but working together we can give our children the strategies and support to do this.
The NSPCC has produced helpful resources:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/arguments-conflict-family-tension
Catriona Williamson
Friday 17th October 2025
We have been given the opportunity to work with Kelly, our Family Navigator.
Kelly works for the Wiltshire Family Hubs and will be at our school and in the wider local community.
Parents and carers can come and talk to Kelly about what life is like looking after children and young people and she can signpost parents and carers to groups, events and support available.
Kelly will be at our school on the first Tuesday of every month from 8.45 am – 9.30 am and from 2.45 pm – 3.30 pm. You can also pop into the office to make an appointment to see her.
There are posters up around the school.
Kelly looks forward to meeting you.
Catriona Williamson
Friday 10th October 2025
I am so proud of our attendance figures at Mere School – they are far better than most other school nationally, which results in our children doing so well compared to schools nationally.
We work incredibly hard to ensure that every child is in school every day and I am grateful for our parental support with this. If the children are not in school they cannot learn. I know some of our conversations can be difficult but we want to give all of our children the best possible start in life. A 95% attendance rate equates to ½ day off school/week. This is not something any employer would tolerate.
The Centre for Social Justice highlight that without intervention, high absence rates will translate into joblessness.
We dedicate a lot of time to achieving these high attendance levels and will continue to do so. Thank you for your help.
Catriona Williamson
Friday 3rd October 2025
Country Life magazine says:
“Every school should have a pond and a bird box to help children appreciate nature”.
This coincides with the launch of a natural history GCSE which aims to increase understanding of the climate and natural world.
The editor continued:
“The disconnect of children from flora, fauna and farming, apart from a few admirable but isolated initiatives, and the soulless barrenness of young lives with faces transfixed by mobile phones, is an issue of these times. It was so much easier ‘back in the day’. A child’s love of all things countryside came naturally through home life – walks with grandparents, accompanying father on a ‘gone fishing’ trip or weeding alongside mother.”
At Mere School we have bird boxes and a pond and we aim to use our natural environment as much as possible in our learning.
The Friends and Mr Stafford will be clearing out our pond in the very near future, ready for the winter. This is an amazing resource and the children love pond dipping.
We are also going to retain our ‘Forest Schools’ area so that our children can be involved in termly activities in there. The Friends have kindly funded specialist equipment and the Town Council are keeping this area clear for us.
How lucky our children are!
Catriona Williamson
Friday 26th September 2025
The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) warns that more than 300 children a year are rushed to A & E after swallowing magnets and one in ten needs life-saving surgery.
When strong magnets stick together inside the body, they can rip through a child’s gut, cutting off blood supply and causing life-threatening injuries. Even toddlers have needed hours of emergency surgery, and some children are left with lasting internal damage.
Magnets don’t just come in toys – they’re also found in jewellery kits, fridge magnets, puzzles, dartboards, fidget toys and desk gadgets. Worryingly, some magnets sold online are 17 times stronger than the UK safety limits.
A reminder for parents:
Find out more at capt.org.uk/magnet-safety
Catriona Williamson
Friday 19th September 2025
A newspaper headline over the holidays read:
“unruly kids cost fellow pupils 45 school days”.
The article stated that every child is losing 45 days of education a year on average due to bad pupil behaviour.
As the new school year starts the Government has estimated that seven out of every 30 classroom minutes are lost to children being disruptive. This means that every pupil misses about 9 weeks of learning a year.
The Department for Education published a survey of 5000 teachers which found that only a third felt confident managing misbehaviour.
The Government has just launched attendance and behaviour hubs, where 800 schools will form networks and share successful strategies for tackling persistent absence and disruption.
Behaviour at Mere School is excellent and this has been verified by visiting specialists. Our children are respectful and kind and have good attitudes to their learning which results in good outcomes. Working together with parents we ensure that any learning is not disrupted so that all of our children can achieve their personal best.
Catriona Williamson
Friday 19th September 2025
Our children all had a morning or afternoon of Forest School last term and a huge thank you to The Friends for funding this for us.
Forest School is a unique educational approach that uses natural environments, like woodlands, to facilitate learning. It's a child-centred, hands-on experience that fosters confidence, self-esteem and social skills through regular outdoor activities and exploration. The core idea is to build independence and resilience by allowing learners to engage with the natural world in a supported, risk-assessed way.
Mere Town Council kindly cleared an area of woodland at the edge of Duchy Manor Field for the children to work in and we were extremely lucky with the weather.
We are hoping that this will be a regular experience for our children which we will run ‘in house’ in future years.
None of this would have been possible without the funding raised from our fireworks event and we are delighted we are able to enrich our curriculum in this way. We are hoping to raise even more money this year – please come along on Saturday 8th November 2025!
Catriona Williamson
Friday 5th September 2025
We have been thinking about our leavers this week, hoping that they have settled well into their new schools.
They had a wonderful final, short week in school. Their performance was incredible and we enjoyed sharing their memories of life at Mere School during their final presentation assembly. There was not a ‘dry eye in the house’!
Connie wrote this poem and wanted me to share it with everyone:
Mere School
Thank you!
For all that you have given us to set us on our way.
For all the laughs and memories that shaped the best of days.
How we smiled over the rumours of the ghost deep under the stage.
How we fretted over meat-free Mondays and complained that we were slaves!
At the end of the day Mere School never became a bore.
We will miss you!
But a ship is safest in the harbour, but that’s not what ships are for.
We look forward to hearing about their success at their new school.
Catriona Williamson
Friday 18th July 2025
LOST FOR WORDS …JUST A QUARTER OF CHILDREN SAY THEY ENJOY WRITING
This is such a sad headline I found in the paper recently.
A report by the National Literacy Trust says ‘this is a worrying state of decline and has ‘concerning implications’.
They say children’s enjoyment of writing has plummeted over the last decade.
Just 27% of children said they enjoyed writing in their free time, compared to 29% last year and 47% in 2010. Last year just 72% of children in England met the expected standards in writing in the KS2 SATs.
I am delighted to report that this is not the case in our school. We already know that 89% of our year 6 children have achieved the expected standard in writing in the KS2 SATs this year with 15% achieving a greater depth standard.
Governor monitoring of writing this year also noted:
”All children interviewed were happy to read aloud with enthusiasm and enjoyment. All were aware of their own progress and were proud of their achievements. It was evident from looking at progress records and work over time in the books that all of the children were making secure and often good progress”.
Catriona Williamson