Academics aside, what does it mean to be a school, how does a school fit in a community, and how should we approach all the children in our care? “It takes a village to raise a child”.  In a village, children are born, given to the inhabitants to protect, nurture, guide and develop to their…

One of the most frequent conversations held around dyslexia is the expression of concern and panic by teachers who feel under informed or under qualified to deal with a learner who has dyslexia. Training is good and intervention essential, but every teacher can support these learners and make a difference, without expensive resources and specific…

Sorry, we don’t fix kids is likely to be the strongest message any school, even a remedial school should send out. You see kids aren’t ‘broken’ so they don’t need fixing. Restoration, perhaps, is an entirely different matter. All too often a parent’s journey to placement at a remedial school has included someone very well…

I enter my ninth year at Bellavista as the school enters its fiftieth and reflection is a dominant emergent theme. This past fortnight, the reflection has been on the successes of past pupils. I have just collated the results of the class of 2011 and of the twenty seven pupils, four children emigrated or moved…

Recently, Bellavista S.H.A.R.E. hosted an evening talk to look at the cyber world and its impact on relationships, with some emphasis on cyber bullying. The generational distinction in the room was marked. After one hour of solid, research based input on the reality that technology has propelled young people into a new social world, and…