It’s week one for my new class of fantastic young people. Again they come with a host of labels – non verbal, profound and multiple learning differences, autistic.

True to my word I’m using these labels to gain an understanding and for compassion. I’m trusting in the here and now more. So this week we simply occupied the space together, myself and my amazing support team said very little , we observed , we supported when needed, we are gradually being let into their world. It took a lot, it will continue to take a lot.

This week we discovered a lot of triggers in our young people and we’ve probably only scratched the surface of these .

We didn’t do the traditional first week activities, we don’t have a beautiful display or all about me posters on our wall, and we won’t for some time to come . Maybe in a teaching sense I’ve got the pace all wrong .

This week we reassured, supported and played , therefore we also discovered a lot of glimmers . This is where we’re starting , thus what we do have is the very beginnings of a connection, a relationship that will see us through the inevitable challenges and joys to come this year.

Can I justify this in an assessment sense ? probably not, there’s no curricular code for building connections and relationships…

But for now we’re finding our glimmers .