When my son began at his new school, it was agreed (based on my conversation with the previous sendco) that he would not be required to do homework. With his significant challenges in autism and adhd, this is only kind. And as a result he is coping well. Of course, as soon as improvements are seen, the pressure returns. Having lived through extreme mental health difficulties myself during sixth form, I am fiercely determined to defend my children. Grades, we find out once we have left school actually aren’t everything….

This year
Is the most important year of your lives!
Said Mr Hayes
In his navy suit
With the yellow tie
And matching pocket handkerchief
Pacing up and down
Seeking to instill a sense of the importance
Of learning
Of getting good grades
But I knew
I was already revising
As hard as I could

Two years and ten grades later
Mr Hayes
In a grey suit
With a pink tie
And a matching pocket handkerchief
Pacing up and down
Trying to instill a sense
Of the importance
Of the getting of good grades
In this “most important year of our lives”

Wait! You said that before!
I remember
Which year did you mean?
This one or that one?
Or were you lying about both?

But I will try
Amid fear and sickness and sleepless nights

It all comes back when they say it to your children
A lie as old as time
How do they presume to know what will be important?

So this -

This is the most important time of my life

Because I will not let you
Take their hearts and 
Their minds and 
Their peace

Not like you took mine