Many children are leaving primary school every year in the UK with inadequate reading skills. The ability to read well is a fundamental life skill. To read well means not only to be able to recognise words on a page but also to be able to read independently and effectively for meaning. One of the…
It was recently reported in The Telegraph that schools are being issued with checklists designed to root out the worst behaviour offenders and ensure staff reward well-behaved children. Inconsistency is certainly the main cause of behaviour difficulties in children. This is the case with parenting and is no different in schools. Children know exactly what…
You don’t have to be a sports enthusiast to have heard or be interested in the recent debates about racism in football or the lack of black coaches and managers causing concern. Of course being married to a football coach who has worked with children for many years I have heard it loud and clear!…
Since her appearance in The Help, the fashion and entertainment world have finally sat up and taken notice of actress Viola Davis. By no means a newbie – Viola has been in films as diverse as Nights in Rodanthe and Madea Goes to Jail – she is finally getting some mainstream love. She attended the…
Peony, the protagonist in Peony in Love, is a pampered sixteen year old when the reader meets her. She is sequestered in the Chen household with female family members and knows nothing of men beyond her relationship with her father. She is betrothed to a man she has never met and during a performance put…
Anyone who has ever visited the natural hair channel on YouTube will be acutely aware that it is dominated by African American women. Afro textured hair is firmly on the mainstream media map in the US with the likes of CNN, The Huffington Post and the New York Times amongst others all running stories on…
At the ‘Naturally Fabulous’ event I attended last Saturday organised by The Natural Lounge and Naptural Roots magazine, I not only had the pleasure of socialising and exchanging hair stories with fellow naturals, I also met some very talented women each with their own unique skills who are part of the growing natural hair community…