This week, the Secret Teacher explains why, for some children, the holidays aren’t something to look forward to.

I remember being at school and counting down to the holidays and counting down to the weekends, but for kids in the deprived area where I work, it’s the other way around.

A high percentage are desperate to be at school. They enjoy learning and meeting people.

I don’t remember enjoying school. I remember leaving primary school and thinking ‘thank goodness, I’m never going to be back in a primary school again’. A few years later I'm applying to be a primary school teacher…

I couldn’t believe how positive some of the children are about school. We sometimes see how it fails the other way when they go to secondary school, come back to the primary school and say ‘I really miss primary school. I now recognise all the stuff that you did for us’. It blows my mind.

All that extra special time and care that they got, they don’t always get that now. A lot of secondary schools are absolutely fantastic, but some of them miss that close connection that you have with a teacher........

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