Forming Connections

19/09/2026

Would you like to be a mentor for ITT students?

“There’s training involved!”

When I was early in my teaching career, I loved going on training.

It usually meant lunch in a posh hotel, learning brilliant new ideas I could take straight back to the classroom, and spending the day with other teachers sharing experiences, connecting, and learning together in a relaxed environment.

Sometimes we even got booked onto a two-day course and stayed overnight in a hotel! 🧡

My ITT mentor training was at Sheffield Hallam University, where I’d completed my PGCE, so I was excited to go back.

Being asked to become a mentor was my first experience of line management. I remember feeling incredibly proud that someone thought I was ready to support another new teacher.

I didn’t go to university until I was 28, with two young children, so returning to the place where I’d trained felt quite emotional. If they trusted me to mentor someone else, maybe I really was becoming the teacher I’d hoped to be.

The training taught me how to observe lessons, monitor progress, record evidence, and ensure standards were being met.

What I don’t remember learning much about was the relationship, how to build trust, help someone feel safe enough to be honest, and let them know you genuinely believe in them.

My first mentee had a difficult year for many reasons, and looking back, I don’t think I supported her as well as I could have.

Since then, I’ve mentored ITTs, NQTs and, more recently, an ECT. It’s always been one of the most rewarding parts of working in education.

As a mentor, you gain so much too. You walk alongside someone at the very beginning of their career, and when you navigate challenges together, you both grow.

That’s one of the reasons we’re launching Opening Doors, helping more employers, educators and organisations develop confident workplace mentors to support young people into work and tackle the NEET challenge.

If you’d like to find out more, send me a message, meet me for a coffee, or let’s have an online chat. 🧡

18/09/2026

🧡 Opening Doors: Workplace Discussions 🧡

A new conversation series from Forming Connections, exploring how employers, charities and educators create inclusive workplaces and better futures for young people.

The wonderful Emma Morris, CEO of Headway Derby, was our very first guest, joining Joe 2.0 life with a brain injury for an honest conversation about young people entering the workplace, the value of mentoring, and the strengths that young people bring to organisations.

We're still putting the finishing touches to the full episode, but we've released the first clips on our YouTube channel if you'd like a sneak peek. 🤩 You can find them here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI-mExnlHLLQ&si=wDJVzXjORvpHM3xt

We're incredibly grateful to Emma for being so open and supportive of Joe. Following his brain injury, Joe is using the filmmaking process as part of his rehabilitation to rebuild his language and communication skills.

Headway has been a huge part of Joe's recovery. Emma and her team have been there from the very beginning, supporting him during his time in the rehabilitation unit at Derby Hospital, so it feels especially fitting that the first film in our series celebrates the amazing work they do. 🧡

18/09/2026

“They’re disrupting the whole class.”

“We’ve only been back two weeks and we’ve already had to suspend them.”

“This school isn’t the right setting for this child.”

“The whole class feels unmanageable… it’s like playing whack-a-mole.”

These are real conversations I’ve had with teachers and school leaders throughout my career.

When a child is struggling to cope in school, the impact reaches far beyond that one child. Staff wellbeing suffers, classmates become dysregulated, learning is constantly interrupted, and everyone begins to feel overwhelmed.

The difficulty is this: behaviour is communicating something, but if we don’t understand its language, we can easily misinterpret the message.

A child’s behaviour may be communicating an unmet need, an inability to cope, a nervous system at breaking point, hunger, exhaustion, anxiety, or simply that the learning is too difficult. Unpicking behaviour takes time and time is something schools rarely have.

For nearly 20 years I’ve worked with children with the complex needs, including as a Local Authority Behaviour Support Advisory Teacher supporting schools with SEMH and a wider range of specific needs.

If you’re a school leader with a child at risk of suspension and you’re unsure what to do next, I can help.

My support is completely bespoke to your school and may include:

🔸Classroom observations
🔸Coaching and support for the class team
🔸Support with parent meetings
🔸EHCP provision and strategy support
🔸A written behaviour support plan with practical, achievable strategies.
🔸Clear recommendations, giving your staff a realistic way forward

I’ve supported many children who were permanently excluded or on dual placements in alternative provision to successfully return to mainstream education. Sometimes the right outcome is a different placement; sometimes it’s helping the current one succeed.

I’m opening a limited number of behaviour support sessions for schools and educational provisions in Derby City.

Book a free 30-minute consultation or send me a DM. 🧡

17/09/2026

😂

15/09/2026

🧡Another fantastic workplace discussion filmed for our Opening Doors project!🧡

Our project aims to help reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) by supporting workplaces to create inclusive, welcoming starts to working life.

A huge thank you to Blu and Chloe from Hardy Signs Ltd for being so honest, generous and accommodating.

For this episode, we spoke with both an apprentice and her mentor about just how important it is to have someone in your corner when you’re starting out in the workplace.

Joe is now busy editing, so watch this space… 🎬

If your organisation supports young people through apprenticeships, work experience, T Levels or other training placements, we’d love you to take part in a future Workplace Discussion. Get in touch to share your story and inspire other employers.
Joe 2.0 life with a brain injury

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10/09/2026

🧡Joe in the Zone 🧡

Opening Doors: Conversations with Derby Employers
Hosted by Joe.
Produced by Forming Connections.

As part of our Opening Doors offer, supporting workplaces to help reduce the the amount of young people not in education, employment or training(NEET), we are filming discussions with local businesses and organisations that currently have young people either on a placement, apprenticeship or in employment.

We’re filming authentic conversation, not a swish film production.
Our first workplace was the fabulous Headway Derby with their wonderful CEO, Emma. This was special as Joe has a Traumatic Brain Injury and Headway have been a constant, important part of his ongoing recovery.

Joe was whole school Careers Lead and a post 16 teacher in a special school,prior to him not being able to teach, and getting young people into the workplace was one of his passions. His whole curriculum was based around Preparing for Adulthood and the Gadsby Benchmarks.

So this whole project is very close to both our hearts. The films will not be produced commercially but Joe will be editing them, and we film them together.

I look forward to sharing the films, once they are ready. 🤩
Joe 2.0 life with a brain injury

07/09/2026

🧡

Cuppa & Chat — Wednesday 16 September, 10am–12pm

Glow & Grow Café, Friar Gate Studios

With the summer holidays now over, who’s up for a breather, a drink (and possibly cake!), and the chance to chat with others who truly get the SEND journey?

Our Cuppa & Chat is back. Join us for a relaxed, drop‑in session where you can talk, listen, share, or simply sit with people who understand.

No booking needed — just come as you are.

We’re pleased to be joined by SENDIASS and Derby SAL (Derby SEND Advice Line), who will be offering the opportunity for private chats throughout the morning.

If you have any queries, please message us or email [email protected].

07/09/2026

School leaders: What if your staff don't come back rested? As school leaders, September is full of plans, priorities and fresh starts. But before we assume every colleague has returned rested and recharged, it's worth asking: What if they haven't?

We often assume that after six weeks away, our teams return refreshed, focused and full of energy.
But what if they don't?

Some colleagues have spent the summer juggling caring responsibilities and return to school more exhausted than when term ended. Others have spent weeks feeling isolated, overwhelmed or simply trying to recover from the emotional demands of the last academic year.
And for some, the hardest part of September isn't the workload, it's answering the question, "How was your summer?"

The reality is that staff wellbeing isn't a luxury; it's a foundation for thriving schools.
The latest Teacher Wellbeing Index found that 84% of senior leaders and 78% of school staff experienced stress at work. That's a reminder that wellbeing challenges don't disappear over the holidays.

When adults are struggling to regulate their own nervous systems, it becomes much harder to consistently model calm, co-regulation and emotional resilience for the children and young people who rely on them every day.
Before we ask staff to regulate classrooms, support children and lead with calm, perhaps we should first ask: who is supporting them?

That's why I've developed a new wellbeing offer for schools.

It's a 60- or 90-minute introductory session, followed by optional weekly group support session, giving staff practical, evidence-informed strategies to regulate and calm their nervous systems, techniques they can also use with pupils in the classroom, which will be bespoke to the school phase that your staff are working in.

This is not a clinical mental health intervention. It's a preventative and supportive wellbeing programme, grounded in my experience as a trained yoga and mindfulness teacher, alongside 15 years as a classroom teacher and 5 years as a Local Authority advisory teacher.

If you're planning your staff wellbeing provision this term, I'd love to have an initial conversation about how I could support your team. 🧡

What is one thing your school is doing this September to protect staff wellbeing, not just pupil wellbeing?

04/09/2026

No! I’m not. I won’t. I can’t. I’m not doing it. I’m not going. No chance!

The start of the school year. A new start. A new beginning.

School photos, new uniforms, new school bags, new year!

For some children, their families, and some staff who work in schools, this is what they’ve been dreading all summer.

It’s here. The gut-wrenching, heart-palpitating, head-spinning time!
A nervous system that feels out of control often shows itself in two ways:
🔸 It’s adrenaline-fuelled: high cortisol, tense, nervous energy that needs to be released and moved.
🔸 It’s in energy-saving mode: needing to retreat, withdraw, and conserve the tiniest amount of energy it feels it has available.

The ‘other’ appeals to logic and common sense:
“It’ll be okay when you get there.”
“Just relax.”
“Take it easy.”
Or…
“Stop being dramatic.”
“Everyone else can manage.”
“It’s only school.”

Logic won’t stop a nervous system from making a child or colleague feel like they need to scream or collapse.

If someone is telling you they can’t do it, instead of dismissing what they are saying, perhaps listen to their voice, let them know you hear them, and instead of trying to give them solutions, ask if, and how, you can help?

Compassion and kindness, in a moment of distress, can go a long way. Connection and a friendly face can mean all the difference.

🧡”I’m glad you’re here.”
🧡”Good to see you.”
🧡”I’ve missed you.”

Schools should be a safe place for their whole community, adults and children alike.
In this new term, how are you ensuring that everyone feels safe, included, and welcomed?

KCSIE might have been the ‘highlight’ of your INSET, but if you’re hearing a lot of “No, I’m not doing it,” consider what’s going on underneath. For a child or an adult, it might mean they’re not feeling safe at all.

Welcome back to everyone who works in education. You do amazing work everyday. I hope you’ve all had a proper break! 🧡

29/08/2026

A Holiday Trauma Story! Pt. 1 ✈️😎
We're going to Ibiza!

After a rollercoaster year of both of us leaving our teaching careers, a decision forced by Joe's traumatic brain injury, we were finally going on holiday.
For the first time in over 40 combined years, we'd spent the summer in an office instead of enjoying the six-week school break. This week was different. No emails. No socials. No conversations about the future. Just us.

We caught the bus to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Relaxing at the airport is part of the holiday… right?

Then Joe left his phone on the bus.
For most people, that's frustrating. For Joe, it's so much more.
His phone is a huge part of his recovery. It anchors him in time and holds so many of his memories, family WhatsApps, photos, videos, social media posts, and even the white noise he relies on to sleep.

It also held our holiday money in a newly installed Revolut app.

We waited two hours for the bus to return, hoping it would still be there. It wasn't.

Stressed? Absolutely.
But… we got on the plane. 😎

We've had a week to remember, only Joe has had to live it without access to so much of his past and present. He's been incredible, and we've leaned on every strategy we have, but it's definitely been a shock to both of our nervous systems.

And just when we thought the drama was over…
We had some euros in my purse.
The same purse I left in the taxi from the airport to our hotel. 😅
To be continued…
Joe 2.0 life with a brain injury