The Muddy Puddle Teacher

💜 A little love for our headteachers today.

Being a headteacher can be one of the toughest jobs in education. You’re supporting the children, the staff, the parents, the paperwork, the pressures — and somehow still trying to hold the whole school community together.

So this is simply a reminder that you are appreciated. For the time, care, patience, decisions, conversations and love you give to your school every single day — thank you. 🫶

Tag a headteacher who deserves a little recognition today. 💜

🌿 Want more practical ideas, inspiration and support for outdoor learning and teaching? Sign up for our FREE weekly Muddy Puddle Teacher magazine — link in bio.

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Want to teach numbers to 10 outdoors? 🌿🔢

Keep it simple, active and playful.

Take number cards outside and ask children to:

✨ Find 5 sticks
✨ Collect 7 leaves
✨ Make the number 4 using stones
✨ Jump 6 times
✨ Match a numeral to the correct quantity
✨ Put natural objects in order from 1–10

You don’t need lots of equipment. A few number cards, natural resources and space to move can create a brilliant maths lesson outdoors.

And if you’d like more easy outdoor learning ideas like this, you can sign up for our FREE weekly Muddy Puddle Teacher magazine 💚

👉 Link in bio.

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School refusers 💛 Let me share two simple things that worked for my own children.

Sometimes it isn’t school itself that feels impossible — it’s the busy entrance, the noise, the crowds and that overwhelming transition from home to classroom.

Two things that really helped us were:

✨ Coming into school earlier than everyone else — before the corridors and playground became busy.

✨ Using a different entrance or door — creating a calmer, more predictable way into school without having to face the main rush.

They sound like such small adjustments, but for an anxious child they can make a HUGE difference.

We need to stop thinking that every child has to enter school in exactly the same way. Sometimes removing just one barrier is enough to help a child take that next step. 💚

Little nudge - sign up for free ideas with our weekly magazine links in the bio 🎀

What small adjustment has helped your child or a child in your class?

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I genuinely believe education can move in a better direction because teachers are finally speaking up.

Social media isn’t just about trends and pretty classrooms. It gives educators a voice. It lets us question things that don’t feel right, share what actually works, challenge outdated practice and remind each other what children really need.

More play. More movement. More connection. More understanding. More trust in teachers.

When enough practitioners start having the same conversations, change becomes harder to ignore.

Keep sharing. Keep questioning. Keep speaking up. 💜

And if you want more practical ideas, honest conversations and outdoor learning inspiration, sign up for our FREE Muddy Puddle Teacher magazine — link in bio.

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I was told teaching was the perfect career to have alongside being a parent.

School holidays together.
Similar hours.
A career AND plenty of time with your children.

That wasn’t my reality.

Teaching can be an incredible career, but I think we need to stop selling the idea that it’s automatically a family-friendly one.

The planning.
The marking.
The Sunday evenings.
The mental load.
The childcare before and after school.
The guilt when your own child needs you… but so do 30 other people’s children.

But here’s the bit I wish more teachers knew:

Your teaching qualification and experience can take you in SO many directions.

Tutoring.
Consultancy.
Training.
Advisory work.
Writing.
Creating resources.
Speaking.
Or even building your own education business.

That’s eventually what I did with The Muddy Puddle Teacher. 🌿

It wasn’t an overnight success and it certainly wasn’t the easy option — but it gave me another way to use everything I’d learned as a teacher while creating a working life that suited my family better.

So if you’re a teacher wondering, “Is this really how my working life has to look forever?”

No.

Teaching can be the career — or it can be the beginning of something else. 💚

What would YOU do with your teaching experience if you could design your own career?

🌿 And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Muddy Puddle Teacher Magazine — link in bio.

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PEDAGOGY. A word I somehow managed to teach for 8 years without anyone really explaining to me. 😂🙋‍♀️

And actually… it matters.

Pedagogy is essentially HOW we teach — and the thinking and beliefs that sit behind the choices we make.

We can all be given the same National Curriculum, but that doesn’t mean we have to deliver it in exactly the same way.

🌿 I believe children should learn outdoors.
🏃‍♀️ I believe children need to MOVE.
💚 I believe nature should be part of everyday education.
👐 I believe children learn through doing, exploring and experiencing.
🧠 I believe we need different approaches for different learners.

That’s my pedagogy.

And this is why I think we need to talk about pedagogy more in education — not just activities.

Instead of simply sharing “Try this lesson…”, let’s also share:

WHY did you teach it that way?
What do you believe about how children learn?

Because when teachers understand the WHY, they can make confident choices about the HOW.

So I’m curious…

👇 What does YOUR pedagogy look like?

And did anyone actually explain the word pedagogy to you during teacher training?! 😂

🌿 Want more ideas around outdoor, active and nature-based learning? Sign up for our FREE Muddy Puddle Teacher Magazine — link in bio.

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I got into a really interesting conversation today about schools sharing photographs of children online — and I think my view on this has changed. Follow ITV Sue Atkinson on LinkedIn

Moving forward, I’d love to see us normalise no-face photography of children. 📸

We can still capture the learning.

Photograph the muddy hands.
The painting being created.
The tower being built.
The wellies jumping in the puddle.
The child investigating, exploring and playing — without needing to show their face.

Parents already know what their children look like. ❤️ So do we actually need to put their faces on public school and business social-media accounts to demonstrate what they’re learning?

I’m thinking about this as both an educator and a parent.

Children are creating a digital footprint long before they’re old enough to understand what that means. What if, when they’re 18, 25 or 30, they simply don’t want childhood photographs searchable online? What if they go into a profession where they’d rather those images had never been made public?

Several years ago, I had a parent ask my company to remove every photograph containing their child. They had very good reasons for doing so — and of course we did it. But it made me think differently about the responsibility organisations have when we publish images of children.

So for The Muddy Puddle Teacher, I’m moving towards a really simple principle:

Show the learning. Show the experience. Protect the child. 🌿

No faces doesn’t mean no memories.
It doesn’t mean schools can’t celebrate what children achieve.

It just means we’re thinking about children’s privacy not only today, but in their future too.

I’d genuinely love to know what teachers, school leaders and parents think about this.

Should no-face photography become the norm in schools?

🌿 Sign up for our FREE Muddy Puddle Teacher Magazine — link in bio.

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Something I really love about Greg Bottrill’s work is that it’s about pedagogy — not just how things look. 🌱

In education, it can be so easy to see a beautiful classroom, an amazing provision or an inspiring activity and think, “I want to do that!”

But the most important question is…

WHY are we doing it?

What’s the thinking behind it?
What are the children learning?
What is the adult’s role?
How does it support play, development and relationships?
What do we actually believe about how children learn?

That’s the bit I think we need to share more of.

Not just the beautiful end result.
Not just the Pinterest-worthy provision.
Not just “here’s an activity you can try tomorrow.”

👉 Share the thinking behind it. Share the pedagogy.

Because when teachers understand the why, they can adapt the idea for their children, their setting and their context.

That’s something I really value about Greg Bottrill’s work — and something I want us to keep championing at The Muddy Puddle Teacher too. 💚

🎧 You can also hear my conversation with Greg on The Muddy Puddle Teacher Podcast.

And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Muddy Puddle Teacher Magazine — link in bio! 🌿

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This one is for the school office staff. ❤️

The people who somehow know EVERYTHING.

Who answer the phone while dealing with a parent at the desk, find a missing lunchbox, chase a form, sort out the dinners we teachers forgot to tick 🙈, find a spare uniform, deal with deliveries and somehow know where every child is supposed to be.

You’re often the first face families see and the last person teachers run to when something goes wrong.

And we know it can be stressful. The emails. The phone calls. The complaints. The endless admin. The things that suddenly become urgent at 3:25pm. 😬

Schools simply wouldn’t function without you.

So this is your little appreciation post. We see you. We appreciate you. And thank you for everything you do. 💗

Tag your brilliant school office team below and give them some love! 👇

🌿 And don’t forget to sign up for The Muddy Puddle Teacher® FREE magazine for ideas, inspiration and support for educators — link in bio.

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