 Really quick one for me. I'm in the middle of watering my garden and my dog will pester me to throw his toy in a moment but I just wanted to reflect briefly on something I was considering today as many of our colleagues returned to the classroom for the first time in a long time back to the chalk face it's been a while and many people have contacted me saying how uncertain they felt like imposter syndrome was high and yeah there's a great deal of uncertainty and worry about getting this right for our children being the adults that they need and I was thinking how do I help today and I'm really lucky because I have a great network of people around me and people who listen and care what I have to say I suffer imposter syndrome with that too why why do you care what I have to say it puzzles me every day but you do and so I thought well what words of wisdom could I send my people off with to work today because I wanted to help in a little way and what could I do I could tweet and I thought what do people need to carry with them they need to feel empowered what do they need to do how do we help our children and I decided that the most helpful thing I think we can do right now for our children is to love them to listen to them and to laugh with them so love them we do this all the time we are in the profession because we care but care out loud love them unconditionally let your children let their families know that they're loved that you care that you've held them in mind while you've been apart and that you are worried about them and their future in just the same way that they are and that you care you might not have the answers but you care and you're there and you're alongside them and you're on this journey together so love them love them out loud care out loud for your children and their families the next thing is to listen everyone is going to be coming back from lockdown and their experiences with a shared common experience so we've been talking a bit about community trauma and how we bounce back from that so there's a kind of shared experience that we all have but actually everyone will have experience locked down differently every single person will have had a different experience and some people will have experienced joy and reflection and a chance to stop and think and there'll be some great stuff there and some people will have experienced real challenge perhaps in a way they never have before there will be stories of abuse stories of neglect stories of poverty stories of death stories of separation many difficult stories too and some people will have a mixture and some people will have just had a kind of okay time so there'll be good stuff there'll be bad stuff there'll be stuff in between some people have a mixture but everyone's going to have a story and everybody needs a space to share that story to come to a common understanding of what's happened to us all and to come to an individual understanding of what's happened to them and what this means for them and what's next and lots of our kids will need a bit of space right now to kind of reflect on what they're learning in the last few weeks means for them moving forwards because they've had the carpet ripped out from right under their feet and the things they were working towards that were the most important things in their lives maybe suddenly we're gone and they're coming back now and they need to find themselves again and some of them will have had a complete change of heart about what's next for them and what matters to them and what they want and we need to provide space for that too so basically there's a lot of listening to be done one moment so yeah listen listen listen with an open heart um you don't need to know the answers just walk with allow children a safe space in which to explore how they're feeling and what's next for them listen to the families too if you can families have also been through a tough time many of them working from home whilst trying to support the education of their children often in really challenging circumstances so families have got stories to tell too and providing space for that is also really important and then finally laugh wow laughter is going to be like the most important medicine right now alongside loving and listening but laughing play fun being able to relax and take time away from the worries of right now because there's still a lot of worries still a lot of uncertainty a lot of a kind of unsafety so laughing matters finding ways to have fun to just relax and enjoy each other and to rebuild those relationships and begin to repair and connect is going to matter and laughter is one of the things that binds us most quickly with others and will help you to rekindle those relationships which might feel a bit strange a bit off and we don't know how to react to each other but laughing will always bring us closer so find ways to laugh and enjoy with the children that you care about in it doesn't matter how you do it there's not a right way there's not a wrong way but find something to laugh about find ways to have fun find ways to play even with big kids even with adults find ways to play and enjoy and do those things for yourself too so there you go my rambling thoughts on the return and the things that we need to do for ourselves the children that we care about so we're feeling massive imposter syndrome it's a challenge but do these three things love them listen to them and laugh with them and I promise you will make a difference I really hope that those of you who have just returned had a great first day and those of you who are thinking about returning soon are able to look forward to that even just a little bit get a little bit excited about some of the positives there good luck and as always thank you so much to all of you for everything that you're doing every day okay it's incredible and I'm constantly blown away by the stories that I hear of care and kindness and support that you all provide for the children in your care so thank you for that and please keep doing what you're doing but remember to look after yourselves okay until next time