Monday 25 May 2020

"Go Big - Survive and Thrive in Secondary School" by Matthew Burton (Hachette)

It feels like a weirdly different landscape for schools at the moment, but one thing that never goes amiss is a good dose of awesome advice from someone who knows what they're talking about.

Entering senior school can be a daunting prospect for youngsters and in "Go Big: Survive and Thrive in Secondary School" the nation's favourite head teacher Matthew Burton (star of Educating Yorkshire) is on hand to dispense teacherly wisdom in a really nicely presented and digestible form.

In fact we wish we'd had this book a few months ago when C herself began her senior school journey. Just about everything you can think of is covered here, from homework to leisure activites and clubs, from lesson planning and exams to mental health issues, bullying and even careers advice and ways to gear yourself up for what you want to eventually do when senior school comes to an end.

This book format is really great, as it feels like the sort of book that'll tuck nicely into your school bag to be referred to, maybe even scribbled on once you get to senior school yourself. Even though we're still not sure what's actually going to happen come September when kids may be heading off to Senior School for the first time, it's still worth having a look inside as this book is invaluable for those worried about the whole process.

Cutting through some of the common myths and rumours about senior school
Oh grud, exams. I mean does anyone actually like them?
I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. 
Sum this book up in a sentence: An awesome self-help guide for kids about to enter secondary school, written by a head teacher who really knows what he's talking about!

"Go Big" by Matthew Burton is out now, published by Hachette (kindly supplied for review).