{"id":246442,"date":"2026-05-14T23:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=246442"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:17:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:17:57","slug":"what-do-you-say-to-the-boy-sitting-behind-the-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/what-do-you-say-to-the-boy-sitting-behind-the-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"What do you say to the boy sitting behind the glass?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Year 6: before everything changed <\/strong><\/h2>\n

I used to sit in class writing about what I wanted to be: back straight, finger pressed to my lips, desperate to answer every question. I worked hard, chased merits and sang lead in the school choir. Music filled my house from 7am every day, usually Wretch 32.<\/p>\n

At that point, I was the respected one. The child who tried. I thought secondary school would be a fresh start.<\/p>\n

It was, but not in the way I expected.<\/p>","protected":true},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Policy can change, but unless practice changes with it, young people like me will keep slipping through the cracks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":246445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[582,263],"post-theme":[3551],"class_list":["post-246442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-exclusions","tag-inclusion","post-theme-opinion-send"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t