Will Fastiggi

It was the kind of morning that leaves a corridor humming. Maths books under arms, bags half-open, the scramble before the bell. A Year 4 girl, Maya (not her real name), had just finished explaining her method for a tricky…

The door swung open before I heard the knock. Mateo (not his real name), a Year 5 boy, had been sent out of PE. He didn’t sit down. He kicked the nearest chair, then the next one. “It’s not fair.…

Over the holidays, I have been reading a biography of Dom Pedro II, the last Emperor of Brazil. The more I learned, the more I found myself drawn to the kind of person he appears to have been. Pedro officially…

Over the last few weeks, I have dealt with five serious incidents in school: four thefts and one act of vandalism. The thefts involved World Cup football cards, the kind children collect, swap, compare, and talk about excitedly during break…

Many years ago, when I was still relatively new to leadership, I entered a colleague’s classroom one morning with what I thought was a simple message. I had made a minor mistake and needed to change part of the afternoon…

Actions, Reflection, Identity Among the twenty or so behaviour issues that were brought to my office last week, there was one moment that stood out. A Year 5 student sat across from me, having been removed from his music lesson.…

Last week, I dealt with 18 separate behaviour issues involving conflict between two or more students. A few of the conflicts were serious. Most, I would say, were small. From my experience at school, conflicts generally follow a familiar pattern:…

Earlier this year, I delivered a masterclass related to character education at our educational conference at the British School Rio de Janeiro. I began that masterclass by posing a question that has increasingly shaped both my work in school and…