Communication, pressure, growth, and care.

Every September brings its own changes — new timetables, new teachers, new rules. But beneath all of that, one thing stays the same: children stepping into adolescence.

Adolescence and the story that connects

Adolescence winning at the Emmys — yes, the acting, the one-shot takes, the whole craft of it deserves magnificent plaudits. But for me, it’s the storyline that carries the success. The acting brings the characters alive, makes you attached, makes you think, “that could be me.” The setting and those one-shots bring out the everyday places — the police cars, the houses, the schools. It’s real, it’s lived, it’s what young people know.

The constant at the start of school

If there’s one constant at the start of a school year, it’s that children will be moving into adolescence. Whatever influences surround them — home, school, online, friends — the fact remains: they will be adolescents. The contexts shift, but the changes they face don’t stop.

The storm of growth and pressure

Adolescence is a maelstrom. Communication skills have been tumbled upside down just after they’d managed to be established and now once again every day they’re being tested. Peer groups, social media, expectations, appearance, physical changes — all collide at once. One moment they’re laughing, the next they’re withdrawn; one word can set off a chain reaction. Imagine living in a body that’s changing daily while trying to manage a social world that feels like it has no off switch.

The classroom tinderbox

Now place that storm into a classroom of thirty plus. One teacher, often stressed, trying to establish authority and maintain discipline. The demands of targets, behaviour management, paperwork, inspections. And wallop — you’ve got a tinderbox. The smallest spark — a miscommunication, a sarcastic comment, a bad morning before school — can set it alight. Not easy for the young people, and not easy for the adults either.

No one gets off in this story

And here’s the truth: no one gets off in this story. No one. Teachers and police are at times and can be, made to look ridiculous. Parents are trying their best, often beating themselves up. And the kids — as troubled as they can be — are still caught in the middle. Adolescence doesn’t spare anyone. It takes a village to carry it, and if one part of that village stumbles, everyone feels it.

Why safeguarding matters

This is where safeguarding takes on its full meaning. Those booklets and courses handed out at the start of term aren’t just bureaucratic hurdles. They’re reminders that the school environment itself can strain and overwhelm both students and staff. We read them for the children, first and foremost — yet more and more they are for everyone’s protection. Walking into a school environment being aware of their safeguarding and how that should be there for you as well and without that being apparent it can quite quickly leave you isolated.

Children first, always

Safety is the ground on which everything else can grow. Adolescents don’t need perfection from the adults around them; they need consistency, patience, and recognition that this stage of life is as confusing as it is transformative. They need a little extra time when the pressures pile up, a little extra care when communication falters.

Television might win awards for portraying adolescence but it’s schools and families that live it every day. The real triumph is when, despite the pressures, a young person feels understood, supported and given the room to navigate who they are becoming.

When engagement breaks down

The truth is, young people have to be engaged in the first place — but the classroom environment doesn’t always make that easy. Thirty adolescents, a stressed teacher, the noise of peer pressure and physical growth all colliding: sometimes the connection is lost before it has even begun.

So what comes next? Alternative spaces, creative tools and mentoring approaches create openings where engagement can spark again. They don’t replace the classroom, but they complement it — giving young people a chance to connect on their own terms, in a way that feels safe and meaningful.

Because when engagement falters, what matters most is not punishment or withdrawal but a pathway back in. And that pathway can be built.

Re-engagement starts by giving young people a way to be heard.