Start with a smile
In Rita Pierson’s infamous TED Talk, she challenges a colleague’s anti-relationship view on teaching quipping “You know, kids don’t learn from people they don’t like”. Teaching is more than …
Remote Learning: How I’m Applying Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction in My Planning
Teaching remotely feels a million miles from the classroom but not too far from how I plan lessons. In fact, I feel that my planning for online learning is …
Curriculum Intent: Just the Tip of the Iceberg
It’s great that curriculum is currently taking centre stage in schools but caution should be exercised by school leadership in not turning their curriculum intent into a warp speed …
Planning for school improvement: What’s actually working?
Too often when talking about school improvement, leaders will real off an impressive list of actions they are taking to improve pupil outcomes and rightfully so, helping pupils improve …
Learning versus Performance
Last week, I listened to Mr Barton Maths Podcast 2017 interview with Robert and Elizabeth Bjork. For those readers unfamiliar with the names, they are a power couple in …
Thinking out loud: Absorbing the lockdown gap
As September nears, a big question facing my school is ‘How are we going reset the curriculum and close gaps? This is certainly a question that is becoming increasingly …
Foster a psychological safe school culture
Psychological safety means there is a shared team belief that it is safe to take interpersonal risks like admitting a mistake without fear of judgement or reprisal. This is …
Why multiple choice for KS3 assessments may be the way forward
In my last blog, I took the position that key stage 3 assessment data is still important (even though Ofsted have somewhat side-lined it) but it cannot continue in …
Redefining Key Stage 3 Assessment
It seems not that long ago when key stage 3 national levels were completely scrapped and for the right reasons but what replaced them? Its successor was far from …
What is your body language saying?
What is your body language saying? Probably a lot more than you think! The work of Dr Albert Mehrabiam suggests that our body language accounts for 93% of how …