LeadingLearner

Key Stage 2 Writing Assessments; There Has to be Another Way #ThursdayThunk

This month Year 6 teachers, up and down the land, will be submitting their Writing Teacher Assessments.  The Key Stage 2 Writing assessment process is currently a workload creation vehicle.  The outcomes are considered so dubious they are ignored; they pretty much count for nothing.  Independent writing means different things in different schools and the teacher assessment process is a tick box, recipe following nightmare.  There has to be a better way. Continue reading →

Ofsted #MythBuster – Speaking Truth to Power

If you amend the title slightly – speaking truth to power, discuss – you end up with the type of question I might ask when helping some of our Sixth Formers prepare for a university interview. They tend to dive straight in rather than dissecting the statement and starting a discussion around the two axes of the question; truth and power.

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Great CPD on a Shoestring #ThursdayThunk

The money being thrown at school improvement seems to know no bounds.  Hundreds of millions of pounds in Strategic School Improvement Fund and Teacher & Leadership Innovation Fund projects; yet some schools are struggling to fund even the most basic professional development to staff.  Think Reading Club! Continue reading →