Curriculum

It’s Time for Learning: 5 Implications for Your Classroom

It’s the start of the new school year and it’s time for learning.  Staff’s learning and that of the pupils goes hand in hand.  I’ve often said if you want it in the classroom you’ll need it in the staff room first.  Effective pupil learning will be helped by staff having a greater understanding of what learning entails. Continue reading →

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 →

The 3Rs of Working with Disadvantaged Pupils

Statistically, working in a school with a large number of disadvantaged pupils of white ethnic origin isn’t likely to lead to many accolades or much acknowledgement. Blackpool is one such town; fortunately there is no all boys’ school; the hardest of the hard school improvement miles is raising attainment and showing good progress for white disadvantaged boys.

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