Since retiring from headship 16 months ago I have been working with numerous schools across the country. It has been both a privilege and a delight to support colleagues as they strive to improve the quality of teaching & learning in our schools. I have learnt huge amounts on my…
I led Huntington School from 2007 to 2021. During that time, school budgets were cut by 9% in real terms, the biggest reduction in 40 years. I wrote at length about how I managed the impact of the drop in funding in a way that minimised the impact upon both…
Dave Williams always makes me laugh. He is a very funny man. And I thought of him last weekend when I listened to Barbara Oakley’s keynote speech at researchED Dublin. With utter clarity, Barbara explained how our brains learn. What she described was ostensibly familiar, but such was the…
Uckfield Post Office, 1955 Harry Tomsett, second row, centre But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. Francis Bacon A…
“What should be taught to whom, and with what pedagogical object in mind? That master question is threefold: what, to whom, and how?” Jerome Bruner What gives teachers the authority to decide what our children should be taught? Why don’t we keep the roles of curriculum designer and teacher…
I have written about sonnets many times; Hannah Lowe's "The Kids" is a striking volume written entirely in that particular poetic form. "The Art of Teaching II" will resonate with every teacher in the land. You can read it here. I have written sonnets…
Huh? is my usual response when I enter a Year 6 grammar class! But little did I know when I began working with the indefatigable Mary Myatt that Huh would prove to be the perfect title for our current curriculum project. In February 2021 I emailed Mary with a proposal.…
The triangulation of speaking to colleagues, being in lessons and looking at students' work is crucial to appreciating the quality of the curriculum. When looking in books recently, I have seen two things which have made me think. Firstly, the obsession with getting students to write down definitions before…