If you’ve ever watched a young writer freeze up mid-sentence, chances are it wasn’t because they ran out of ideas. More often than not, they hit a cognitive roadblock, and this could be over basic transcription mechanics. When a pupil has to stop and burn precious mental energy asking themselves, "Is it 'i before e'?" or "Does 'necessary' have one 'c' or two?"

Am I good enough? How can I make an impact off the bat? What if they don’t listen to me? What if I get it wrong? What if I confuse them? These are questions that ECTs have asked me recently. …

The tasks a teacher should undertake Sue Cowley’s session on adaptive teaching was immense. Before I even get to the content, I have to mention Sue herself. She spoke with such warmth, humili…

The tasks a teacher should undertake Sue Cowley's session on adaptive teaching was immense. Before I even get to the content, I have to mention Sue herself. She spoke with such warmth, humility and humour that the session felt more like a conversation than a lecture. Having taught across all age phases (and still spending time in classrooms), everything she shared was authentic and rooted in real experience.

The Serious Business of Play I wanted to get these musings out by the start of the week, but Mrs and Mr OfSted put that on pause! So one of the sessions that really challenged my thinking at the Fe…

There are always sessions at the Festival of Education that leave you with pages of notes. Then there are the ones that quietly reshape how you think about something you’ve taken for granted …

There are always sessions at the Festival of Education that leave you with pages of notes. Then there are the ones that quietly reshape how you think about something you've taken for granted for years. For me, one of those sessions was Amarbeer Singh Gill's Why are students so bad at learning? The title is deliberately provocative, but as the session unfolded, it became clear that the real question wasn't about students at all.

What I’m Still Thinking About… Teacher Decision-Making There are always sessions at the Festival of Education that leave you with pages of notes. Then there are the ones that leave you …

What I'm Still Thinking About... Teacher Decision-Making There are always sessions at the Festival of Education that leave you with pages of notes. Then there are the ones that leave you with a single idea that refuses to go away. The talk was in the Big Orange Tent, hosted by Evidence Based Education For me, one of those ideas came from Adam Kholbeck's sessions on adaptive expertise.

Think dictation is a relic of the past? Discover how slowing the pace and using 'transient visualiser modelling' can supercharge your students' independent transcription, spelling, and handwriting skills

It’s Summer. Do you feel it? ☀️ The summer term is officially here. Between the assessments and the busy corridors, there’s a quiet sense of readiness in our schools that wasn’t there in September. It’s not always "neat," and it doesn’t always show up on a spreadsheet, but the shifts are there: Routines that now feel normal. Students who are finally finding their feet. A sense of belonging that took months to build. The journey matters. Before the final rush takes over, take a moment to notice just how far your students - and you - have come. You’ve had a hand in every bit of that progress. Good luck for the weeks ahead! ☕️ #EduTwitter #SchoolLeadership #TeachingAndLearning #PrimaryEducation #SecondaryEducation #TeacherReflections #EdChat #FormativeAssessment #TeachersOfLinkedIn

Jenny Webb (@funkypedagogy) has got me thinking deeply about PD. There’s some myths in schools that improvement comes primarily from curriculum design, accountability structures or the latest initi…

I’ve been inspired by a visit to a school in North Yorkshire. Working with some leaders we were discussing sentence composition, and they said “Think it. Say it. Write it. Read it.” So I got thinki…

I’ve been inspired by a visit to a school in North Yorkshire. Working with some leaders we were discussing sentence composition, and they said “Think it. Say it. Write it. Read it.” So I got thinking, if there’s one thread that stitches writing together from Reception to Year 6, it’s talk. Not grand, performative talk, but the simple act of saying a sentence before trying to write it.

The multi subject national event from TTR - Free for teachers!

Master the Art of Handwriting: Transform motor skill into academic prowess with clear demonstrations and efficient practice sessions.

The spring term always arrives with a particular kind of energy. Children return from the Christmas break a little taller, a little louder and often slightly out of rhythm. This isn’t a problem to …

The spring term always arrives with a particular kind of energy. Children return from the Christmas break a little taller, a little louder and often slightly out of rhythm. This isn’t a problem to be solved; it’s simply part of the cycle. What matters is how quickly we help pupils rediscover the habits that make learning possible. This is where…

I was listening to an episode of the Beyond Good podcast with Femi Adeniran and Matt Findlay titled “My Daughter’s Drum Lessons” on the way to work this week. There are a number of points that are worth listening to in this pod, so please do give it a listen, here: What stood out to me, was the reflection that, almost by accident, a sizeable body of work has been built up.

If you spend any time in a primary classroom, you’ll notice something curious about how we teach writing. By the end of Year 2, children have often been asked to produce stories, letters, instructions, fact-files, recounts, poems, posters, diaries and sometimes even play-scripts. The list is endless, and a little exhausting. So I ask: why do we teach so many genres so early on?

Walk into many classrooms today and you’ll see walls bursting with posters, anchor charts, word walls, motivational quotes, and student masterpieces. I’ve been there myself - creating a map of Middle Earth when reading The Hobbit as a display board, and making a 3D display to entice children when creating writing inspired by ‘The Mysteries of Harris Burdick’ by Chris van Allsburg.

What are ‘flight paths’? Picture this: a classroom full of busy students and one teacher weaving in and out of desks like a pilot following invisible routes through the sky. Those routes , the ones…

What are ‘flight paths’? Picture this: a classroom full of busy students and one teacher weaving in and out of desks like a pilot following invisible routes through the sky. Those routes , the ones teachers naturally take as they move around the room, are what I like to call flight paths. BUT! They’re not just about walking around. They’re about being…

💬 “Don’t panic if they forget – plan for it. Forgetting, done right, is how learning becomes stronger.” The Forgetting Fear Teachers and parents everywhere have had the same quiet worry at so…

💬 “Don’t panic if they forget - plan for it. Forgetting, done right, is how learning becomes stronger.” The Forgetting Fear Teachers and parents everywhere have had the same quiet worry at some point: “Will they actually remember this next week?” Fear not! Forgetting isn’t always the villain. In fact, sometimes it’s the secret ingredient that helps learning stick.

We’ve explored the importance of the environment, attention and the working memory. For new learning to stick, we need to ensure that we are constantly checking for understanding, and most importantly, providing the right feedback after we’ve worked out what the children do and do not know. Feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have in education. Done well, it accelerates learning, builds motivation and helps children refine their thinking.

As we head into the first full week back, schools have hit the ground running delivering their lessons to pupils, and parents at home (if you’re anything like me!) are breathing a sigh of relief for the routing and normality! I also look forward to the homework that comes home. We’ve explored how environment and attention shape learning. Now we come to a crucial piece of the puzzle: …

As we get closer to the new term; new academic year, here's the second blog around how we support children learning. I hope you find it useful. If there’s one thing teachers and parents know well, it’s the challenge of getting - and keeping - children’s attention. Whether it’s a buzzing classroom, a phone notification or just the endless energy of being young, attention can feel fragile.

I’ve had a bit of a hiatus with blog-writing; busy work and family got in the way! So I’ve taken inspiration from other writers and decided to do a mini-series as we start getting ready for the nex…

💙We are a Proud CUSP School 🗓️9th June we will host a day to showcase all the CUSP Curriculum has to offer: lesson design, SEND offer and Assessment at St Mary's 🙏Share the link with anyone who'd be interested: https://t.co/FG26EX6hXp @baronbedford @peedleweedle @Edu_Meadows

You wouldn’t build a house by just putting in the front door, would you? Nah, you'd sort the foundations first, make sure every brick’s where it should be, and fix any gaps before the roof goes on. Well, assessment in the classroom’s the same — it's not a flashy end-of-year event, it’s the brick-by-brick work we do every single day to help children build something strong and lasting.

💙We are a Proud CUSP School 🗓️9th June we will host a day to showcase all the CUSP Curriculum has to offer: lesson design, SEND offer and Assessment at St Mary's 🙏Share the link with anyone who'd be interested: https://t.co/FG26EX6hXp @baronbedford @peedleweedle @Edu_Meadows

Curriculum schemes – they’re a hot topic in UK education right now. From the classroom to the staffroom, it seems like everyone’s either trying to adopt one, debating its merits, or wondering if it’s all a money-making scheme that will fall out of edu-sphere as quick as it came in. So, what’s all the fuss about? On paper, adopting a curriculum scheme seems like the ideal solution.

Mental arithmetic is a big deal. Whether it’s calculating a tip at a restaurant (some Brits do do that!), managing your shopping budget, or simply figuring out how much time you need to get ready i…