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Rachel Rayner

@rachelrayner54.bsky.social
707 followers 540 following 38 posts

Headteacher (Primary) here to learn. Formerly HfL education advisor and Oxford University Press consultant for maths education. Twitter refugee looking for some positivity please. All views my own.

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Reposted by Rachel Rayner
Sarah Watkins @minilebowski.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
This is the kind of book I'd love to read aloud in class. It's beautifully written and really evokes the atmosphere of the original Frankenstein novel. Gorgeous illustrations too... @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social #EduSky
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
I have been waiting for this - some really great people have worked on it and am hopeful it distils what we can place bets on. Summer reading taken care of - great timing
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Life’s good
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Adam Smith @mrsmithnorwich.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
What a pleasure to meet @douglemov.bsky.social alongside @ashleymartin26.bsky.social and the East100 cohort. This man has had a bigger impact on my teaching practice than anyone else I could name. Ratio rules.
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Have been out outish. On the way home the main discourse on the train is what is awaiting folks in their fridges. One man has lamented “an abundance and f cheese but no pickle”.
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Mary Myatt @marymyatt.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
It’s not about more work It’s about planning the curriculum through a different lens. A new project Key Stage 3: The Ambitious Years I’ll be talking more on this webinar: Thurs 27 March 4-5pm, access with annual or group films.myattandco.com/programs/web...
films.myattandco.com
Webinar: KS3 The Ambitious Years
Upcoming webinar: KS3 The Ambitious Years
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Caroline Spalding @mrsspalding.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I’m delighted Sir Hamid Patel has been elected Chairman of Ofsted. His track record speaks for itself. He also showed me immense kindness whilst surrounded by edu-greats on an DfE consultation group. He has emotional intelligence, empathy and sensitivity - all qualities valuable at Ofsted I reckon.
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Tom Rees @tomrees.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Really pleased to have launched this today at @ascl-uk.bsky.social. Please do share/engage - we're hoping to build a national resource which shares examples of good practice that exist in the system.
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Schools Week @schoolsweek.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
📈 Exclusive: School leaders have been confronted outside their homes, spat at and 'offered out' for fights as abuse from parents surges, a Schools Week investigation can reveal
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Heads open up about torrent of abuse from parents
Leaders confronted outside their homes, spat at and 'offered-out' for fights
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Holding the Line @sparkes66.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
“It is “conceptually problematic” for support for the mental health of a child with SEMH needs to be delivered only within an educational context and not a health context,”
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Ben Newmark @bennewmark.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
The SW investigation might be the most important one they've ever run. It's an incredible piece of work and the results are truly shocking. Everyone should read it.
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John Dickens @johndickenssw.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
I’ve been digging into the quality of EHCPs, plans that parents are dragged through court sometimes to obtain, and that are bankrupting councils What’s actually in them? Are they good quality? Personalised? Include interventions backed by evidence? Are they fully funded? The answer often is no
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Schools Week @schoolsweek.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Special investigation: Interventions lacking evidence, copy and paste plans, health and social care missing - Schools Week reveals how EHCPs are failing vulnerable children
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Investigation: How EHCPs fail our most vulnerable children
England now spends nearly £11 billion providing education for children with additional needs. But what does the funding in EHCPs actually get spent on?
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Chris D. Jackson @chrisdjackson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
📸 No one follows more etiquette rules than the Royal Family—but notice how King Charles didn’t make any smart-ass or demeaning comments about Zelensky’s attire today. Why? Because respect isn’t about clothes—it’s about character. And that’s something money can’t buy.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
sometimes a picture tells a thousand words
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Christopher Such @suchmo83.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Throughout my teaching career I was given bad advice about dyslexia, including... + Sit all dyslexic pupils at the front because they inevitably have issues with attention. + Teach them to recognise words as whole units rather than teaching them to decode. + Give them coloured overlays. Etc >>
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Apparently Rachel is slightly pungent and sharp. Rude
Cheese platter with a cheese called Rachel
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Education Endowment Foundation @theeef.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
“In everyday conversation we might talk about something being as ‘easy as one-two-three’. But for young children, learning to count isn’t so easy.” @juliangrenier.bsky.social explores two practices for developing children’s early understanding of numbers. Read more: eef.li/3wMtgw
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
I think we managed to fit a whole week of days into Wednesday.
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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Word of the day is ‘hibernacle’ (18th century): a hibernating animal’s winter retreat. I believe it works on a human level too.
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SF Said @whatsfsaid.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
BOOK GIVEAWAY!!! I'm not on social media a lot right now, working very hard on my new book, trying to get it done in less than 9 years this time! In the meantime, I'm giving away signed copies of all my books so far. Repost & follow to enter, & say which one you'd like - closes Dec 14! #KidLitUK
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Enjoying working on review and retrieval with our teacher team. Pulling out thoughts around retrieval, strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats to good retrieval tasks after reading various perspectives. @profcoe.bsky.social @teacherhead.bsky.social @katejonesteach.bsky.social
A compilation of teacher thoughts under each SWOT heading
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Suzanne E. Huerta @suzannehuerta.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
#iteachmath Choral Count by 1/3 starting at 1/3 #maththinking
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Jon Hutchinson @jonhutchinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
I couldn’t be happier or more grateful that our children’s future is in the hands and hearts of people like @ashleymartin26.bsky.social A very special week in the company of restless, kind and thoughtful school leaders.
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Susie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Word of the Day is a true favourite, as some of you will know. Apricity (17th century) is the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day.
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Early morning dog walk watching the sun rise. Peace.
Sun rising over river
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Joanna Hardy-Susskind @joannahs.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Are we doing those old-school, meandering, ludicrous threads here? They were the best thing about ol’ Twitter. And, hoo boy, have I got one for you. Buckle up. We need to talk about Gromit. 🪡 🧵 🪡
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Toby Earle 🇺🇦 @tobyontv.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Colin Farrell is fantastic in #ThePenguin & completely unrecognisable
Feathers McGraw in The Wrong Trousers
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Rebecca Montacute @beckymontacute.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
The full report can be found here - www.suttontrust.com/our-research...
suttontrust.com
Lessons Learnt? - The Sutton Trust
A brief history of school policy reforms going back to the 1980s and the impact of these policies.
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
An important read and deeply felt by the sector.
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Zoe Enser @greeborunner.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Don't leave me alone in my confessional. Come share your curriculum sins. @clairestoneman.bsky.social @ensermark.bsky.social teachreal.wordpress.com/2024/11/15/c...
teachreal.wordpress.com
Curriculum Sins
Right. The time has come. Enough hiding from it. I am here to lay bare the sins of my past. This is not a confessional on a personal level (in so much that the topic is about work as opposed to som…
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Elliot Hahn @elliothahn.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
🧵THREAD🧵 After the release of the “Use of teaching assistants in schools” in September, I have spent the last few weeks reading, internalising and reflecting on what this research from the DfE essentially tells us (with strengths & developments needed)
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 05/10/2024
Girls weekend away. Food, wine and chill.
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Martin Robinson @trivium21c.bsky.social · 05/10/2024
Teams run by people who said they really, really wanted to be managers performed worse than those who were assigned to lead them by chance. Self-promoting types tended to be overconfident about their own abilities… they also tended to be men.’ www.economist.com/business/202...
economist.com
What makes a good manager?
Hint: not someone who says I am a good manager
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SouthGlosHead @southgloshead.bsky.social · 28/09/2024
I have been a teacher for 28 years (17 years as Headteacher) . For the first 20 years I never saw a child hit an adult in school. Now, as Exec HT & Head of Inclusion for my Trust, it’s commonplace. And yet this crisis seems to have gone unnoticed by policymakers.
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 28/09/2024
It was a great privilege learning from @markmccourt.bsky.social yesterday in a preview of this day. If there are any spaces left for this I’d recommend you come and listen. Guaranteed to make you think deeply about primary maths education. @triciamoss.bsky.social @catherinelock.bsky.social
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 26/09/2024
I am absolutely battered. But someone’s told me there are only four weeks to half term- and I’m happy because I thought there were five. Small wins.
media.tenor.com
a little girl is laying in a bed with her mouth open
ALT: a little girl is laying in a bed with her mouth open
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School Data Updates @jpembroke.bsky.social · 19/09/2024
Using Insight scatter plot to compare results of mock KS2 tests in autumn against final results to find reasonable predictor of expected standards. Here, 59/65 pupils scoring 93+ in autumn achieved EXS at end of year (73% of all pupils).
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Mark McCourt @markmccourt.bsky.social · 11/09/2024
This is the first time I have spoken in public since retiring and my only CPD session of 2024. I would love to see you there if you are interested in raising attainment in primary mathematics. Huge thanks to DEMAT for hosting this day and being open to making it public and free for all to attend.
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 11/09/2024
So does anyone else have questions about saluting magpies or is it just me? Like what happens if you salute one and then you spot the second … what then? Also - what if you’re saluting the wife?
media.tenor.com
a black and white bird perched on top of a wooden fence with morning mr magpie written below it
ALT: a black and white bird perched on top of a wooden fence with morning mr magpie written below it
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Rachel Rayner @rachelrayner54.bsky.social · 11/09/2024
This is going to be mega - I haven’t seen @markmccourt.bsky.social speak for a while so I am excited this is happening for FREE! Be there or be 🟨
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Catherine Lock @catherinelock.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
Come and join us as we learn more about great maths teaching and how we can really improve our practice. An incredible one-off opportunity to whole day of Mark for free! We’d love to see you.
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Mark McCourt @markmccourt.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
Calling all MAT CEOs, Directors of Education, and Directors of Mathematics with primaries. I would like to invite you to attend this full day of CPD at which I will describe how to significantly improve standards in primary mathematics. I’d love to see you there completemaths.com/elevate-math...
completemaths.com
Elevate Your Maths Teaching With LaSalle Education and DEMAT
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Peter Williams @mathsimpact.bsky.social · 05/09/2024
I'm a secondary maths teacher and I say the primary curriculum is too full of maths. There should be far more space to explore more broadly. We have plenty of time to cover enough maths if students arrive knowing the basics really well.
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Jon Hutchinson @jonhutchinson.bsky.social · 29/08/2024
Six years ago, literally nobody asked me what my advice would be for new teachers starting in September. So I told them. And now, years later, still nobody has asked me. So here it is again 👇🏽 #uked #ukteaching #edusky
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Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 27/08/2024
This one's long but I was having so much fun I just didn't want to stop. The supposed tech industry giant is almost hilariously inept at doing actual business stuff. www.unchartedblue.com/how-to-kill-...
unchartedblue.com
How to kill your tech company (Elon Musk edition)
Musk's Twitter takeover is a fascinating case study in how to destroy a company from the inside out.
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