A Complaints Process That Resolves Things
I remember sitting in a departmental meeting ten years ago, staring at a glossy, laminated flowchart that promised a “streamlined, multi-stage resolution process” for parental...
Read out all
Curating Rather Than Creating
I remember sitting in a departmental meeting ten years ago, staring at a spreadsheet that promised a “seamless, integrated digital repository” for our schemes of...
Read out all
Teaching Pupils to Monitor Themselves
I was sitting in a middle leadership meeting last Tuesday—the kind where the air feels thin and the coffee tastes like burnt...
Read out all
Three Priorities, Not Fifteen
I remember sitting in a windowless meeting room in 2014, staring at a thirty-page document that promised to revolutionise our literacy outcomes...
Read out all
Eighty Percent of the Budget Is People
I remember sitting in a windowless meeting room in 2014, staring at a glossy, colour-coded spreadsheet that promised “strategic resource optimisation,” while...
Read out all
The Complete Guide to Teaching Reading
I’ve spent most of my career sitting through “professional development” sessions where a consultant in a sharp suit presents a glossy, fifty-slide...
Read out all
The Complete Guide to Supporting Eal Pupils
I’ve sat through enough expensive, shiny CPD sessions to know exactly what’s coming: a twenty-slide deck filled with “linguistic scaffolding frameworks” and...
Read out all
Where a School’s Money Comes From
I remember sitting in a drafty departmental meeting ten years ago, staring at a glossy spreadsheet that promised “transformative educational investment,” while...
Read out all
Familiarity Feels Like Understanding
I remember sitting in a staff meeting ten years ago, listening to a consultant in a sharp suit explain how we could...
Read out all
One Question That Tells You Whether to Move on
I remember sitting in a departmental meeting ten years ago, staring at a glossy, twenty-page training manual that promised a revolution in...
Read out all
Leading a Department in Your First Year
I remember sitting in a windowless meeting room during my third year as a middle leader, staring at a glossy, twenty-page slide...
Read out all
Checking Thirty Pupils, Not Three
I was sitting in a CPD session last Tuesday—one of those mandatory ones where the presenter speaks in a sort of aggressive,...
Read out all