Assessment… Revisiting old posts: The importance of Do it Now tasks in aiding short-term and long-term recall and retention. 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JULY 2018 Last year, our then deputy, Michael Goves, introduced a lesson framework to the academy for teaching that consisted of a Do it now, the imparting…
Personal Revisiting old posts: breaking the mould 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JULY 2018 Disclosure: this is an honest blog. I'm not sure everyone will like that. Over the wall, I see my future standing tall. Over the wall,…
Personal Revisiting old posts: Ciao Roma! 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN AUGUST 2018 So I thought I'd write a little blog about my arrival in Rome. A bit of a diary but it could be useful for anyone…
Coaching Revisiting old posts: it all starts with the heart…coaching with Graydin 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN SEPTEMBER 2018 Coaching with Heart – The Graydin way So after two weeks of being at my new school I have already had two full days of…
Marking and feedback Revisiting old posts: marking and feedback 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN SEPTEMBER 2018 There has been a sudden surge over the past few weeks of teachers discussing their marking load and seemingly giving up a huge amount of…
International teaching Revisiting old posts: So you want to teach internationally? 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JANUARY 2019 I get lots of DMs asking me about teaching internationally. Some people simply want to know how I went about getting my job whilst others…
Curriculum Revisiting old posts: rebuilding the curriculum 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN FEBRUARY 2019 When I joined my last school, it was inadequate. Over three years, the staff worked relentlessly hard to move that judgement to the good judgement…
Reading Revisiting old posts: The merit of an epic 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN MARCH 2019 I am an avid reader and have been since a young age thanks to my dad who encouraged me to read regularly. Every year I…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: learning intentions and success criteria 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN APRIL 2019 Visible Learning Feedback Last term, my wonderful school sent me to the Visible Learning conference in Edinburgh. It was an absolute privilege to be able…
Homework… Revisiting old posts: To flip or not to flip, that is the question. 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN AUGUST 2019 Never one to shy away from discussion, I have been pondering the recent Twitter response to a small-scale study on flipped learning. This in turn…
Homework Revisiting old posts: KS3 homework: minimal effort, maximum gain 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN SEPTEMBER 2019 There has been much debate recently about homework. For me, homework is an integral part of the educational offering we make. If we don’t set…
Curriculum Revisiting old posts: Curriculum 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN OCTOBER 2019 Disclaimer: this blog post probably offers nothing new but it is my personal reflections on the framework and how we can use it to create…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: Curriculum and assessment 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN OCTOBER 2019 The fourth area the curriculum framework asks us to consider is that of assessment and how we assess our pupils in order to ascertain whether…
Wellbeing Revisiting old posts: Term time wellbeing 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JANUARY 2020 Emma Kell asked today about how you maintain well-being during term time. Once upon a time, I used to work 14-16 hour days. I’d get…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: Evaluating and growing learning 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY IN JANUARY 2020 Teaching a new curriculum is an overwhelming and daunting prospect for any classroom teacher. There are a multitude of decisions to make and the first…
Personal REVISITING OLD POSTS: A DAY IN LOCKDOWN 28 Feb 2021 POSTED ORIGINALLY ON MARCH 12TH 2020 My alarm still goes off at 5am. I guess I can’t get my head round that I’m not physically getting up and going into…
Assessment… Revisiting old posts: Slow and steady wins the race 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POST ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 17TH 2020 One of the things I am hearing a lot about at the moment is the need to strip back, focus on foundational aspects…
Curriculum Revisiting old posts: Skellig versus Oliver Twist. Skellig and Oliver Twist. 28 Feb 202128 Feb 2021 POST WRITTEN 18TH APRIL 2020 Another interesting debate happened last night about the teaching of Skellig versus the teaching of Oliver Twist and one having more cultural capital than the…
Leadership Queen of stepping down 25 Feb 20212 Mar 2021 Yesterday, I was involved in a post about stepping down as HOD. Now I am Queen of stepping down. I initially stepped down when I moved to Rome – I…
Personal HNY #oneword2021: Passion 1 Jan 20211 Jan 2021 There is something utterly transformative about turning 40. Your 20s are where you are young, live frivolously, make lots of mistakes. Towards the end of your 20s you might start…
Personal #Monthly writing challenge: Appreciation 27 Dec 202027 Dec 2020 The past month or so has been a struggle. I’ve mentioned before that I took the decision not to go back to the UK in October when my half term…
