The world feels increasingly binary these days. Everything is reduced to its simplest, sharpest form: You are either with us or against us. It’s black or white. You are right or wrong. It’s this or that. Left or right. With Israel or with Palestine. Pro or anti-phone bans. AI is either the harbinger of doom […]
We thought the Government was only adding VAT to private schools. But it turns out it’s adding it to every school, just not in the way we expected. Yes, the Government really is changing VAT in education. Well…sort of… Ministers have promised to simplify the post-16 educational landscape. From 2027, students will now choose between […]
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”. So said my dad, often (1947-2016) Today I’m writing about the proposed changes to the school curriculum and assessment in England from 2027. Obviously, it helps if you read the review itself, but I […]
Book Mountain I love books. Indeed, for most of my life, I have always kept a stack of books by my bedside. Not the books I have read (those go on the bookshelf, if there is space), but those that I have yet to read. Some are gifted, some are borrowed, some are bought impulsively, […]
I’m currently on a rather fast (and rather efficient) train from Beijing to Nanjing, so I have about three hours to throw down some thoughts before I need to get my head back into the family holiday again. Game Night Most Thursday nights, when any sensible school leader would be catching up on sleep or […]
“On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was,“ “It’s October 3rd“ Mean Girls, 2004 I had no idea 3rd October was “Mean Girls” Day. For many years, I have worn pink on Fridays to show my support for inclusion and LGBTQ+ inclusion – not that anyone has ever asked me. So it was a […]
Whilst helping my daughter with her maths homework this week, I heard myself say, “Show working” I immediately kicked myself. First, because it was clear I was just repeating something I’d been told as a child — and there’s nothing more annoying than that. Second, because only now, years later, do I fully understand why […]
When I’m interviewing potential new teachers, I often ask, “Can you share an example of where your thinking has shifted from: I used to think this, but now I think this?” I don’t ask this because I’m seeking a dramatic conversion story. I ask it because I’m genuinely curious about how people open themselves up […]
-ocracies Often, the best learning in our classrooms is not planned for. In one of my lessons this week, we went off on a tangent about how different governments might respond to the same issue differently. We thought that a democracy might call for a vote, an autocracy might impose a decree, a technocracy might […]
When I first started teaching, I used to reprimand tardy students and tell them, “You’re late!”. Nowadays, I ask, “Are you OK?”. The Lord of the Rings is still the best thing I have ever watched on the telly. Not that new Amazon TV series tripe, I am talking about the Peter Jackson trilogy. The […]
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