Category Archives: Uncategorized

In the fast-paced and demanding world we live in, finding a balance between excelling at work and nurturing a fulfilling personal life is a constant challenge. In recent weeks, I have found myself facing a new reality with the welcome of my newborn daughter. The delicate equilibrium between professional success and personal well-being is crucialContinue reading “Striking a Harmonious Balance: Excelling at Work and Home”

Leadership is a multifaceted role that significantly influences the culture and dynamics of a team. In the initial stages of a leadership team being understood, their functionality as a team, their unity and their consistency are all being assessed – people want to know if they can trust their leadership team to steer them inContinue reading “Leadership: the good, the bad and the ugly”

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the importance of an optimal learning environment cannot be overstated. It’s not just about what children are learning, but also about how they are learning. In recent years, it has become evident the benefits of adopting a “less-is-better” approach in the classroom environment. It emphasises simplicity, minimalism, and reductionContinue reading “Simple Yet Optimal Learning Environments”

Advice for teacher in the final term of the year. As the school year nears its end, we all find ourselves juggling a multitude of tasks while striving to maintain student engagement and create a smooth transition into the summer break. The summer term is a tough one as not only are we wrapping upContinue reading ““Summer” race to the finish”

In my previous post, I discuss the need for change in terms of systems and measures within the workplace that improve validity, efficiency and effectiveness (see Dogma – a call for change). However, in this post, I am discussing the importance of keeping current systems fresh, engaging and refined. For example, the typical image ofContinue reading “Variability – keep it fresh”

Dogmatism: the tendency to lay down principles as undeniably true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others. It’s no surprise that in many industries (in-fact, in many aspects of life), things happen just because it’s ‘always been this way’. In the education sector, it might be the way playtimes are run, lessons areContinue reading “Dogma – a call for change”

**UPDATE Sept 23: As mentioned in my previous blog (Year 6), here is the Excel data sheet, free for your school to use. The sole purpose of this design was to make data input easier for teachers whilst providing all the mock SAT’s data for leaders to analyse over time, as well as a handyContinue reading “KS2 data tracker”

Working in Year 6 can seem daunting for some, especially if it’s your first time. Some feel their subject knowledge isn’t good enough and that the pressure can be too much; others worry about the behaviour that can come with teaching older children. However, from my own experience and with working/ supporting a number ofContinue reading “Year 6”

Visualisers…what more is there to say? I get it, and for most reading this, I appreciate I am preaching to the converted. Yet, fascinatingly, I still hear many of my teaching colleagues operating without them despite advocating their effectiveness. I am aware that teaching does not lend itself to just one effective approach but consideringContinue reading “Visualiser”

“Forgetting focuses remembering and fosters learning; remembering generates learning and causes forgetting; learning causes forgetting, begets remembering, and supports new learning.”                                                                                                   Bjork (2015) Our ultimate goal as teaching professionals is for children to acquire all the necessary learning, and more if possible, efficiently and securely. Having an understanding of the theories behind how theContinue reading “Retrieval ‘for’ learning”