Category Archives: Uncategorized

@TMEnglishIcons Presentation

I had a great time in Manchester over the weekend with @beckyteachopia for the TMIcons English event. It was an absolute privilege to speak (perhaps not so much to have to follow so many other incredible speakers!) and share some thoughts on modelling planning. In our talk we shared the purpose behind lots of teachingContinue reading “@TMEnglishIcons Presentation”

Ten Takeaways from ‘The Complete Guide to Pastoral Leadership’ by Amy-May Forrester

Ostensibly, this is a book written by a pastoral leader, about pastoral leadership, for prospective or current pastoral leaders. But, I have a secret: it’s not. It’s a book written for everyone. It’s now top of my list to buy for members of my team. I hope this blog will explain why. I don’t thinkContinue reading “Ten Takeaways from ‘The Complete Guide to Pastoral Leadership’ by Amy-May Forrester”

Ten things I gained from my swim in the Ofsted waters

Back in November 2021 my school faced an Ofsted visit. Considering Ofsted had called to visit in the days pre-lockdown1, and been told that we were extremely low in numbers due to Covid-19, we knew it was coming. I had experienced Ofsted twice before this visit. The first one was a early years inspection inContinue reading “Ten things I gained from my swim in the Ofsted waters”

Ten ideas for improving subject knowledge in an English department

With the exception of a reading list before starting my PGCE, there was little (to no) focus on subject knowledge when I trained to be an English teacher. I’m not sure that it’s indicative of the course I studied, but rather the focus on certain types of pedagogy when I trained. I was taught howContinue reading “Ten ideas for improving subject knowledge in an English department”

Ten takeaways from ‘Middle Leadership Mastery’

Middle leadership is both a blessing and a curse. I’ve been a Head of Department for two years now, and those years have been dominated by Covid, CAGs/TAGs, and lockdowns. But, despite all that, it is an incredible job and I genuinely love going to work every day. I spend summer missing school – missingContinue reading “Ten takeaways from ‘Middle Leadership Mastery’”

Ten takeaways from ‘Symbiosis’ by Kat Howard and Claire Hill

On my original blog, my focus was 10 teaching strategies around certain topics. What I then started doing was sharing ten things I had gained from Edubooks I’ve read. I found these a useful way to record my thoughts from the books I read, and initiate discussions with others who had read the books. Pre-CAG/TAGContinue reading “Ten takeaways from ‘Symbiosis’ by Kat Howard and Claire Hill”

Ten Takeaways from ‘Successful Difficult Conversations’ by Sonia Gill

Originally posted on Teaching Top Tens:
I posted on Twitter a rather honest assessment of myself. I fear difficult conversations, to the point that I actively avoid them. Or maybe I even try to fix the problem myself – inevitably increasing my workload. Or maybe what I do is try and sort the problem in…