Tom Oakley

Me too! Important and exciting work.

Really enjoyed this session. Thank you both.

An article well-worth reading
www.aft.org/ae/fall2017/...

Just finished rewriting the overview for a weekly picturebook assembly which focuses on empathy, inclusion and diversity. It's still a work in progress but please feel free to use and adapt. All shares appreciated. The link is on my Padlet: padlet.com/Jon_Biddle/r...

Great. Thanks for the recommendation, John. I've just bought it.

Great. I really hope you enjoy it.

Book cover for Marie O'Hare's debut novel, called I Know Where You Buried Your Husband. The image is of a view of the sky, as if looking up from an open grave.

Earlier this summer I read the debut novel by Marie O'Hare. It's brilliant and I keep thinking about it. I found it to be funny, dark, colourful and compelling. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm recommending this now because the Kindle edition is only 99p at the moment.
amzn.eu/d/hC3iV9B

#summerreading #bookclub

Haha. I actually did 5 when I read this.

(This only works in a font where 1 looks like a lower case L.)

It's the summer holidays, which means I have a copy of Primary Reading Simplified to give away.

Simply **repost** this post for your chance to win.

I will pick a winner on Sunday 17th August.

Good luck!

These four books are absolutely essential. I can't stress enough how important these have been to fundamentally shifting who I am as a teacher and a leader...

Thank you to @marymyatt.bsky.social @suchmo83.bsky.social #MichaelChiles & @pepsmccrea.bsky.social for investing such time into these.

Anyone interested in Cadbury World tickets? I accidentally booked tickets for the wrong date and I can't go. It's for 6 adults a child (6-15yo) and another child under 5years old, for the 3rd September (not the 3rd August as I planned). If you're interested, send me a message. Please be kind.

I learnt quite a lot from the reading, made some really great contacts through the face to face sessions, but the final assignment felt like a really big tick box exercise. If I could improve the course, I would remove the final assignment entirely and add more practical advice for doing the role.

A quick note for the record: I enjoyed my NPQ course. The delivery was great. The networking and sharing of ideas etc was invaluable. It's the final feedback I find fault with.

It begs the question: Is it worth it?

If the NPQ feedback is so poor that it devalues the experience and doesn't help the participant, is the assignment really worth the effort?

I'm not so sure.

@bphillipsonmp.bsky.social @ambitioninstitute.bsky.social @teacherdevtrust.bsky.social

Same. I was left feeling like, "Is that it? I put so much time and effort into this, and that's all I get?"

The feedback totally undervalued the accomplishment and failed to give me any sense of how I could do even better.

I can now see why many participants feel numb about their NPQ experience.

For those who didn't meet the 60% threshold, the feedback is slightly more detailed but still not detailed enough to be useful.

E.g. 'Your script was marked and moderated and you did X, but not enough of Y to pass.'

It would be useful if this came with specifics or advice, but both are lacking.

For those who have been successful, you don't get any sense of why you were successful or any recognition of the bits you did well. It's a mystery.

This is one of the worst cases of professional feedback I've experienced. Although successful, there's nothing much to indicate achievement or growth.

The NPQH and NPQSL final assessment feedback I've read recently is dreadful.

If you've passed, you get an email saying congratulations, but no feedback on your assignment at all. None.

If your assignment has been marked below the threshold, the feedback received is too vague to be helpful.

... apart from that 🤣

Oh no. I thought you were being sarcastic when you said it tasted bad. I would've put my money on it being delicious.

Awesome. And an epic Eye of Sauron in the middle. Double-win for the book- and food-lovers.

Good luck with the book, John.

Thank you again.

Thanks for checking. I think the child should have had an F code, because she's been deferred and will do her SATs next year. Either way, I’m fairly sure her results should be in next years data, not this years.

Hiya James. What about pupils with a Z code? Are they in the data, too?

It’s KS2 results day tomorrow. If anyone has any questions about accountability measures, which pupils are included and which ones aren’t, and how things are calculated, please do ask. I’ll be around all day.

Rachel I love your book thread. Have you heard of the book 'I know where you buried your husband' by Marie O'Hare? It's a funny, dark, page turner written by a teacher-turned-author. I'm halfway through and loving it. Give it a go, if you get a chance.

'Constant difference' is a game changer for many children but be sure to help them to understand this, by exploring the structure with manipulatives and visual representations, before assuming they "get it."

I Know Where You Buried Your Husband: A page-turning, darkly funny new thriller for summer 2025, perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and ‘Bad Sisters’
amzn.eu/d/2ulkAA0

A colleague at my wife's school has just released her first novel. If you're looking for a great summer read, look no further.

📌