Victoria Crooks

Delighted to have a paper with @lauralondo1017.bsky.social & Helen Snelson published in @pdiejournal.bsky.social. Especially pleased to bring Helen's work to fruition & grateful to @uoyeducation.bsky.social @ueaeducation.bsky.social @uonsoe.bsky.social #historyteacher #mentors for their collboration

#historyteacher

#historyteacher

Having a super week @uonsoe.bsky.social with #ITT #historyteacher s exploring each second order concept in turn and undertaking an #ITAP on questioning to promote historical thinking. Also lovely to celebrate a birthday today. #CakeyThursday
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Thrilled to say I'm a judge for the first ever Inspiring History Teaching Awards, in association with Historic Royal Palaces. Do you know a great history teacher in the UK who deserves to go down in history? Nominate them here bit.ly/42yhGZP

London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting ‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars

'He fought in the Napoleonic wars and is one of only nine Black soldiers known to have received the Waterloo Medal, the first British medal awarded to soldiers regardless of their rank.

Yet the story of Pte Thomas James has been overlooked for centuries.'

Oh yes.

I mean, I know how old they are. And I know how old I am. But realising cardboard puppet Thomas (who looks almost exactly the same as as the day I was given him) is as old as they are feels different somehow.

Happy to report for your students that I'm on day 3 of antibiotics and the thumb has returned to its usual size and colour!

Today I introduced my #ITT #historyteacher s to Thomas Attwood (the Chartist) in puppet form. Thomas has lived in my office since 2004 when a Yr13 made him for an A Level lesson I taught. And, as I told my students this, thus came the unforgettable words:

"Wow, Vic. He's as old as us!" 😱

Experience and the educational ecosystem: why retention of experienced colleagues matters for beginning teachers Photo by zhang kaiyv on Pexels.com A little while ago I had the opportunity to chat with a teacher who is 20 odd years into their teaching career.  As they spoke about their Trust’s approach to cur…

A conversation with some colleagues this morning has reminded me of this (amongst other things!):

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😂

The 111 operator is in agreement. 🤦🏻‍♀️😩😂

I've managed to get an infection in my thumb from a butternut squash. So that's how my weekend is going.

Whaaaaat? This was the only thing I did use from there. 😮

Working with an #ITT beginning teacher who needs some support as they develop their professional role in school?

Yes! Our mentoring book is about how to be a subject-specific mentor BUT in chapter 1 we spend time on the importance of the affective domain of mentoring; reading the signals to make judgements about when to push/ back off, when to encourage/question/ say that's not how professionals do it etc.

Cannot agree more. And, in my understanding, ECF evaluation data from ECTs keeps telling us that bits of the programme ECTs like least are online modules, & bits they value most are face-to-face meetings & support of mentors who share same subject/phase as them, so where does this fits with that?

Settling into a teaching practice placement – it’s a bit like staying at your Auntie’s house. Photo by Nicole Michalou on Pexels.com Nothing quite prepares you for the feeling of being in, but not of, the school where you on Teaching Practice Placement.  But for the majority of beginni…

🚨NEW BLOG🚨
A few weeks into Teaching Practice placement some #ITT beginning teachers need support around developing their professional communication and relationships.

This analogy may help. #TeacherEducation #TeacherMentoring #EduBlogUK

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Never say that when you have a Lego robot on one of your slides.

We finished ours yesterday too!

And here's another incredible woman showing us all how it is done. Education for the sake of education and the enjoyment of learning. Wonderful to see this goal achieved. 👏👏👏

BBC News - Great-grandmother graduates from university at 90 years old
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Get into teaching: Selecting the teacher training course that is right for you Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com In recent years, the proliferation of initial Teacher Training (ITT) routes has made the landscape baffling for the uninitiated. I am often approached by people who a…

First #ITT interviews for 2026 Entry completed. ✅

First offers made. ✅

If you're thinking about #TeacherTraining and how you can #GetIntoTeaching (or know someone who is) this might help you think through your options.

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👏👏👏 to the woman on Radio 4 this morning who is being interviewed about spies in the foreign office while nursing her baby. Contented baby noises in the background. Articulate insightful comment from mum.

Awesome normalisation of parenthood.

Before 8.15am, I'd stopped traffic so school trip bus could park, moved luggage to bus so it could be stored & acted as lollipop lady. I'm not going on the trip.

My qualifications for the role? The assertiveness of a grizzled teacher & a bright yellow coat.

Thank you teacher trip-goers everywhere

What a lovely day for the @uonsoe.bsky.social open day. Really good to have met so many prospective #ITT #TeacherTraining applicants.

If you're thinking about how you can #GetIntoTeaching this may help you think through your choices.

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Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

The first #ITT applications have dropped!

Recalibrating Your Teacher Identity: When Your Past Success Doesn’t Fit Your Current Experience Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com I feel like a failure At some point every year I will have a conversation with a beginning teacher who confesses that they feel like a total failure. “…

And another on the challenges some #ITT beginning teachers face when #TeacherTraining is not quite what they expected and they don't feel how they anticipated they would feel about their new endeavour...

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#TeacherEducation #EduBlogUK 2/2

Unlocking the Power of Mentor Meetings for ITT Beginning Teachers Photo by Los Muertos Crew on Pexels.com Mentor meetings are the cornerstone of support for beginning teachers, shaping their early experiences and helping them make sense of both the theory behind …

I'm in a bit of a blog writing frenzy atm. Here are two new ones today for #TeacherMentor s working working with #ITT beginning teachers in this early phase of their #TeacherTraining year.

First up, Effective #Mentor Meetings: uonhistoryteachertraining.school.blog/2025/10/08/u...

#EdublogUK 1/2