Joel Kenyon

Are our results where they need to be? No, they aren't.

But in the first year, our P8 results where the third most improved in the country.

There is still a lot of hard work to do, but our staff and pupils welcome it with open arms.

When I came for my interview in March 2024, I wanted to work with pupils with a similar background to myself and improve their life chances.

Every single member of staff at Dixons Croxteth knows why we get up every day: to improve the education of every pupil.

I am incredibly proud to work here.

This is my favourite part of the report.

The school when I joined just over two years ago is not the same one I work in today.

The school was given a closure notice after two Inadequate reports and today we have a school where pupils feel valued and safe.

This is something I am incredibly proud of.

Working in a turnaround school is tough and whilst we do not work for Ofsted, it is amazing to have our hard work recognised.

Every single member of the school community has worked so hard over the past three years to achieve this.

It's ironic isn't it that we strive to do all this amazing teaching and learning but when the end of the specification comes, we know that Using Resources can be done in 2 lessons, 5 if it is Triple.

There is not a method in the world that teaches science in less time.

There is Too Much to Learn in GCSE Science The National Curriculum in science has become far too large. In order to have a population of those who are scientifically literate, we must reduce the amount of content.

The AQA specification is currently 200 pages long. English Lang is 26, Maths is 44, Geography 40, Art 42 pages.

Yes, these subjects are not the same, but there is a difference in the expectation of knowledge in science when compared with other subjects.

joel120193.substack.com/p/science-na...

Fingers crossed it doesn't take us another 15 years before we ban AI from the classrooms and under 16s too.

Battleships, Blind Spots and Bandwagons: Educational Fallacies An exploration of how logical fallacies like sunk costs and tradition shape our schools, plus practical ways to outsmart these biases for better teaching and leadership.

New Blog Post 📝

With the sheer amount of decisions a teacher has to process in a day, our brain often relies on fallacies.

This is a look at 10 educational fallacies that often take place in school, what they manifest into, and what we can do to avoid them.
open.substack.com/pub/joel1201...

If you're still inputting QLA data onto a spreadsheet or worse, making your colleagues do it - read this!

Excellent from @joel120193.bsky.social

Do you throw darts? It's the only way I can think that would make it worse 😅

We've all done it, let's be honest.

The football is so turgid that im sat here laughing at @joel120193.bsky.social blog in what feels like a masochistic manner. Like sorry what is this and why have we all had to do it?

I do sometimes think that leaders think every teacher is some sort of Nostradamus like figure able to predict the future.

It's all so baffling isn't it 😅

The student loan graduate system is a tax in all but name.

A 30 year tax at that. For new graduates, it is 40.

In the future we will have people paying their student loans, but being too told to pay NI because they're over 60.

It is unfair.

On that, if you had one nurse, trained in the UK on a Plan 2 loan, top of band 6, they will pay around £150 a month for their student loan.

Another nurse, who did not train in the UK, top of band 6, will take home £150 more every month.

Only because they didn't study in the UK.

The jobs that morally benefit us the most, are degree only professions. Doctor, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, social worker, teacher, solicitor, architect, civil engineer, clinical scientist etc etc etc.

If it wasn't for people taking a degree, the UK wouldn't function.

We are 20% more likely to be employed, earn ~35% more, 70% are in high skilled roles, pay £100,000 more in our lifetime.

Even graduates who go into jobs not related to their degree earn more, are more likely to be promoted and their career ceilings are higher.

Yes, in the 1970s only around 14% of young people went to university, now it is closer to 50%.

However, the economic benefit these professions bring is far outweighed from our 70s, 80s and 90s counterparts.

1970s: UK running out money, received a bailout from IMF. UK economic growth rates: -2.4%
Student loans: Free

2020s: UK economy 6th largest in the world. UK economic growth rates: 1.1%
Student loans: £30,000.

Don't tell me we can't afford it.

I agree, the shift does need to be back on parents, but if they haven't done it in 4/5 years, what is a school telling them going to do? They would just hate us for moaning at them.

That's accurate.

Also of interest is that there's transparent advice from police to help ensure that things do or don't get escalated up to them.

bsky.app/profile/9000...

They are!!!

Speaking with a primary school teacher who mentioned that students are coming to school in nappies, a lack of both fine and gross motor skills, not able to hold things for long periods of time, struggling to see, and is having discussions about what a book is.

It's dark times.

Oh now the Lib Dems are masters of it, they love a truncated Y

They've spread like wildfire.

You were clearly a fashionista

Most of the time I usually think it's none of these.

I just find it's the type of question. If you break most of it down, they can answer it.

A lot of time could actually be spent on exam technique and it would work wonders.

I do love a good "look at this graph" when it comes to some of the stuff I hear come out.

If you find the conversation difficult, I often find you're doing okay.

If you find it easy, you've either agreed or disagreed with them and will unduly influence them.

When it comes to morals, I just go with the law and stay to that (whilst also saying the law isn't always moral).

With votes for 16 coming, we will have Year 11s voting soon and I know some people will see this as an opportunity to double their vote.

I understand the balance is difficult.

Literally today, a student asked my view on abortion, I said I cannot tell him, but the law is 23 weeks in the UK.

I heard his views and offered a rebuttal essentially playing devil's advocate. He understood the points but by god it was difficult.

These have a chokehold on male teachers!