Sharing this link to a powerful documentary. Sam's sister now works at our school as a mentor. Along with her mum, she has campaigned to raise awareness of knife crime for many years. They are an impressive pair & we are in awe of everything they have done. They even received an MBE for their work.

A family in our sch community campaign tirelessly for #KnifeCrimeAwareness after losing Sam, our ex-student.
Tonight, a new documentary starts, Britain's Killer Teens.
'It revisits the devastating case of Samantha Madgin, who was tragically murdered at 18yo, only 10 weeks after becoming a mum'

Do it now or do it when you’ve thought about it a bit more? I have written at length about knowledge and its use in English, and this isn’t going to be one of those blogs, but it is about mapping out ...

NEW BLOG: Do it now or do it when you’ve thought about it a bit more?

Sorry for taking a blog holiday!

learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/10/do-i...

#engchat #engchatuk

Around 200+ Black and Global Majority educators & allies attended the Aspiring Heads Summit which was organised by Nadine and Ethan Bernard.

Supporting Black and GM educators through empowered leadership was the theme and they did just that.

🔗Blog here: msybeebs.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/a...

Good to see this article covering the concern over marking. Plenty of HTs, HODs & teachers have had enough of doing the unpaid QA work & seeing the neg impact on students.
Also, as alluded to by the EMC, a signif issue is lack of clarity around Eng Lang GCSE. What's it testing, how & why?

Also, it's better not to see the English dept as primarily responsible for this. I think a disciplinary approach makes more sense eg Maths dept take responsibility for teaching Latin/Greek numerical prefixes when it's beneficial to learning.

Morphology is a fun & effective way of building up word knowledge. I think whole-sch approaches where particular roots/morphemes are taught each week are tricky bc they risk decontextualising vocab. Better to teach in context, when relevant to the learning. Depts can plan for this.

A missing literacy tool is at the root of the 'year 7 dip' Literacy is core to students' engagement across the curriculum. Teach morphology - and watch it grow

This is strange, as research indicates there is no Yr 7 dip in students reading….

There are differences in expectations and how reading is used between Yr 6 and Yr7…

And more morphology might be great. But reading for understanding is not just about words.

schoolsweek.co.uk/how-morpholo...

are v interesting & flag up much broader issues such as girls feeling less safe in school, lower levels of 'trust, enjoyment & belonging' for FSM students etc.

Yes. I clicked back through to the linked article and the original research was into engagement & therefore a 'dip' relating to engagement. This article makes an assumption that reading challenges cause a dip in engagement, thus misrepresenting the findings of the original study which ...

'The features of context that mediate success are yet to be understood.'

Walker attacks The Hate U Give ban BookBrunch - The publishing trade's daily news magazine

In an open letter, Walker Books 'is concerned to see the latest developments in Weymouth, particularly given the extreme reality of book banning in the US. We must ask ourselves is this the beginning of something, and what comes next?'
www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article...

Nice examples & modelling of how to engage students with Eng Lang P1 Qu 4 from @thecockerill.bsky.social

Analysing film openings of King's IT is also a good way to discuss structural techniques, then compare back to the text.

@bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
Dear Ms Phillipson,
I have no idea who you are getting your advice on literacy from. But can I suggest you speak to some of the internationally respected reading researchers we have in the UK. They will be much better informed.
@rickettslara.bsky.social

Sadly, I could add so much more to this. Many of us have found the Review not to be a sufficient Q&A process. HTs are making complaints about the marking to exam boards who always defend their processes. There is no real accountability here. It's appalling. So many students impacted negatively.

Lots of great recommendations to follow up here. In the picture book category, I can thoroughly endorse "Boy" and "Dancing Hands", tried and very much enjoyed by my little one!
#DeafAwarenessMonth #Books #ReadingTogether #Inclusion #RepresentationMatters #EnglishBooks

Absolutely. Couldn't agree more with this from @damsoned.bsky.social

Plus, how can the DfE not know yet what they will test in Y8? Phonics, fluency, comprehension? Suggests they are unclear on the purpose/utility of the Y8 reading test.

In my context, it will tell us what we already know about those who have reading needs & are already being tracked & supported.

A comprehensive national strategy from the EYFS is exactly what many of us who are working on literacy/language see as the way forward. We have the opportunity right now.

DfE should also be seeking to address why 25% of pupils finish KS2 reading below age-related expectations.

School history lessons minimise the role of women, report finds Campaigners say key stage 3 curriculum plays to misogny and teaches a ‘false version of the past’

Let this sink in 🙄

'Elizabeth I and Mary I are the only women named in the national curriculum, while in 2023 women appeared in just 6% of GCSE and A-level history exam questions.'

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Pleasure
Curious / Curiosity
Excitement / exciting / excite
Grow / growth
Inspire / inspiring / inspiration
Innovate / innovative / innovation
Discover / discovery
Investigate / investigation
Experiment / experimental
Fun

2/2

Pragmatically, the Ofsted grading criteria are going to be a very useful tool for self-evaluation. But schools need to remember, when reflecting on curriculum or on children's experiences, that schools are about a lot more. For example, the following words don't appear:

1/2

#wordgapoblivion :)

A compelling article by @iancushing.bsky.social

Schools don't have to subscribe to language deficit views.

In one school a leader 'had run whole-school training on asset-based pedagogies, which included a sharp critique and rejection of dominant word gap narratives.'

Absolutely baffling how Ofsted thinks it can take this on and also, thus far, not provide a definition or an example of 'discredited research.'

Pupils' poems on Essex accent prejudice shared at station Girls who took part in an accent prejudice project say it is

This is good for Paper 2 and a creative way to address accent prejudice.
BBC News - Pupils' poems on Essex accent prejudice shared at station - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#oracy
#EduSky

apt! • Academically Productive Talk Today, students are expected to generate ideas, to explain their thinking, and to make and defend arguments using evidence. This requires an entirely different kind of talk–Academically Productive Tal...

I always like the high quality resources developed by SERP (US edu context). This could be useful for schs working on productive talk in lessons. I also think their approach is a really good way to support teachers, starting w research, then modelling pedagogy.
www.academically-productive-talk.org

An excellent article.

'This isn’t about ambition. It isn’t about teaching quality. It’s about policy failure; a system locked in muddled thinking and clinging to one-size-fits-all solutions that simply don’t work in areas like ours.'

Spot on for A Level Eng Lang students - language and occupation.

How to Persuade a Courtroom.