Owen Williams

#FridayFive
1. Staying Out For The Summer. Dodgy.
2. Closing Time. Semisonic.
3. Summer. Calvin Harris.
4. See You Again. Wiz Khalifa.
5. Coffee & TV. Blur.

School display boards are getting confused

#FridayFive
1. They Not Like Us. Kendrick Lamar (Superbowl LIX, 2025).
2. Get Back. The Beatles (Apple Rooftop Performance, 1969).
3. Somebody To Love. George Michael & Queen (Freddy Mercury Tribute, 1992).
4. Robot Rock. Daft Punk (Coachella, 2006).
5. 99 Problems. Jay-Z (Glastonbury, 2008).

One of the more unusual thank you gifts I’ve received from a student.

Bridget Kendal's Stories from the Big Freeze podcast

Nice range of entries to this year’s Make A Model For Open Evening Competition.

Best bit - dancing mailbox

#FridayFive A Spike Jonze special
1. Buddy Holly. Weezer
2. Its Oh So Quiet. Bjork.
3. Sabotage. Beastie Boys.
4. Drop. Pharcyde
5. Da Funk. Daft Punk

Recently I've been experimenting with a new type of booklet for students in KS3. Unlike my GCSE booklets, students don't write in these and instead use an exercise book for their class work. These booklets are also less task-based, consisting mainly of a story to be read and discussed in class.

Cracking day out at Chalke History Festival for our Y12 historians. Lots of fascinating talks all interspersed with regular artillery fire from the Living History area!

We’re off!

Guess where we’re going?

#FridayFive
1. Solar Power - Lorde
2. Heatwave - Lina Ronstadt
3. Sleep Now In The Fire - Rage Against The Machine
4. Summer In The City - The Lovin' Spoonful
5. The Heat Is On - Glen Fray

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. California Girls
3. Help Me, Rhonda
4. Fun, Fun, Fun
5. God Only Knows.
#FridayFive

Hi there - sure, send me a DM.

Super Saturday at London 2012 - Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all win gold inside an hour at the Olympic Stadium.

1. Boys of Summer - Don Henley
2. America Pie - Don McLean
3. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
4. Girl From Mars - Ash
5. Good Riddance - Green Day
#FridayFive

You Reds!

1. So Long Its Been Good To Know Yuh. Woody Guthrie.
2. See You Again. Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
3. Goodbye Stranger. Supertramp.
4. Don't You (Forget About Me). Simple Minds.
5. Midnight Train to Georgia. Gladys Knight
#FridayFive

No worries - DM me an email address and I'll send a link.

It’s Y13’s last day and the history office has been pranked with a hoard of mini Farages.

1. As Good As I Once Was. Toby Keith
2. Changes. David Bowie.
3. Still Crazy After All These Years. Paul Simon.
4. Fluorescent Adolescent. Arctic Monkeys.
5. I Don't Wanna Grow Up. Tom Waits.
#FridayFive

Important for who...

Government: Get a job
Careers Advisors: Find your passion
Business: Learn transferable academic skills
Teachers: Receive the best that has been thought and said
Parents: Know lots of things
Students: Develop social and interpersonal skills

MASSIVE thanks from me and Katie to all the brilliant teachers who wrote... @cpalmerhistory.bsky.social Eoin Gallagher, Sorcha O'Callaghan, Dan Procter, Sherlon Atkins, @johnhough.bsky.social, Rebecca Chadwick. Out early May @katieamery.bsky.social pls rt

Pitt Rivers, Oxford?

"lion's mane - to sustain my focus"

These revision timelines have formed the basis of my revision sessions with Year 11. Adding a summary box is a useful feature as it helps make sense of what otherwise could be an overwhelming mass of events.

Maybe so. Extras are a common part of the personal statement and thus part of the application. If you're out there playing, working with others then your communication skills are likely to be improved and that helps for the all important interview.

Oxbridge like students that read around and beyond the AL course. They also appear to prefer the ‘well-rounded’ candidate who performs in the school play, orchestra or sports team. For most students, an extra AL will inhibit rather than enhance their ability to do those two things.

Question for English teachers.

What historical context do you give to Year 7s reading Animal Farm?